The Bloc Québécois protested plans to eliminate the Québec riding held by an MP who supported the Freedom Convoy..“This will weaken our political voice,” said MP Kristina Michaud (Avignon-La Mitis-Matane-Matapédia, QC), her party’s public safety critic..“The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission did not seem to understand the issues in question,” Michaud said in a statement. The Bloc said it will try to save riding from redistribution, according to Blacklock's Reporter..“The Bloc Québécois intends to fight this,” said leader Yves-François Blanchet. “We are firmly opposed to this revision. It is unacceptable.”.The Commission in a report to Parliament said Michaud’s riding had shrunk from 74,547 electors to 70,253, a 6% reduction, and was “the least populated of all the electoral districts in Québec.” Redistricting would see Québec maintain 78 seats in Parliament. Loss of Michaud’s riding would be offset with a new constituency north of Montréal in the Laurentian Mountains to be called Les Pays d’en Haut..“The goal of redistributing the electoral map is to ensure all citizens have the same political influence,” the Commission wrote in a July 29 report Proposal Of The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission For The Province Of Québec. “It would be inequitable and contrary to the very essence of democracy if our system were any different.”.MP Michaud as vice-chair of the Commons public safety committee posted social media messages sympathetic to the Freedom Convoy and criticized cabinet’s use of the Emergencies Act against protesters. “It’s not enough to say it was useful,” Michaud said at the time..“You must prove it was necessary and indispensable,” said Michaud. “I don’t want to minimize what has been said about the occupation, but someone in a hot tub in the middle of Wellington Street doesn’t seem to be a national security threat.”.“How long does the Prime Minister plan to maintain the emergency measures?” Michaud told the Commons last February 21. “Will he keep them in place forever even if there is no longer a crisis, just in case the truckers come back? Seriously, what will it take for the government to realize that it was not the Emergencies Act that resolved the crisis?”.Michaud is a two-term MP. She was re-elected in the 2021 campaign with 60% of the popular vote..Federal redistribution of ridings is mandated every decade. The current proposal would see 343 seats in the Commons with 122 in Ontario, 78 in Québec, 43 in British Columbia, 37 in Alberta, 14 in Saskatchewan, 14 in Manitoba, 11 in Nova Scotia, 10 in New Brunswick, seven in Newfoundland and Labrador, four in Prince Edward Island and one each in Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
