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Transposition of Votes – 2013 Representation Order

1. Introduction

The objective of this report is to meet the requirements of subsection 41(1) of the Canada Elections Act (the Act). After each decennial census, representation of the provinces in the House of Commons is readjusted, changing the boundaries of federal electoral districts. According to the Act, the Chief Electoral Officer shall, in each of the 338 new federal electoral districts (referred to hereafter as new FEDs), determine which registered partiesFootnote 1 have the right to supply the returning officer in that federal electoral district with the names of qualified persons to act as election officers during the first general election held under the new electoral map.

This long-standing right to recommend election officers in each FED is granted to each of the two political parties that would have obtained the highest number of votes in the preceding general election, if it had been held within the boundaries of the new electoral district. The transposition of votes process determines the number of votes that each duly registered political party at the 41st general election would have obtained according to the new FED boundaries.


Footnote 1 The Ballot abbreviation name of the registered political parties is used in this report. See, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, 2011. Forty-first general election May 2, 2011: List of Confirmed Candidates. Catalogue No. SE1-3/2011. ISBN 978-1-100-53226-4. www.elections.ca/ele/pas/41ge/can/loc.pdf, page viii.