Ontario wants 21 extra MPs in expanded House

Province wants 11 federal seats on top of 10 more proposed

Last Updated: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 | 5:19 PM ET

CBC News

Ontario has more than doubled its estimate of the number of seats it believes it should be allocated under proposed federal legislation to expand the House of Commons.

A bill was introduced earlier this month by the federal Conservatives to add 22 seats by 2014 in an effort to restore representation by population in the country's three fastest-growing provinces — Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.

Ten of those seats would go to Ontario, increasing its current number of seats to 116 or 35 per cent of those in the Commons.

But the provincial Liberals argue that Ontario should receive 11 federal seats on top of the 10 already proposed.

That's more than double the number government officials originally quoted.

Last Thursday, the press secretary for Democratic Renewal Minister Marie Bountrogianni said the province should in all fairness receive another two to five seats.

Bountrogianni's press secretary said the confusion stems from the complicated formula.

The first figure was just a preliminary estimate, and the number rose as officials took a closer look at the legislation, the press secretary said.

Bountrogianni has said the proposed federal legislation addresses representation by population in B.C. and Alberta, but not the country's most populous province.

The bill is intended to raise the level of proportional representation in other provinces to that of Quebec.

Some MPs in the country's large provinces represent on average 21,000 more constituents than those in provinces with lower populations.