Weekly Round-Up: October 4

Each Friday, CIVIX provides a digest of the major events in Canadian politics:

Canada has new electoral boundaries!

It’s been a big week for Canadian cartophiles. Canada’s new electoral boundaries are now ready for the next federal election (assuming it is called after May 1, 2014). By-elections called before the next election will continue to use the current electoral boundaries. There will be 30 new electoral districts, bringing the total to 338.

How much did your MP spend?

Canada’s MPs spent a total of $123.6 million during the past fiscal year. This includes $67 million on employee salaries and service contracts, $25 million on travel and $15 million on office expenses. Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia MP Steven Fletcher topped the list by spending $613,259, while Jonquière-Alma MP Claude Patry spent only $269,908.

Rep Day visits continue across Canada

Members of Parliament continue visiting Canadian schools to discuss current political issues. We’ve scheduled more than 50 Rep Day visits so far, and many of them took place during Canada’s Democracy Week.

Mississauga South MP Stella Ambler met with students at Cawthra Park Secondary School this week and described the students as “keen and bright,” with “lots of questions.”

Keen and bright, lots of questions from #CawthraParkSS students this morning #Civix pic.twitter.com/eEf4s0Pmrz

— Stella Ambler (@StellaAmblerMP) October 3, 2013

Premier Popularity Contest

Saskatchewan’s Brad Wall is Canada’s most popular premier, followed by British Columbia’s Christy Clark and Quebec’s Pauline Mariois. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Kathy Dunderdale is “at the bottom of the pack;” Greg Selinger, David Alward and Darrell Dexter are only slightly more popular.

An MLA crosses the floor and an MHA steps down

Tignish-Palmer Road MLA Hal Perry is leaving the Prince Edward Island Progressive Conservative caucus to join the Liberals. The floor-crossing was announced at a surprise press-conference by Premier Robert Ghiz.

Newfoundland and Labrador Finance Minister Jerome Kennedy has resigned. First elected in 2007, Kennedy represented the Carbonear-Harbour Grace riding as a Progressive Conservative.

Nova Scotia prepares for an election (and Student Vote Day!)

Nova Scotia heads to the polls on Tuesday! Thousands of Nova Scotia students from more than 230 schools will also be voting on Monday as part of our Student Vote parallel election program. The race is tightening, but Liberal leader Stephen McNeil still holds a substantial lead.

Want to hear more from the party leaders? We asked students to submit questions to the party leaders, and we received hundreds of responses from schools across the province. We narrowed the list down to five questions and received responses from McNeil, Premier Darrell Dexter and PC leader Jamie Baillie. You can view the responses, as well as the student questions, on the Nova Scotia election website.

Speaking of Student Vote, we celebrated our tenth anniversary on Wednesday! The first-ever program was held alongside the October 2, 2003 Ontario provincial election, and since then we have conducted 20 parallel elections over the past decade. Thanks again to everyone who attended our celebration in Toronto.  We’re excited for the next ten years!

For ongoing updates, follow us on Twitter at @CIVIX_Canada.

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