Editing Gerrymandering (section)

===Canada===
Gerrymandering used to be prominent in [[Canadian politics]], but is no longer prominent, after independent [[redistricting commission|electoral boundary redistribution commission]]s were established in all provinces.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Prokop|first=Andrew|date=15 April 2014|title=How Canada ended gerrymandering|url=https://www.vox.com/2014/4/15/5604284/us-elections-are-rigged-but-canada-knows-how-to-fix-them|access-date=8 April 2021|website=Vox|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Courtney |first1=John C. |title=Redistricting: What the United States Can Learn from Canada |journal=Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy |date=September 2004 |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=488–500 |doi=10.1089/1533129041492123 }}</ref> Early in [[Canada|Canadian]] history, both the federal and provincial levels used gerrymandering to try to maximize partisan power. When [[Alberta]] and [[Saskatchewan]] were admitted to [[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]] in 1905, their original district boundaries were set forth in the respective [[Alberta Act|Alberta]] and [[Saskatchewan Act]]s. Federal [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] [[cabinet (government)|cabinet]] members devised the boundaries to ensure the election of provincial Liberal governments.<ref>Breen, David. "The Turner Thesis and the Canadian West: A Closer Look at the Ranching Frontier." In ''Essays on Western History.'' Thomas, Lewis G., ed. (University of Alberta
Press: Edmonton, 1976), 153–54. {{ISBN|0-88864-013-7}}</ref> [[British Columbia]] used a combination of [[single-member]] and [[Dual-member proportional representation|dual-member constituencies]] to solidify the power of the center-right [[British Columbia Social Credit Party]] until [[1991 British Columbia general election|1991]].

Since responsibility for drawing federal and provincial electoral boundaries was handed over to independent agencies, the problem has largely been eliminated at those levels of government. [[Manitoba]] was the first province to authorize a non-partisan group to define constituency boundaries in the 1950s.<ref name=":0" /> In 1964, the [[Government of Canada|federal government]] delegated the drawing of boundaries for [[Electoral district (Canada)|federal electoral districts]] to the non-partisan agency [[Elections Canada]] which answers to [[Parliament of Canada|Parliament]] rather than the government of the day.

As a result, gerrymandering is not generally a major issue in Canada except at the civic level.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Silver |first1=Jim |title=The failure of civic reform movements in Winnipeg civic elections: 1971–1992 |date=1995 |hdl=10680/1046 |hdl-access=free |publisher=Institute of Urban Studies |oclc=938955594 }}</ref> Although city wards are recommended by independent agencies, [[city councils]] occasionally overrule them. That is much more likely if the city is not homogenous and different neighborhoods have sharply different opinions about city policy direction.

In 2006, a controversy arose in [[Prince Edward Island]] over the [[Government of Prince Edward Island|provincial government]]'s decision to throw out an electoral map drawn by an independent commission. Instead, they created two new maps. The government adopted the second of them, which was designed by the [[caucus]] of the governing [[Progressive Conservative Party of Prince Edward Island]]. Opposition parties and the media attacked Premier [[Pat Binns]] for what they saw as gerrymandering of districts. Among other things, the government adopted a map that ensured that every current [[Member of the Legislative Assembly]] from the premier's party had a district to run in for re-election, but in the original map, several had been redistricted.<ref>{{cite news |title=No Christmas election: Binns |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/no-christmas-election-binns-1.608298 |work=[[cbc.ca]] |date=16 November 2006 }}</ref> However, in the [[2007 Prince Edward Island general election|2007 provincial election]] only seven of 20 incumbent Members of the Legislative Assembly were re-elected (seven did not run for re-election), and the government was defeated.