Acadian groups among those welcoming report

FANE president says their goal remains restoration of minority ridings

Argyle-Barrington MLA Chris d’Entremont says there are good things in the report prepared by a committee that examined electoral representation for the province’s Acadian and African Nova Scotian populations.

The report makes 29 recommendations aimed at helping to ensure that Acadians and African Nova Scotians are represented in the political process and in government.

Nova Scotia’s Acadian federation (FANE) also welcomed the report, although the group’s president said the report is just a step towards the federation’s ultimate goal of having minority ridings restored.

Since the minority ridings – including the Acadian ridings of Argyle and Clare – were eliminated through a re- drawing of the electoral map in 2012, the Acadian federation has been at the forefront of the effort to get them back.

D’Entremont – who had been MLA for Argyle before that Yarmouth County riding was made part of the new constituency of Argyle-Barrington as a result of the changes made in 2012 – admits he may have been skeptical last year when the government announced the creation of a committee to look at the issue of electoral representation for French and black Nova Scotians.

But contacted Jan. 11, after the release of its report, d’Entremont said, “I think it was a valuable process, even though I didn’t necessarily believe in it when it started, because I felt (at that time) we should just go to the boundary commission and let them independently make a decision. But there’s some good things in this report, not just legislatively, but governmentconnected as well. I think it’s a good body of work.”

D’Entremont said he was glad to see that the report is calling on the next provincial electoral boundaries commission to base its review of Nova Scotia’s electoral boundaries on the electoral map as it looked in 2002 – when the minority, or “exceptional,” ridings were in place – instead of 2012, when the map was redrawn and the minority ridings were combined with portions of adjacent constituencies.

FANE president Ghislain Boudreau said the report underscored the importance of minority ridings. While the federation welcomed the report, however, Boudreau said they view this as only another step as they continue to push for the restoration of the minority ridings.

Clyde deViller, an official with the Conseil acadien de Par-enBas in Yarmouth County, basically echoed the federation’s reaction to the report, saying it makes positive recommendations in a number of areas.

“As noted by FANE,” he said, “we now need to follow closely the next steps taken by government and to prepare the community for the next legislative committee and the ensuing electoral boundaries commission.”

Government house leader Geoff MacLellan said the government would follow the committee’s key recommendations.