Supreme Court rejects Quebec’s attempt to block changes to election map boundaries
Posted April 22, 2026 5:21 pm.
Last Updated April 22, 2026 5:35 pm.
The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected an appeal by the Quebec government that sought to block a redrawing of the provincial electoral map.
The 7-2 decision delivered from the bench means two riding on the Gaspé Peninsula will be merged into one, and another in Montreal’s east end — Anjou-Louis-Riel — will be eliminated, with its voters distributed among the surrounding ridings.
Two new ridings will be created in the growing Laurentians and in the Estrie-Centre-du-Québec region.
Premier François Legault’s government tabled a law in 2024 to block the redrawing crafted by the independent electoral boundaries commission, after members of all parties expressed concerns that the new map would take away political weight from Gaspé and make ridings in eastern Quebec overly large.
The Conseil des préfets et des élus de la région des Laurentides then challenged the law. The case was dismissed in Superior Court, but it won in the Court of Appeal, which ruled the law unconstitutional — a decision upheld by the Supreme Court.
The Council’s president, Xavier-Antoine Lalande, was very pleased with this outcome.
“This result is first and foremost the result of the efforts of people who felt extremely concerned about the government’s disregard for the independence of the Commission de représentation électorale.
“What was really behind this case was to demonstrate that the government was not giving the same political importance to these growing administrative regions. We’re talking about the Centre-de-Québec, the Laurentians, and the Eastern Townships, but we even had resolutions of support from the Outaouais region and the City of Laval.
“These are the regions that have experienced significant population growth in the last two years. When we saw the government, the 125 members of the National Assembly, fail to recognize the importance of this population growth, it created a sense of urgency.”
Quebec’s election law mandates that the election map should be reviewed every two elections to account for population changes and ensure that each of the province’s 125 ridings contain roughly equal numbers of voters.
Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette says the province’s democratic institutions minister will table a new bill in partnership with the opposition parties to protect the ridings that are slated to be eliminated.
“For me, it is absolutely essential that all regions of Quebec be well represented in the National Assembly,” she wrote on X. “That is why Jean-François Roberge will table a bill, in conjunction with the opposition parties, to ensure fair representation for Quebecers and to protect the ridings of Anjou-Louis-Riel and Bonaventure.”
“I will table, in conjunction with the opposition parties, a bill to ensure fair representation for Quebecers, in particular by protecting the ridings of Anjou–Louis-Riel and Bonaventure, as well as by guaranteeing adequate representation for the Gaspé Peninsula,” Roberge wrote on X.
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada says she is “very, very disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision.
“Losing a riding also means losing political influence,” the mayor said in a statement. “That being said, it just goes to show that we need to work more collaboratively with the Quebec government and ensure that we strengthen the metropolis.
“We must work together, Montreal and the regions.”
–With files from La Presse Canadienne
