Despite what some might think, Canada actually has very many small ridings.
More than 200 cover less area than 9000 sq. kms. each and could be combined to make perfectly-manageable multiple-member districts, as I explain here.
The structure of Canada ridings is that 24 (the largest ridings) cover about 84 percent of Canada.
We have some large ridings (smaller than the largest but still 6 times the average size).
Some medium-sized ridings that are smaller than six average ridings but still larget than three average ridings.
There are about 75 ridings that are larger than average.
All the rest are smaller than average.
Some of those are in large cities. 52 are in Toronto alone.
So it seems perfectly possible to combine groups of the small ridings to make MMDs.
Ridings in order of size
First we look at the largest ridings. They would be the most difficult to combine with other ridings to make MMDs.
if we identify them and then set aside the area that they hold, we are better able to see how to combine the other ridings to make MMDs.
(ridings below are numbered from largest to smaller in order to identify the various groups (see "categories of ridings" below))
Largest ridings
1 Nunavut 2,093,000 sq. kms
2 NWT 1,346,000
3 Abiti (QU) 854,000
4 Churchill (MN) 495,000
5 Yukon 482,000
6 Desnethe (SK) 343,000
7 Skeena BC 327,000
8 Kenora ON 322,000
9 Labrador 294,000
10 Manicouagan QU 284,000
11 Timmins ON 252,000
12 Prince George C 243,000
13 Ft. McMuray AB 147,000
14 Grande Prairie AB 109,000
15 Peace River Ab 106,000
16 Algoma ON 100,000
17 Thunder Bay ON 88,000
18 Cariboo BC 83,000
19 North Island BC 80,000
20 Cypress Hills SK 78,000
21 Yellowhead AB 76,000
22 Kootenay BC 64,000
23 Lac St John QU 60,000
24 Dauphin MN 57,000
Total area in the "Largst ridings" listed above
in provinces 4,462,000
in territories 3,921,000 39 percent of Canada (3 members)
total in largest ridings (above) 8,383,000
so the 24 largest ridings cover about 84 percent of Canada
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Total area of Canada 9,985,000 sq. kms.
province (area of Canada not in Territories): 6,064,000 sq. kms. (335 MPs = 18,000 sq. kms. per)
area not in largest ridings: 1,602,000 sq. kms.
Area in provinces not in largest ridings
provinces total 6,064,000 sq. kms.
area largest ridings in province 4,462,000 sq. kms.
provinces area not in largest ridings
1,602,000 sq. kms. (314 MPs = 5000 sq. kms. per)
rural area in provinces not in largest ridings
(provinces' area not in largest ridings not in cities)
1,600,000 sq. kms. (187 MPs = 8556 sq. kms. per)
Number of MPs
MPs outside largest ridings: 314
MPs in largest ridings territories 3
provinces 21
MPs in cities: 127 (as it stands today)
(list of Canada's largest cities and their expected representation is below. It adds up to about 200 members! Obviously some cities are not represented at ratio of even 100,000 voters per member and many cities are included in districts that take in much more than a single city and take in a relatively few rural voters and a multitude of urban voters.)
MPs outside cities and outside largest ridings: 187
If we consider making multiple-member ridings, we have to consider how large is an acceptable size for a MM riding.
We have to accept that each Territory is to be a single-member riding and that those sparsely-settled ridings that are huge in size cannot be combined with others.
If we look at the 24 largest ridings, we see huge expanses of land at the largest ranging down to ridings just about 6 times the average-sized riding.
what is the average I am using?
I am taking out the 24 largest ridings as being outriders and then leaving aside the city MPs (notionally set at 127 Members) because they altogether cover very little territory.
the area remaining divided by the number of Members remaining gives us an average of 8556 sq. kms. (see below for details)
This average-sized riding covers more area than any city including the City of Toronto.
So using it as a maximum size for a MMD does not prevent the creation of MMDs covering whole cities. - not that all 52 MPs in Toronto would be elected in a single MMD anyway.
Generally there is an outside limit on number of Members used in any MMD we set up.
Ten members is the most ever elected in a single STV contest in Canada historically, and the representation accorded by five-member district is statistically nearly as fine as the representation accorded by 20-member district. The difference between 10 percent as quota and 5 percent as quota is not so significant.
The maximum area that an MMD could cover thus only applies to rural areas -- areas outside the cities.
Maximum size of equivalent of three average-sized ridings
Perhaps a maximum size of equivalent of three average-sized ridings could be set, to make a 3-member district. Thus any three ridings that are smaller than the average could be combined to make a three-member district. Any such district would be less than half the area represented by one Member in 41 districts.
Luckily there are 267 ridings smaller than the average. so we have many suitable candidates to draw from to make these rural MMDs. (see details below)
Maximum size of equivalent of two average-sized ridings
Perhaps a maximum size of equivalent of two average-sized ridings could be set, still to make a 2-member district. Thus any ridings that are smaller than two-thirds of the average could be combined to make a three-member district. Thus 5700 sq kms would be largest size to compose these MMDS.
Any such district would be less than the area represented by one Member in 54 districts , each representing an area larger than 1700 sq. kms.
Luckily there are 249 ridings smaller than two-thirds the average. so we have many suitable candidates to draw from to make these rural MMDs. (see details below)
Many of these would be in cities. But these are not:
90Lambton
Acadie
92Compton
Cowichan
94Kings
Berthier
96Beauce
Beaujour
Sturgeon River
98Perth
Lees
100Richmond
Chilliwack
102Bellchsse
Haldimand
104Brome
Lethbridge
106Glengarry
Northumberland
108Becancour
Chicoutomi
110Stormont
Cardigan
112Elgin
Oxford
114Dufferin
Sallaberry
116Chatham
Pitt
118Levis
Bay of Quinte
120 Simcoe-Grey
Vimy presumably in Montreal
Kelowna
Saanich
136 Barrie 1000 sq. kms in size is among the smallest rural districts.
it is about 136 in number-order from largest to smallest of the ridings, leaving about 200 for city members.
Abbotsford
Niagara
Thornhill
Regina
and many more
perhaps 60 or so.
thus enough to make 20 or so three-member districts.
the other ridings smaller than two-thirds of the average are inside the cities as listed below.
Each of these cities by itself is large enough to elect multiple members so would each have an MMD just within its own corporate boundaries.
the one-third rule
or we could consider that MMDs could not be larger than the area that one third of the MPs represent by themselves.
One third of the Canada's 338 MPs is 113 MPs.
The 113rd largest riding is Oxford. it has 2384 sq. kms. so quite small.
At that size, the rate of change in the relative size is quick. The 133rd-largest riding (Carleton) is half the size of the Oxford riding.
about 200 ridings are smaller than 1000 sq. kms. in area so even if MMDs are only 1000-2000 kms in size, there are still many than can be combined to make two-seat districts of that size.
(the size halves quickly. The 23rd district after Oxford, the riding that is number 136th in my size ranking - Barrie -the size drops from 2000 to 1000 sq. kms.
About the 150th largest riding is only 650 sq. kms. in size.
So about 180 ridings are small enough to make three-member districts that are smaller than what one third of the MPs each represent by themselves.
Many but not all of them would be in Canada's largest cities (see below)
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City/County rule
One nice thing about multi-member districts is you can use natural pre-existing boundaries to make the MMDs.
Doubtless these units would have different number of voters.
Under single-member district system, the district boundaries are drawn to create arbitrary grouping of voters about the same for each member, but under a MMD system, the number of members could be set differently for each city or county so voters are in their natural groupings and the number of members is altered to create balance.
Cities or county boundaries can be used. spo no gerrymandering.
the ratio of votes to members may be only approximate compared to the artificial equality of our existing single-member districts (but voter turn-out varies uncontrollably so even if our existing dstricts are of approximate equal size, there is still wide variance in the number of votes cast - and of course with vote splitting, there is wide variance in the proportion of votes received by the successful candidate - from 18 percent in some election contests to 70 percent or more sometimes).
but the use of organic recognized boundaries and the high proportion of effective votes under any fair PR voting system means that the relative imbalance is small price to pay.
The overall representation would be light years ahead of our present system.
(see "How many seats in cities?" below)
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Average riding
Outside of largest ridings, average size of rural ridings (including the small area that cities take up): 8556 sq kms
any MMD of 27,000 sq kms is larger than 3 average small-large ridings.
and is less than half the size of the smallest of the "largest ridings."
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Categories of the ridings by size
largest ridings are at least 6 times size of average rural small-large ridings. (24 in number)
large ridings are at least 3 times size of average rural small-medium ridings. (17 in number)
medium-sized ridings smaller than three average ridings but larger than average. (34 in number)
"small ridings" smaller than average 263 in number
338-75 = 263
Three "small ridings" put together are smaller than 41 ridings in Canada today.
Of small ridings 127 are in cities where more than one member is elected.
"Largest ridings" see above
"Large ridings"
25 Battle River AB 53,000
2 26 Coast
Yorkton
4 28Souris
Jonquiere
6 30long
thunder
8 32saint maurice
kamloops
10 34Abitibi
Moose
12 36mission
pontiac
14 38Ncikle
battleford
16 40mission
17 41Carleton 29,000
"Medium-sized ridings" 34 in number
smaller than three average ridings but larger than average
42selkirk 26,000
2 bow river
44Misson
4 foothills
46Laurentiede
6 bonavista
48prince albert
8 49 Provencher QU 19000
50brandon
10 south
52miramacihi
12 gaspesie 17,145
54north okanagan 17,000
14 central okanagan
56nipissing
16 tobiqe
58avignon
18 barrie
60regina
20 west Vancouver
62portage
22 renfrew
64 banff
24 mada
66beauport
26 new
68Central Nova (NS)
28 cape
70West Nova (NS)
30 south
72hastings
32joliet
74hallibut
34 75 Courtenay 8571
average is 8556 sq. kms.
(the land area outside "largest ridings" in provinces, divided by number of MPs in the provinces who are not in cities and not in largest ridings)
263 "Small ridings"
likely includes all city MPs (about 127)
(largest city in Canada today Toronto is 1800 sq. kms. so no city is larger than the average small/large riding.)
ranging from
Cumberland (NS) 8269 sq. kms. to Toronto Centre 6 sq. kms.
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76 Cumberland (NS) 8269 sq. kms.
Rimouski
78 Fundy
Red Deer
80 Portneuf
Mongmargny
82 Lanark
Avalaon
84 Bruce
Red Deer
86 Megantic
Sue Sault
88 Huron
89 Argentuil is 5700 sq. kms.
...
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How many seats in each City?
average representation in provinces by population:
38.25M divided by 335 = 114,000 per MP in the provinces
cities larger than 228,000 would be eligible for two members
representation (MPs) per city as MMD could be allocated as per 100,000.
17 cities have more people than that so are due two or more MPs.
City Pop. per 100,000 rounded down actual number of MPs 2021
Toronto 5,648,000 56 56 52
Vancouver 662,000 6
(Vancouver 2,426,000 metro 24 24)
Montreal 1,763,000 city 18 18 18
(Montreal metro 3,675,000 37 36)
Calgary 1,300,000 13 13
Edmonton 1,200,000 12 12
Ottawa-Gatineau 1,100,000 11 11
Winnipeg 759,000 8 7
Quebec City 733,000 7 7
Hamilton 730,000 7 7
Kitchener 523,000 5 5
London 423,000 4 4
Victoria 363,000 4 3
Halifax 349,000 3 3
Oshawa 336,000 3 3
Windsor 307,000 3 3
Saskatoon 265,000 3 2
St. Catharines 242,000 2 2
Total: 202 198
So even just using cities as MMDs means that more than half the members of the House of Commons would be elected in MMDs.
And as I hope I have shown above, about another 60 or more are small enough to make up three-member districts as well.
There is no way that one MP can truly represent the diversity of opinion in his or her riding but three or more could go a long ways toward that true representation of a large proportion of the voters therein.
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