Director General of Elections rebuffed Jean Charest.
The Canadian Press
Published December 17, 2010 at 22:19 him.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, who will retire in a few days indicates that it has still not digested the fact that Mr. Charest has chosen to bypass its reform of the electoral map, on plancha which for years.
The CEO, who reports to the National Assembly is supposed to be independent of government. But this necessary distance, guaranteeing its neutrality, was put "at risk" in recent months, he said.
"The cards were printed," says Mr. Blanchet, bitter and disappointed to see his reform abortion when she was poised to come into force. He even chose to delay his retirement date, after a decade in the CEO's office to complete its project term.
So what was his surprise when, on October 28, following the outbreak of the election in Kamouraska-Temiscouata, he heard the Premier say that the new electoral map does not satisfy him and he hung process until March, the time to introduce a bill intended to better reflect the weight of the regions.
To meet the current law on the number of voters per constituency, the mapping project led by Mr. Blanchet provided the addition of three districts in the outer suburbs of Montreal and the disappearance of three others, including Kamouraska-Temiscouata.
To him, the suspension of the process orchestrated by the Prime Minister is "an attack on an institution that clearly has been established to ensure the neutrality and objectivity of the work he had to do," says Mr. Blanchet, who is also chairman of the Committee on Representation (CRE).
In a context of electoral campaign in a riding on borrowed time, he believes that the motivation of the Prime Minister was none other than "political."
"It's a disappointment that he who is the head of Government decided to set aside an agency that was created by the National Assembly, with the mandate, specifically, to decide these issues remaining "behind the National Assembly."
In this regard, it is said that during all his years at the head of the agency, he has repeatedly made speeches praising the independence of the CEO relative to the executive, headed by the Prime Minister. "I might be a little hard to say it now," he mocks who sees the suspension of the process an "important precedent."
"The independence of the institution was really in jeopardy," he said.
But on substance, Mr. Blanchet fiercely defends its electoral map scrapped, which was redesigned according to the electoral law, the constitution and a Supreme Court decision, is it the specify.
He believes that the current situation is untenable, unfair and undemocratic, so are significant disparities from one district to another.
"There are around 26 000 voters in the riding of Gaspé and 65 000 in Martinez. This is totally unfair. It does not make sense, "he said.
Already, the Quebec rule "of plus or minus 25 percent" of the national average (about 45 000 voters), to determine the number of voters per constituency, is "one of the highest in the world."
The government's objective of maintaining the political weight of regions, without regard to the exodus of their population, may have the effect of increasing, rather than erase these disparities.
Mr. Blanchet can give a lesson to the Prime Minister, reminding him of the limits of executive power.
He said Mr. Charest is mistaken in asserting that "the decision rests with the parliament" to fix the contours of the electoral map. Because "it's not what the law says, corrects the CEO. That the CRE has the last word. "
In announcing the suspension of the process, October 28, Mr. Charest said: "We ask the CEO to do a thorough job, but it is we who make the decisions. The CEO can not replace the elect. "
Anyway, regarding the electoral map, it's back to square one.
After filing expected of a bill in March, the board renewed must be adopted before the end of June, promised the prime minister.
But now that there was a precedent, Mr. Blanchet wondered if this time will be very good. "If ever they do not agree on new rules, what will happen there on June 30?"
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evidence of collusion are well established.
Jean-Pierre Plourde,
http://saglacweb.blogspot.com
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