New terms needed to redraw Nova Scotia's electoral boundaries: premier

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil delivers his annual update as he addresses a business luncheon, in Halifax on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. (Andrew Vaughan / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

HALIFAX -- Any redrawing of Nova Scotia's electoral map would have to start with fresh terms of reference once a commission is struck, Premier Stephen McNeil said Thursday.

McNeil ruled out a suggestion that he revisit an interim report produced by the 2012 electoral boundaries commission that considered issues such as minority representation and population growth in large areas, such as Halifax.

That report was rejected by the former NDP government under Premier Darrell Dexter.

"You could potentially do that, but the problem is not everybody was happy with that as well," McNeil said after Thursday's cabinet meeting.

McNeil said talks are ongoing with the Acadian community and will have to take place with other minority groups, including African Nova Scotians, to determine what effective representation would look like.

Regardless, McNeil also said the government believes it would be fair and constitutional to have an election under the current boundaries.

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruled in January that a previous boundary redrawing by the former NDP government violated the voter rights section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The advisory opinion sought by the government on constitutional grounds came after the Acadian Federation of Nova Scotia took court action after the 2012 boundary change eliminated three protected Acadian districts.

Both the Opposition Progressive Conservatives and NDP legislature member Sterling Belliveau have since said they are looking at legal options if there is no formal boundary review ahead of a potential provincial election.

Tory Leader Jamie Baillie said Thursday that he was open to having the interim report serve as a starting point to quickly get a new electoral boundaries commission in place.

"It is an option and if an independent commission decides that's the way to go, of course I would abide by that," said Baillie.