Election 2015: Riding Map of Canada
Federal Ridings for the 2015 Election
When you head to the polls this fall, expect some changes. There's a good chance the name of the riding you used to live in will have completely changed. Your old Member of Parliament might also be campaigning in a new part of town this year.
That's because Canada's federal electoral map underwent a substantial redesign in 2013. Once per decade, the divisions that dictate where Canadians vote get redrawn to "reflect population shifts and growth," meaning the map used in the 2011 election is now defunct.
The new map, which was created by 10 separate electoral boundary commissions, came into effect in 2014, and will divide the country up into 338 different pieces — 30 more than we had in 2011.
The big map above has two layers, which can be toggled by clicking on the "Visible layers" tab. The white lines show the new boundaries drawn in 2013, while the darker ones in the layer below show the old ridings that were drawn in 2003.
The smaller maps below break down the changes province by province, highlighting every major boundary adjustment and new riding. Click the links to jump to a specific province.
British Columbia — Alberta — Saskatchewan — Manitoba — Ontario — Quebec — New Brunswick — Nova Scotia
Ridings in 2003: 36 2013: 42 Median riding population: 104,718
British Columbia
TOPFour of British Columbia's six new electoral districts will be bunched in the small southwest section of the province's mainland.
The old Delta—Richmond East riding will be roughly broken into two separate pieces, a new Cloverdale—Langley City riding will be added in Surrey, and a sixth Vancouver riding will pop up in the centre of the city.
Most notably, the old Burnaby—Douglas riding now extends north across the water, taking up a large part of the old North Vancouver riding.
Two additional riding will also be added outside of the city — one on Vancouver Island and one in the Fraser Valley.
Ridings in 2003: 28 2013: 34 Median riding population: 106,939
Alberta
TOPMost of Alberta's six new ridings are being introduced in the province's two major cities.
Calgary area: Calgary was divided into eight ridings for the last election, but will be split into 10 when Albertans head to the polls this fall.
The north section of the city used to be divided into two ridings, but will now be encompassed by three separate ridings. Calgary—Nose Hill will retain its name, but will be shifted into the centre of the city, sandwiched between a Calgary Rocky Ridge and a Calgary Skyview riding.
In the south, a riding called Calgary Midnapore will appear between what used to be Calgary Southwest and Calgary Southeast.
Edmonton area: Edmonton's ridings are gravitating more towards the urban centre, with three new ridings popping up outside the perimeter of the city.
Though the city core will keep its eight ridings, those boundaries will be tightened up into a more compact space.
And instead of giant, sparse spaces surrounding the city, three new ridings will encompass the Edmonton area: Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, Sturgeon River—Parkland and Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan.
And in the north part of the province, a new riding called Peace River—Westlock will pop up in the middle of what used to be Peace River and Fort McMurray—Athabasca.
Ridings in 2003: 14 2013: 14 Median riding population: 68,742
Saskatchewan
TOPSaskatchewan will still have 14 ridings this election -- the same number as in 2011 -- but the province’s riding map has been dramatically redrawn.
A new, exclusively urban riding in Saskatoon called Saskatoon—West is seen as a possible NDP gain in the historically Conservative region. Saskatoon—University and Saskatoon—Grasswood are also new ridings for the city. Regina—Lewvan and Regina—Wascana are also new, urban additions for 2015.
Several rural ridings have been combined for this election. The Prince Albert riding has now expanded to include parts of the old Saskatoon—Humboldt and Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River ridings. Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre has now expanded to include all of Blackstrap and most the Palliser riding.
Three MPs called it quits ahead of the writ drop, before the major riding redistribution forced everyone to revise their campaign calculations.
Ridings in 2003: 14 2013: 14 Median riding population: 85,723
Manitoba
TOPManitoba voters will head to the polls with relatively unchanged boundaries compared to the last election.
Other than some slight tweaks to the names of the ridings, the borderlines in the province's largest city, Winnipeg, are nearly identical to what they were in 2011.
The largest change comes to the north part of the province. A new riding called Churchill—Keewatinook Aski will be an expanded version of the old Churchill riding, and covers much of the region that was previously included in the Selkirk—Interlake riding
Ridings in 2003: 106 2013: 121 Median riding population: 107,084
Ontario
TOPMost of the country's new ridings are being introduced in Ontario. The province will jump from 106 to 121 ridings, with most of those 15 new ridings sprouting up around the Greater Toronto Area.
Toronto: The former Oak Ridges—Markham riding has effectively been chopped into three pieces, with much of the land being broken into a new Markham—Stouffville riding in the east, and an Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill in the centre.
A new Markham—Thornhill riding has split off from the Markham—Unionville riding with a new Don Valley North riding popping up in between Don Valley East and Willowdale.
In the east end of town, Scarborough—Rouge Park now covers parts of three old ridings, including Pickering—Scarborough. And downtown Toronto, which used to be covered by the Trinity—Spadina and Toronto Centre ridings, is now three ridings, with a new University—Rosedale riding taking up the north part of the space.
West of Toronto: Mississauga, having been previously divided into four districts, will be getting a new Mississauga Centre riding in the middle of the city.
Brampton will also now be divided into five separate ridings, with Brampton North emerging from half of the old Brampton—Springdale riding and Brampton South occupying the bottom half of the old Brampton West riding.
Heading farther west, what used to be called the Halton riding is being broken into Milton in the north and the new Oakville North—Burlington riding.
A new Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas riding also now encompasses the west side of Hamilton, with a riding called Kitchener South—Hespeler now forming from parts of the former Kitchener—Conestoga and Cambridge ridings.
Other parts of the province: Elsewhere in Ontario, three new ridings will be formed in the Ottawa area, the Barrie area and Prince Edward County.
Ridings in 2003: 75 2013: 78 Median riding population: 103,201
Quebec
TOPThough Quebec only has three new ridings in the upcoming election, the entire province underwent a substantial rejigging when the electoral district map was redrawn.
It's difficult to pin down where exactly the "new" ridings are, but there will be three additional ridings in the area that roughly makes up the Montreal island and the surrounding area.
On the western side of the island, what used to be the large space of Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel was broken in two, with a new riding called just Mirabel in the east part of the area. Beside that is a new riding called Thérèse-De Blainville, which is mostly made up of a portion of the old Terrebonne—Blainville riding.
On the other side, a new Brossard—Saint-Lambert riding will be wedged in between the old Brosard—La Prarie and Saint-Lambert ridings.
Ridings in 2003: 10 2013: 10 Median riding population: 79,336
New Brunswick
TOPNew Brunswick keeps the same number of ridings heading into the 2015 election. The ridings around the province's major cities remain more or less unaffected, with the exception of a portion of the Fredriction riding.
This year, those in the northern part of Fredricton will vote in a separate riding called Miramichi—Grand Lake, which covers parts of the old Miramichi and Beauséjour ridings.
Ridings in 2003: 11 2013: 11 Median riding population: 83,654
Nova Scotia
TOPNova Scotia is still divided into 11 ridings, but some of the boundaries have moved around.
The Central Nova riding, for example, has expanded to cover some residents who were previously within the Sackville–Eastern Shore and Cumberland–Colchester–Musquodoboit Valley ridings.
The Halifax West riding has also contracted, moving those in the southern half of the district into South Shore–St. Margaret's riding.
Ridings in 2003: 4 2013: 4 Median riding population: 34,819
Prince Edward Island
TOPPrince Edward Island's four ridings remained untouched when the electoral districts were rearranged.
Despite a population of just 140,204, PEI is represented by four Members of Parliament due to the "senatorial clause," which guarantees no province has fewer seats in the House of Commons than it has in the Senate.
Some single districts – like Ontario's Brantford–Brant riding with a population of about 132,000 – have a comparable population to the entire island. With an average riding size of about 100,000, PEI residence have about three times the representation in Parliament as the average Canadian.
Ridings in 2003: 7 2013: 7 Median riding population: 81,540
Newfoundland and Labrador
TOPThough Newfoundland and Labrador will have the same total number of ridings as it did in 2013, the boundaries on the island will change significantly.
In addition to slight tweaks around the St. John's area, the population of most of the western part of Newfoundland will be divided into three verticle stripes, with the Coast of Bays–Central–Notre Dame riding now encompassing parts of three former ridings.
Labrador – which boasts only 26,728 people, the smallest population represented by a seat in the House of Commons – retains the same boundaries it had in the previous election.
Ridings in 2003: 3 2013: 3 Median riding population: 33,897
The Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut
TOPLike Prince Edward Island, Canada's three territories each have ridings with relatively low populations thanks to part of the representation formula that allocates one seat per territory.