The Mowat Centre at the University of Toronto has published a study of Ontario’s under-representation in the House of Commons. It’s excellent. Kudos the Mowat Centre for publishing such an excellent report.
“This Mowat Note examines how closely Canada’s system of political representation adheres to the principle of representation by population. It compares Canada’s performance in this area to other advanced democracies with federal systems. The research shows that the Canadian approach does not live up to internationally accepted democratic standards. The principle of citizen equality, according to which citizens should have roughly comparable voting power, is violated to a far greater extent in Canada than in Australia, Germany, Switzerland or the United States. Unless Canadian laws are changed, the inequality of the current system will worsen and the voting power of citizens will increasingly depend on which province they live in.”
Prof. Sancton
The report is interesting, but I am wondering author Andrew Sancton did not look at the United Kingdom as well! The UK, like Canada, includes several self-defined “nations”: Scotland and Quebec both have strong nationalist movements. Nevertheless, the UK now has something close to true Rep by Pop. The story of Representation by Population in UK since 1832 has a very interesting history. [In fact, one can’t fully understand why so many people in Toronto in the 1860s were passionate about Rep by Pop without knowing about this history. One of the reasons why George Brown was so committed to Rep by Pop was his upbringing in a liberal Scottish household in which the memory of Old Sarum was still fresh. I should explain that before the parliamentary reform of 1832, the ruins of the medieval city of Old Sarum were represented in the British parliament, while the new and populous city of Manchester was without representation. ]Anyway, my point is that knowing how the UK gradually moved toward true Rep by Pop in the 19th or 20th centuries might be useful for Canadians.
Old Sarum
The Past Speaks 
As a Maritimer, I’ll agree to total rep-by-pop representation in the House as soon as we fix that other chamber – the Senate – which is supposed to adress the question of regional representation. Give the Senate real legitimacy (and thus a share of the power), and I’m fine with a House of Commons with more than 1/3 of Ontarians!
If the Conservatives are serious about Senate reform, the Maritimes would be a fertile place to look for allies. That they still haven’t done this seriously is beyond my comprehension.