A new citizens committee, whose members include former MP Marlene Jennings and City Councillor Marvin Rotrand, is ready to go to court to save the riding of Mount Royal from being written off the electoral map.
The group has hired constitutional lawyer Julius Grey to represent their case, and they argue that the merging of two ridings as well as major changes to others across Montreal could mean less representation for some voters.
Marlene Jennings told CJAD 800 that she was worried about what the changes would mean for some groups, especially minority ones.
`You're effectively diluting the value of the vote, and you're splitting up communities in a way that does not allow for effective representation,` she said. `The commission is saying we're going to split the Filipino community, which is largely based in the Mount Royal riding, between two different ridings. That`s unheard of.`
Jennings said that historically the courts have sided against electoral map changes that would hurt representation, and that she was confident they would be able to challenge the changes