Federal Electoral Districts

Description

This data layer contains the 308 Federal Electoral Districts of Canada. A representative or member of Parliament is elected for each electoral district.

Following the release of population counts from each decennial census, the Chief Electoral Officer determines the number of seats in the House of Commons and publishes the information in the Canada Gazette. Electoral boundaries commissions then determine the adjustments to the constituency boundaries. The federal electoral boundaries commissions are independent bodies that make all decisions regarding the proposed and final federal electoral boundaries.

Elections Canada provides support services to the boundaries commission in each province.

Based on reports from these commissions, the Chief Electoral Officer prepares a draft representation order that describes the boundaries and specifies the name and the population of each FED. The representation order is in force on the first dissolution of Parliament that occurs at least one year after its proclamation. The 2003 Representation Order (proclaimed on August 25, 2003) was based on 2001 Census population counts, and increased the number of FEDs to 308, up from 301 from the previous 1996 Representation Order. Ontario received three additional seats, while Alberta and British Columbia each gained two seats. The names of FEDs may change at any time through an Act of Parliament.

Download the Federal Electoral Districts Fact Sheet [pdf 1.69 MB]

Documentation

For more details on standards and specifications, see Federal Electoral Districts, Product Specifications [pdf 170 KB] and Federal Electoral Districts, Feature Catalogue [pdf 45 KB].

Metadata

For a complete description of collection metadata, see the Federal Electoral Districts, Collection Metadata.

Collection and Dataset Metadata comply with FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC Metadata Workbook & Graphical Representation, pdf 960 KB).

Use and Restrictions

All distributed Federal Electoral Districts datasets should be accessed and used in accordance with the GeoBase Unrestricted Use Licence Agreement.

Data Formats

The Federal Electoral Districts datasets are available in GML (Geography Markup Language) and SHAPE (ESRITM).

A subset of each FED dataset is also distributed in the KMZ format, which is a compressed version of the KML (Keyhole Markup Language) format. This format allows displaying Federal Electoral Districts data using software such as Google Earth and Google Map.

For more information on National Hydro Network data distribution formats, you may refer to the following document:

  • Federal Electoral Districts, Product Distribution Formats, Edition 1.0, 2010-04-27 [pdf 49 KB]

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