Canada General Discussion (2019-)

[Benjamin Frank]

Alleged anti authoritarian Pierre Poilievre in his 'jail not bail' campaign called for never convicted accused violent offenders to be unable to apply for bail and to remain in jail until trial.

This would, of course, violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

On another matter, alleged anti authoritarian Pierre Poilievre seemingly called for mandatory treatment for all illicit drug users. It's actually not clear what solution he proposes to the deaths caused by drugs being illegal, but it seems he'd be happy if illicit drug users would just hurry up and die, his paternalistic and smarmy rhetoric about 'saving our people' aside.

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

Unrelated to Benjamin Frank's previous post, more generally: Poilievre has so far been a very disappointing and frustrating leader, even as a conservative who agrees with his core message. I thought his leadership campaign, whatever you think of the message, showed a much better awareness of realpolitik than his leadership has so far. The message that "the government is out of touch and has all the wrong priorities" is at least a good starting point for a fundamentally conservative message that can nevertheless appeal to a broader range of Canadians than Scheer and O'Toole were able to. So why change the focus to "woke" and things of that nature? He hardly even talked about it during the leadership, so why now, when the people you need to win aren't necessarily ideological conservatives?

It seems to me that the CPC's current polling lead is purely incidental. LPC dropping a few points, NDP gaining a few points, CPC staying where they were at last election - at most, a slight uptick at the PPC's expense, which mostly helps you in already-blue ridings. Yeah, we've seen this movie before, as NDPers here are painfully aware of. During the term, promiscuous progressives proudly proclaim "I'm tired of the two-party status quo, I'm voting NDP!" Then comes the election, and they say "weeeeellll I don't like the Liberals, but we wouldn't want a conservative government, now would we..." The current CPC polling lead is narrow enough that it could evaporate with just a little bit of strategic voting - and even if it doesn't evaporate, not close enough to majority territory. Whatever Poilievre's team is doing, it's not working.

[Benjamin Frank]

Related to Laddicus Finch's previous post.

A Bizarrro world program from CBC's The Current yesterday, with the political discussion (last segment) from CBC's (The House) Catherine Cullen and the National Post's Catherine Levesque with the Globe and Mail's Carrie Tait joining in. It was Catherine Cullen of the CBC pushing all of Pierre Poilievre's talking points with the National Post's Catherine Levesque pushing back.

Catherine Cullen repeated the oft stated on CBC claim that concern over Chinese interferene is resonating with Canadians at large rather than just with partisan conservatives even though there is no evidence in polling data to back this up and I believe it was Levesque who pushed back "no Canadians I speak to mention Chinese interference."

Levesque also questioned Poilievre going to a harm reduction site in Kelowna to wonder what he was doing, with Cullen retorting that 'Poilievre's touching in to the body politic with calling Canada 'broken.'

Finally, Cullen claimed that Canadians would react poorly if Trudeau rebuffed Premier Danielle Smith's (and Premier Scott Moe's) demands because 'Canadians want federal leaders who get along with Premiers.' (uhh, since when?) and claimed that the Albertan 'sovereignty act' was a serious card that Smith could use rather than nonsense that the Supreme Court will strike down as unconstitutional.

I don't know if it is indeed the case that the CBC bends over backwards to attack the government, or if Cullen is just a fanboy of Poilievre, but it was Bizarro world stuff.

To be sure, polling isn't perfect and it tends to underestimate conservative (and Conservative) vote by a little, but listening to the CBC and especially to Catherine Cullen, you'd think the Conservatives were polling as well as they (the P.Cs) were in 1983 under Brian Mulroney.

And our national affairs panel unpacks the latest in Canadian politics, from foreign interference to a new leader in the West. Matt Galloway talks to the CBC’s Catherine Cullen; National Post parliamentary reporter Catherine Lévesque; and Globe and Mail reporter Carrie Tait.
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-63-the-current/clip/15989078-a-snapshot-migration-central-american-border-promise-3d-printed

[Benjamin Frank]

Unrelated to Benjamin Frank's previous post, more generally: Poilievre has so far been a very disappointing and frustrating leader, even as a conservative who agrees with his core message. I thought his leadership campaign, whatever you think of the message, showed a much better awareness of realpolitik than his leadership has so far. The message that "the government is out of touch and has all the wrong priorities" is at least a good starting point for a fundamentally conservative message that can nevertheless appeal to a broader range of Canadians than Scheer and O'Toole were able to. So why change the focus to "woke" and things of that nature? He hardly even talked about it during the leadership, so why now, when the people you need to win aren't necessarily ideological conservatives?

It seems to me that the CPC's current polling lead is purely incidental. LPC dropping a few points, NDP gaining a few points, CPC staying where they were at last election - at most, a slight uptick at the PPC's expense, which mostly helps you in already-blue ridings. Yeah, we've seen this movie before, as NDPers here are painfully aware of. During the term, promiscuous progressives proudly proclaim "I'm tired of the two-party status quo, I'm voting NDP!" Then comes the election, and they say "weeeeellll I don't like the Liberals, but we wouldn't want a conservative government, now would we..." The current CPC polling lead is narrow enough that it could evaporate with just a little bit of strategic voting - and even if it doesn't evaporate, not close enough to majority territory. Whatever Poilievre's team is doing, it's not working.

I think Poilievre boxed himself in by claiming that inflation in Canada was a result of the federal government deficit. What could Poilievre do after that: criticize the government for not spending enough or promise massive tax cuts? Even during the campaign, Poilievre had to point out that it was unrealistic to expect Canada to get to military spending of 2% of GDP any time soon, and his own big spending promise, that of greatly ramping up treatment for drug addicts, he claims will be financed by suing Purdue.

Since the leadership election, I think the issue of the Liberals not focussing on issues of top concern to Canadians has been diminished somewhat by the decline in inflation, and probably by the spending to bring battery factories to Canada, along with the wildfires, where the Liberals might be able to claim in the next election that they were prescient for focussing on public safety while the Conservatives are still defacto global warming deniers.

Right now I would predict that other than these social issues, that the Conservatives will likely release during the campaign (probably starting just before) dozens of examples of wasteful government spending to show the Liberals are incompetent, but with stuff like that,I think it makes sense to keep the powder dry.

[Benjamin Frank]

Supreme Court Justice resigns on same day as Erin O'Toole resigns from Parliament. Seems like it's meant by fate for O'Toole to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Doubt it will happen, but I think he has the appropriate temperament and judgement.

[Ferguson97]

https://globalnews.ca/news/9773748/ontario-man-selfie-terminally-ill-patient-harassment-lgbtq2/

A London, Ont., man has been charged with criminal harassment following an incident in Windsor earlier this week.

According to the Windsor Police Service, officers were contacted on Thursday after a 36-year-old woman reported being consistently harassed through social media following the Wortley Village Pride event in London last weekend.

Police say the harassment continued with the suspect driving from London to a hospital in Windsor where he took a ‘selfie’ with the alleged victim’s terminally ill father.

Police say the accused posted the photo on social media and sent it to the woman.

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

https://twitter.com/gmbutts/status/1671977679971557413
Common Gerald Butts L. But seriously, who the hell makes these "livability" rankings, and by what metric is Toronto such a highly "livable" place? Do they not factor in affordability, which seems like it should be pretty high up the list of "livability"? And if the argument is "you don't know how good you have it in Canada", then why not somewhere like Montreal, hell even an Ottawa or an Edmonton, which undoubtedly rank lower than Toronto in terms of income, amenities and infrastructure (not entirely, Edmonton actually has higher median household incomes than Toronto), but middle-class people can actually afford to live there?

But you know, if Liberals want to waste their time posting pointless arbitrary statistics while ignoring the on-the-ground realities, they're more than welcome to. It won't work out very well for them, I'll tell you that much.

[Hatman 🍁]

Ottawa and Edmonton never get included in these lists. I assume it's because there is a 1million cut off, but both cities now have over 1 million people.

I think if Ottawa were included, it would make the top 10. It is certainly more "livable" than Calgary.  

[Benjamin Frank]

Blaine Higgs seems to be surviving as Premier by a thread. Couldn't happen to a more deserving horrible person.

Another N.B. cabinet minister resigns from Blaine Higgs government
https://globalnews.ca/news/9788527/nb-trevor-holder-resigns-higgs-cabinet/

and with slightly different information
https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/brunswick-premier-loses-second-cabinet-161335475.html

On Wednesday, 26 out of 49 current riding presidents signed letters asking for Higgs to step down, claiming his leadership has divided the party.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Blaine Higgs seems to be surviving as Premier by a thread. Couldn't happen to a more deserving horrible person.

Another N.B. cabinet minister resigns from Blaine Higgs government
https://globalnews.ca/news/9788527/nb-trevor-holder-resigns-higgs-cabinet/

and with slightly different information
https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/brunswick-premier-loses-second-cabinet-161335475.html

On Wednesday, 26 out of 49 current riding presidents signed letters asking for Higgs to step down, claiming his leadership has divided the party.

What is the cause of his problems?

[MaxQue]

Blaine Higgs seems to be surviving as Premier by a thread. Couldn't happen to a more deserving horrible person.

Another N.B. cabinet minister resigns from Blaine Higgs government
https://globalnews.ca/news/9788527/nb-trevor-holder-resigns-higgs-cabinet/

and with slightly different information
https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/brunswick-premier-loses-second-cabinet-161335475.html

On Wednesday, 26 out of 49 current riding presidents signed letters asking for Higgs to step down, claiming his leadership has divided the party.

What is the cause of his problems?

Officially, the repeal of Policy 713, which allows teens to be called by the pronoun of their choice in schools without parental approval, among other things.

Officiously, Higgs is trying to run the province and his party without listening to anybody (but his pastor), which has transformed the caucus, the Cabinet and party meetings into echo chambers where Higgs get upset if you don't agree with him.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Blaine Higgs seems to be surviving as Premier by a thread. Couldn't happen to a more deserving horrible person.

Another N.B. cabinet minister resigns from Blaine Higgs government
https://globalnews.ca/news/9788527/nb-trevor-holder-resigns-higgs-cabinet/

and with slightly different information
https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/brunswick-premier-loses-second-cabinet-161335475.html

On Wednesday, 26 out of 49 current riding presidents signed letters asking for Higgs to step down, claiming his leadership has divided the party.

What is the cause of his problems?

Officially, the repeal of Policy 713, which allows teens to be called by the pronoun of their choice in schools without parental approval, among other things.

Officiously, Higgs is trying to run the province and his party without listening to anybody (but his pastor), which has transformed the caucus, the Cabinet and party meetings into echo chambers where Higgs get upset if you don't agree with him.

How much more time would you give him?

[MaxQue]

Blaine Higgs seems to be surviving as Premier by a thread. Couldn't happen to a more deserving horrible person.

Another N.B. cabinet minister resigns from Blaine Higgs government
https://globalnews.ca/news/9788527/nb-trevor-holder-resigns-higgs-cabinet/

and with slightly different information
https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/brunswick-premier-loses-second-cabinet-161335475.html

On Wednesday, 26 out of 49 current riding presidents signed letters asking for Higgs to step down, claiming his leadership has divided the party.

What is the cause of his problems?

Officially, the repeal of Policy 713, which allows teens to be called by the pronoun of their choice in schools without parental approval, among other things.

Officiously, Higgs is trying to run the province and his party without listening to anybody (but his pastor), which has transformed the caucus, the Cabinet and party meetings into echo chambers where Higgs get upset if you don't agree with him.

How much more time would you give him?

He'll stay, he made pretty clear he'll call an election the second the party looks likely to get rid of him and replace every candidate by a lackey of him.

[Benjamin Frank]

A couple minor points:
1.Pierre Poilievre looks completely different (to me anyway) without glasses.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/ottawa-playbook (scroll down)

and
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-makeover-glasses-1.6911533
Pierre Poilievre drops the glasses as part of an image revamp
'Whether or not I wear glasses, I have the best vision for the country,' Poilievre says

Good line!

2.In the previous day's Ottawa Playbook, it said that over half of the Liberals first elected in 2015 were planning to retire. 82 of the 158 Liberal M.Ps (not including Han Dong) were first elected in 2015 - including Randy Boissonnault and John Aldag who were both first elected in 2015 defeated in 2019 and then reelected in 2021.

On the one hand, this does sound a bit like the rats deserting a sinking ship, on the other hand, it will likely be close to 10 years by the next election. For those who support term limits, it's usually 8-10 years, so this is actually about right.

A bit of math
There were 184 Liberal M.Ps elected in 2015
30 of them were in the previous Parliament
15 were elected to Parliament prior to the 2011 election but not in 2011.
So, there were 139 Liberal M.Ps first elected in 2015 and 82 are still serving.

Of the 45 combined first elected prior to 2015, I believe 23 are still in Parliament.

The prior Conservative government from 2006-2015 served a similar nearly 10 years. I don't know what the comparables are like, but they had 99 M.Ps elected in 2004 and went up to 124 in the 2006 election.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Blaine Higgs seems to be surviving as Premier by a thread. Couldn't happen to a more deserving horrible person.

Another N.B. cabinet minister resigns from Blaine Higgs government
https://globalnews.ca/news/9788527/nb-trevor-holder-resigns-higgs-cabinet/

and with slightly different information
https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/brunswick-premier-loses-second-cabinet-161335475.html

On Wednesday, 26 out of 49 current riding presidents signed letters asking for Higgs to step down, claiming his leadership has divided the party.

What is the cause of his problems?

Officially, the repeal of Policy 713, which allows teens to be called by the pronoun of their choice in schools without parental approval, among other things.

Officiously, Higgs is trying to run the province and his party without listening to anybody (but his pastor), which has transformed the caucus, the Cabinet and party meetings into echo chambers where Higgs get upset if you don't agree with him.

How much more time would you give him?

He'll stay, he made pretty clear he'll call an election the second the party looks likely to get rid of him and replace every candidate by a lackey of him.

What are the selection arrangements for the New Brunswick PCs? Do the individual riding associations have a say, or is the decision ultimately in the hands of the party leader?

[Upper Canada Tory]

Blaine Higgs seems to be surviving as Premier by a thread. Couldn't happen to a more deserving horrible person.

Another N.B. cabinet minister resigns from Blaine Higgs government
https://globalnews.ca/news/9788527/nb-trevor-holder-resigns-higgs-cabinet/

and with slightly different information
https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/brunswick-premier-loses-second-cabinet-161335475.html

On Wednesday, 26 out of 49 current riding presidents signed letters asking for Higgs to step down, claiming his leadership has divided the party.

What is the cause of his problems?

Officially, the repeal of Policy 713, which allows teens to be called by the pronoun of their choice in schools without parental approval, among other things.

Officiously, Higgs is trying to run the province and his party without listening to anybody (but his pastor), which has transformed the caucus, the Cabinet and party meetings into echo chambers where Higgs get upset if you don't agree with him.

How much more time would you give him?

He'll stay, he made pretty clear he'll call an election the second the party looks likely to get rid of him and replace every candidate by a lackey of him.

What are the selection arrangements for the New Brunswick PCs? Do the individual riding associations have a say, or is the decision ultimately in the hands of the party leader?

Candidates have to be nominated by the party members. From the PCNB party constitution:

4. In order to stand for nomination, the potential candidate must meet the following requirements:
4.1 Be a Member of the Party;
4.2 Meet the qualifications for a candidate under the Elections Act;
4.3 Be nominated and seconded by Members of the Party; and
4.4 Any person who wishes to have his or her name stand for nomination shall advise in writing the President of the
Registered District Association as well as the Executive Director of the PC Party of New Brunswick, no fewer
than fourteen (14) days before the nomination meeting, of his or her intent to seek such nomination, witnessed by
at least fifteen (15) members of the Party.
4.5 Any person who wishes to have his or her name stand for nomination shall submit such application forms,
declarations, background checks, bonds, and other requirements, and shall submit himself or herself to such
interviews, as may be established by the Provincial Council from time to time.

[Benjamin Frank]

Blaine Higgs seems to be surviving as Premier by a thread. Couldn't happen to a more deserving horrible person.

Another N.B. cabinet minister resigns from Blaine Higgs government
https://globalnews.ca/news/9788527/nb-trevor-holder-resigns-higgs-cabinet/

and with slightly different information
https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/brunswick-premier-loses-second-cabinet-161335475.html

On Wednesday, 26 out of 49 current riding presidents signed letters asking for Higgs to step down, claiming his leadership has divided the party.

What is the cause of his problems?

Officially, the repeal of Policy 713, which allows teens to be called by the pronoun of their choice in schools without parental approval, among other things.

Officiously, Higgs is trying to run the province and his party without listening to anybody (but his pastor), which has transformed the caucus, the Cabinet and party meetings into echo chambers where Higgs get upset if you don't agree with him.

How much more time would you give him?

He'll stay, he made pretty clear he'll call an election the second the party looks likely to get rid of him and replace every candidate by a lackey of him.

What are the selection arrangements for the New Brunswick PCs? Do the individual riding associations have a say, or is the decision ultimately in the hands of the party leader?

There is a leadership review of Blaine Higgs.

PC dissidents submit letters to trigger review of Higgs leadership

From the CBC: https://tinyurl.com/yv76stcm

[Hatman 🍁]

Poilievre looks terrible without glasses. What were they thinking?

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

Poilievre looks terrible without glasses. What were they thinking?

Yeah I'm not sure what the thinking there was, my guess is that glasses aren't usually considered a good idea for politicians, for the same reason as beards - they obscure the face, which people associate with untrustworthiness, as unfair as that may be. But in his case yeah he definitely looks better with glasses, and the glasses are a part of his brand. It would be like Trudeau getting a buzz cut, just feels weird and out of place.

[Benjamin Frank]

A cabinet shuffle is expected this week. Ministers who aren't running again (Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay will be 78 in 2025 and has been an M.P since 1988 but I haven't heard anything about him) are expected to be dropped as is normal, and two or three Toronto area M.Ps Marco Mendicino, Ahmed Hussen and Omar Alghabra are expected to be dropped or, at least, demoted. Mendicino and Hussen have both been disappointments at best in two portfolios so I wouldn't be surprised if they're both dropped while Alghabra is demoted.

There was a Toronto Star article on the history of cabinet making in Canada that mentioned how the Canadian cabinet is bloated through the need for regional representation which isn't considered as important elsewhere. That part may be true, but I largely dispute that the Canadian cabinet is bloated compared to other Anglo nations anyway.

The United States has only 15 cabinet department secretaries (so not the CIA director) but in addition to having cabinet level positions (like now the CIA director) it also has a Presidential/Congressional system rather than a Parliament. The Congressional system is interesting in this regard because while the members of the House and Senate are all legislators, they also have the power of the purse much more than Canadian Parliamentarians. So, you could count, for instance, U.S Congressional Committee chairs of at least the 12 appropriation committees as defacto cabinet ministers (at least you can when Congress operates under 'regular order.') Similarly while in Canada, the Minister of Justice (or at least his department) writes laws, in the U.S the Attorney General does not.

In Australia, there are 23 senior ministers and 7 ministers of state, for 30 ministers in a country with less than 2/3 Canada's population.

In the U.K, while there are only 22 senior ministers (or secretaries) including the Prime Minister (limited by law capping the amount that can be paid a senior minister salary) there are another 102! junior ministers and undersecretaries of state.
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/government-ministers

Of course, most of the U.K is one 'province' of England, so there aren't any provinces like in Canada (the 'countries' of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales being the closest comparison I guess.)

Also, it seems this capping of senior ministries has led to some very large portfolios beyond the 'great offices of state' like the minister (secretary) for business and energy and the minister of rural affairs which seems to be responsible for all resources other than energy, as well as possibly the cabinet office minister and the minister of health and welfare (although there is also a minister of work and pensions.)

So, a bit of history on the Canadian cabinet. In the 1980s under Brian Mulroney, the cabinet peaked at 40 ministers (including Mulroney.) Due to criticism of the perceived bloat and the reality of the difficulty of cabinet meetings and how this had led to an 'inner cabinet', Mulroney appointed former Deputy Prime Minister and M.P for Yukon (and brother of comedic and former serious actor Leslie Nielsen), Eric Nielsen to review the cabinet structure. In 1993, Prime Minister Kim Campbell acted on this report to shrink the cabinet to just 25 ministers including the leader of the Canadian Senate.

Later in 1993, new Prime Minister Jean Chretien shrunk the cabinet down to just 23. However, a few months later, upon criticism that regions and ethnic groups weren't fully represented, he added several ministers of state who did not regularly attend cabinet meetings.

By the end of the Martin government in 2006, the senior cabinet had increased from 23 to 28 in part due to new portfolios like international development and in part due to making ministries Chretien had demoted to junior positions like veterans affaris back to senior ministries.

Stephen Harper in 2006 reduced the senior cabinet by one (recombining Human Resources with Social Development) and initially did away with the junior ministers. He brought back 5 ministers of state in his first cabinet shuffle early in 2007. By the end of this time in office in 2015, the only change in the senior ministry was to make the infrastructure ministry into a senior ministry renamed infrastructure and communities, and to eliminate the intergovernmental affairs portfolio (for those who forget that Harper couldn't/wouldn't play nice with anybody) but also had 11 junior ministers and an associate minister of defense, Julian Fantino, for a total of 39 ministers.

Similarly, Trudeau initially had a senior cabinet of just 26 (eliminating the senate leader from the cabinet) with 5 junior ministers, but also announced that the junior ministry designation would be done away with. From what I've seen of these no longer junior ministries, I'm not convinced they've been done away with defacto. Most of the portfolios disappear when the minister leaves and they don't seem to generate much attention. So, as far as I can tell, there are really senior 29 ministries and 28 ministers (with Dominic Leblanc holding both intergovernmetnal affairs and infrastructure and communities.) The increase from Harper's time has come from again separating social development and human resources, bringing back intergovernmental affairs, and adding the crown-indigenous relations ministry and (in my opinion defacto) 11 junior ministers, for again, a total of 39 ministers.

Again, that is not much more than Australia, is significantly less than the U.K, and it's difficult to make direct comparisons with the U.S.

[Benjamin Frank]

Latest rumor is the cabinet shuffle expected on Wednesday will be larger than previously believed with multiple ministers dropped. First to go presumably is Carolyn Bennett who announced today she isn't running again. According to the CBC, Omar Alghabra also won't be running again.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

…

While the comparison with population is interesting, the number of cabinet members is more generally proportional to the number of parliamentarians, as can be seen in Canadian provinces and Australian states.

[super6646]

Just thinking ahead to the next election, I genuinely hate all the parties in their present standing. LPC and their godawful immigration platform, the CPC with crypto know-it-all-nothing pollievre… and then just the NDP which is the libs with an openly antagonistic platform against Alberta’s O&G.

Genuinely thinking the LPC is the best of 3 godawful options right now.

[Хahar 🤔]

LPC and their godawful immigration platform

The last few weeks Canadian posters here have been saying this all the time and it just doesn't make any sense to me. Considering Canada's macroeconomic position I think it's essential.

Rich large anglophone countries should be in a strong position in a services-based economy, but they all have to complete with the United States, where wages and purchasing power are much higher. It is not within the power of any government to change this, so they have to find ways to compensate. Britain has an attractive world city and cultural power; Ireland has European Union membership; Australia has a favorable location relative to Asia and apparent freedom from the vagaries of the business cycle.

Canada will always have the issue of brain drain because American wages are so much higher and life in America is basically the same. At work I sit next to a Canadian citizen and I work closely with someone else who will move from Canada to the United States as soon as his work authorization comes through. Canada's only comparative advantage is loose immigration policy: the United States will always get the best talent, but Canada can compensate by drawing from a wider pool.

If I were a Canadian voter I would not vote Liberal at the next election under any circumstances, but immigration policy is something this government has gotten right.

[Benjamin Frank]

…

While the comparison with population is interesting, the number of cabinet members is more generally proportional to the number of parliamentarians, as can be seen in Canadian provinces and Australian states.

Don't know about in Australia, but the number of parliamentarians at the provincial level is generally proportional to the population in that province. Other than Quebec which has increased its members of the national assembly from only 122 to 125 in the last 40 or so years, and Ontario which ties its proviniclal boundaries to the federal boundaries (with two exceptions up north) but also already has 124 members of the provincial parliament and Manitoba which has had 57 members of the legislative assembly since at least the 1960s, all the other provinces (especially British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and probably going forward Nova Scotia) increase their legislative members as population increases.

The reason for this is simply that if the numbers of members stayed the same it would require a reduction in rural representation and nobody wants to be seen increasing the size of already large ridings geographically at the provincial level - except in Manitoba. I'm actually not sure why rural Manitobans don't seem to have a problem with this.