Comparing Alberta's federal representation to other provinces.
There has been lots of recent talk about "equalization payments", "pipeline approvals", etc.What you might not realize is that there is now no logical "rhyme or reason" to how many senators are assigned to each province. In the U.S., each state has 2 senators no matter what population it has. In Canada, Senators are not assigned like this nor based on population (except in the case of Quebec).
Observations about the following chart:
1. Alberta has more population and fewer senators than Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
2. Alberta has more population and the same number of senators as Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland.
3. Alberta has the second highest population per senator (660,890 people per senator).
4. Quebec has roughly the same proportion of population as it does both Senators and MPs (seats in the House of Commons).
5. Only 3 provinces (B.C., Alberta, Ontario) have population percentages "significantly" higher than their Senate seat and House of Commons seat percentages. This means these are the only 3 provinces under-represented federally.
Conclusions:
In the Senate:1 Prince Edward Islander = 18 Albertans
1 New Brunswicker = 9 Albertans
1 Newfoundlander = 8 Albertans
1 Nova Scotian = 7 Albertans
1 Saskatchewanite = 3.5 Albertans
1 Manitoban = 3 Albertans
1 Quebecer = 2 Albertans
1 Ontario person = 1.2 Albertans
Compared to Alberta, most of the provinces are over-represented in both the Senate and the House of Commons. Most of these provinces receive "equalization payments" from the federal government. Alberta has not received "equalization payments" from the federal government in my lifetime (over 4 decades).
To make this situation fairer for Albertans, the rest of Canada would have to agree to a reworking of the Canadian Constitution.
Is it likely that they would want to change anything, unless of course, they were "persuaded by the possible separation of Alberta and/or Western Canada?
How did that (separation talk) work for Quebec? Quite well, if you look at the numbers.
Province or Territory
| Senators | Population per Senator (April 2013) |
% senators | % population | seats, House of Commons |
% seats, Commons |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 British Columbia |
6 | 775,001 | 5.7% | 13.1% | 42 | 12.4% |
 Alberta |
6 | 660,890 | 5.7% | 11.7% | 34 | 10.0% |
 Ontario |
24 | 565,988 | 22.9% | 38.5% | 121 | 35.8% |
 Quebec |
24 | 337,462 | 22.9% | 23.0% | 78 | 23.1% |
 Manitoba |
6 | 212,890 | 5.7% | 3.6% | 14 | 4.1% |
 Saskatchewan |
6 | 182,313 | 5.7% | 3.2% | 14 | 4.1% |
 Nova Scotia |
10 | 94,502 | 9.5% | 2.6% | 11 | 3.3% |
 Newfoundland and Labrador |
6 | 85,595 | 5.7% | 1.5% | 7 | 2.1% |
 New Brunswick |
10 | 75,404 | 9.5% | 2.1% | 10 | 3.0% |
 Northwest Territories |
1 | 43,349 | 0.9% | 0.1% | 1 | 0.3% |
 Prince Edward Island |
4 | 36,441 | 3.8% | 0.4% | 4 | 1.2% |
 Yukon |
1 | 36,418 | 0.9% | 0.1% | 1 | 0.3% |
 Nunavut |
1 | 34,023 | 0.9% | 0.1% | 1 | 0.3% |
Total/Average,  Canada |
105 | 334,681 | 100% | 100% | 338 | 100% |