A new bill introduced by the Conservative government last Thursday would see the House of Commons increase by 30 seats.

If passed the legislation would also see senators limited to eight-year term limits. The Conservatives' new bills represent the most significant changes to Parliament in over two decades.

The proposed legislation would also have the effect of giving the western provinces more seats than Quebec.

“Right now we have a situation where we have significant population increases and we want to make this fair and equitable so that voters are represented in the House of Commons with equal weight across the country,” said Stockwell Day, MP for Okanagan-Coquihalla.

British Columbia would get seven new seats, Alberta would receive five new seats and Ontario would get the lion's share with eighteen.

“There has been growth throughout B.C. but it will be up to the Electoral Boundary Commission to actually determine where those seats will be,” says Day.

Day said that through conjecture, the lower mainland would certainly receive new seats, with the interior a strong possibility with northern B.C. being considered as well.

If the bill makes it through final reading, the three most rapidly growing provinces will have representation within the House of Commons almost in proportion to their actual populations.

The changes are not expected to benefit the Conservatives unfairly in an election and regardless, the changes would not come into effect until at least 2014, after the mandatory deadline.

No provinces will see their number of seats decrease even if their populations have gotten smaller.

The Electoral Boundary Commission will determine, after consultation with the public, what boundary lines make sense and where the seats would be most fairly allocated based on population.

“We will wait for the final results of the 2011 census,” said Day.

“Then the Electoral Boundaries Commission will deliberate, so it could be three or four years until the new seats are implemented.”