A study of institutional transformation and changing public and political attitudes towards the redistribution of electoral constituencies in Canada. Defining electoral districts as representational building blocks, this work compares federal and provincial electoral readjustments in the last half of the twentieth century.

Noting that Canada's electoral boundary readjustments are based on principles markedly different from those in the United States, Courtney examines the impact of various Canadian court decisions based on the right to vote, protection of the Charter, as well as new concepts such as community of interest, minority representation, and effective representation. Courtney concludes with an examination of the conditions that must be met before changes to other representational building blocks, such as the electoral system, can be made.