Ontario Liberal MP's map of Canada forgets P.E.I., Yukon

Politics

Yasir Naqvi’s pre-Canada Day map merged several provincial and territorial borders and omits one province altogether.

Yasir Naqvi’s pre-Canada Day map came with a unique geography lesson

Sarina Mohan · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 23, 2024 1:05 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 23

A pre-Canada Day map sent to constituents by Ottawa MP Yasir Naqvi featured several inconsistencies with provincial and territorial borders. (CBC)

Yasir Naqvi’s map of Canada map depicts a country Canadians are not familiar with — it has eight provinces and two territories.

Canada has 10 provinces and three territories.

The taxpayer-funded political flyer by the Liberal MP to celebrate Canada Day, which was sent to constituents in his Ottawa Centre riding, includes a photo of Naqvi with his contact information. Its main feature is a blank map of Canada encouraging recipients to “colour the map.”

However, recipients were met with a few fewer provinces to colour. The Maritime province of Prince Edward Island is typically nestled in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but was left out of the map altogether.

The map also included several inconsistencies with provincial and territorial borders.

The Quebec border takes over New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, lumping them into one province.

And the border between Yukon and Northwest Territories has disappeared, merging the territories into one.

The map has been making the rounds online, with many questioning how it was approved despite the inaccuracies.

Alberta Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner took to X, formerly known as Twitter. She shared a photo of the map and asked, “Can you spot the error that whoever was supposed to proof this mailer didn’t catch?”

Pre Canada Day fun time!

Can you spot the error that whoever was supposed to proof this mailer didn’t catch? pic.twitter.com/qinv99kS55

—@MichelleRempel

Days after the map was sent out Naqvi took to X to apologize for the mistake.

Please think of it as an interactive map to teach kids our geography, or to start to learn more about these amazing places.

From my team and I, our best wishes to you for a #HappyCanadaDay!

—@Yasir_Naqvi

Naqvi did not explain how this map was sent out despite the errors, but instead he gave a solution on how to use the inaccurate map.

“Please think of it as an interactive map to teach kids our geography, or to start to learn more about these amazing places,” Naqvi wrote on Sunday.

CBC News reached out to the Liberal MP for comment but did not receive a response.

Newsletters — known as “householders” — are paid for by the House of Commons that Canada Post distributes at no charge to households in each MP’s own riding.

MPs can send these flyers, which typically inform constituents about parliamentary activities and issues, up to four times per year using their office budgets.