Riding Redistribution

This sounds to be the driest of topics!  Yet some 60 people showed up at the hearings in Cobourg on November 12th to present their views on the reallocation of the boundaries of our political ridings.  And 100% of them were against the changes proposed by the Electoral Boundaries Commission for the riding of Northumberland Quinte-West.  Change, I guess we do not want.

The challenge of course is that change has to come.  The allocation of ridings in Canada is revised every 10 years following the decennial census.  Attempting to keep populations within ridings to about the same -- 107,000 people, inevitably means an increase in the number of ridings and the parcelling of some into others.

I too am against the proposed changes, and made the following submission:

"I represent myself more than anything else. I am a member of the Green Parties of both Canada and Ontario, and have been active politically in that context. The thoughts I am going to present have been shared with members of both Green Parties in our existing ridings. My own riding is Northumberland Quinte West (NQW). Discussions have been held, largely telephonic, with party members, and with members of other parties, in the adjoining ridings of Prince Edward Hastings, Oshawa and Durham. However, the views are in no way, formally endorsed by any of my correspondents.

"I want to say at the outset that I am a relatively new resident of this riding. I moved from Ottawa to Brighton in 2007, and thus have no first-hand knowledge of riding geography in the area prior to that. Having moved to Brighton, I take advantage of the services available throughout a day’s drive from my home. We shop locally, and in Cobourg and Trenton, at opposite ends of NQW. We shop further afield as well, in Belleville, Kingston, Ajax and Peterborough, as well as Toronto. We take advantage of entertainment facilities similarly, so that in no way do we consider ourselves constrained to our political boundaries.

"Having said that, I find it hard to understand why Northumberland County should be split in the proposed scheme of things. I want to argue strongly for the retention of the County as a political division.

"The Green Party has found it particularly hard to find party members in Trenton, as well as in Prince Edward County. Most of our activity and members in NQW come from the western end of the riding. From a selfish point of view, aligning with the County (Prince Edward County) will make our life more difficult.

"But that is selfish. From a more social perspective, my judgement is that residents of Brighton do not consider themselves PEC residents. Clearly, there is some overlap, but they are not us. There is a dividing line between residents of the County and those of Northumberland. Including Brighton (and parts further west) as part of the County does not make sense.

"Excluding Trenton from a Northumberland riding though does make sense. Not only have we found it difficult to recruit members in Trenton, but there is a substantial difference in social context between Trenton and the eastern parts of Northumberland County. Largely because of the military base there (and in the County), while there are dormitory features of eastern Northumberland, these differences will remove cohesiveness from a new riding incorporating both.

"There are those who I know disagree with me. There is even a move to alter the local council structure to incorporate Brighton with communities to the east. I do not share this view. We came to Brighton to live in Brighton, not to be part of a larger Trenton/Quinte city. As I am against the idea of incorporating differently, I am clearly against a riding redistribution that lumps Brighton in with areas to the east.

"It has also been pointed out that an alignment of the western parts of Northumberland County with communities to the west, will draw those parts of our county into a closer ‘big-city’ alignment, and would recognise a greater association with the conurbation of Toronto to the west.

"But this will belittle the interests of Northumberland as a whole. Northumberland is largely rural. In my experience a delightful rural environment, of beauty not found elsewhere in the province. Its beauty is not only in its farmland and hillsides, but in the communities found within it. Without doubt these communities benefit from the surrounding economies, but nevertheless have a character that will, given a continued existence of the Northumberland County Council, be diminished in a split representation.

"I recognise that this is an enormous jigsaw puzzle. You need to adjust boundaries as far as possible to produce ridings of about the same size, 107,000 people. You may need to recognise historical associations as well as contemporary alignments.

"Historically, there was substantial north-south interaction as the lumber of the hinterland was shipped out through the lakeshore ports. There was immigration from the County into the regions further inland. More recently, there has been an east-west association as the railways and road systems were built.

"NQW is also split by telephone area codes: 905 in the west, 705 in the north and 613 to the east. None of this history and geography is part of your proposal. And I would agree with that: I do not see them as polarising influences on our communities that should be reflected in our riding boundaries.

"In our case, NQW, if you can keep Northumberland County intact both in geography and name, you will earn I know the gratitude of more than myself. If not already, I know you will be hearing from the County itself, as well as others both political and social at other levels.

"In particular, recognising that NQW is currently about 17% over the desired size, I would urge you to consider allocating those parts of Quinte West in NQW and those parts north and east of the Trent River, to a more eastern riding. If necessary reduce those parts of Kawartha, now allocated to KPHC, in order to accommodate the retention of all parts of Northumberland in a single riding.

"I wish you wisdom and patience in considering the merits of all our submissions."

The strength of the views was not lost on the commissioners, who commented that this meeting in Cobourg was the best attended of all the public meetings they had held, but we will see if they are able to accommodate our feelings in their final report due later this year.