Divided ridings not sitting well with local politicians

By Miller Reynolds

BELLEVILLE (8/11/12) Prince Edward Hastings MPP Todd Smith voices his opinion to the boundary commission about the proposed changes to the electoral riding boundaries. Photo by: Miller Reynolds.

Politicians don’t want their ridings to be divided.

That was the general consensus at yesterday’s boundaries commission meeting in Belleville, where the public voiced their opinions on the proposal of changing the boundaries of electoral ridings in Canada.

The local riding would be changed to Belleville-Napanee-Frontenac and would include Stone Mills, Tyendinaga, Greater Napanee, Belleville, Loyalist and South Frontenac.

Hastings County would be split into three ridings, and would be named Lanark-Frontenac-Hastings.

Prince-Edward-Hastings MPP, Todd Smith, said splitting Hastings County would cause communications problems.

“I would prefer that we could at least keep all of Hastings County together, and not split it up into three different ridings. Obviously it would make it very difficult for the municipalities in

Hastings county to try and organize with three different MP’s and then three different MPP’s when getting their concerns across,” he said.

“I just think it would simplify things if we could keep everybody together in Hastings County, have them represented by one MP, and one MPP.”

Jim Pine, chief administrative officer of Hastings County, said people are worried about the outcome of this proposal.

“The county is very concerned about being split up into three different federal ridings,” he said.

“Our view is that the county would be best served if it remains whole.”

Justice George Valin, chair of the 2012 Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission, said the public hearing process is critical for revising the proposal.

“It is a proposal, it is not etched in stone,” he said.

Valin said the commission has received lots of good advice from the public, but for the most part, people don’t agree with the proposed changes.

“People between the west end of Ottawa and the east end of Toronto, are not happy with what we have proposed, that’s why we have this public hearing process,”

Unlike smaller counties, Valin said more established areas of the province like Brampton or Mississauga are less caring of their riding boundaries because of the explosion of population in those areas.

“They don’t have this historical attachment to where they live or where they vote, as opposed to someone in Lanark County, or Hastings County, or Northumberland County who has lived here for generations,” he said.

“People don’t like change.”