Federal electoral districts redistribution 2022

Comment 42 (3 October 2022) comments and feedback

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Duncan Hamilton

Hi,

In follow up to my previous submission regarding Manitoba's Federal electoral boundaries redistribution I wanted to briefly comment on the initial plan that was proposed.

First I would like to say that the R.M. of Woodlands should remain in the Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman constituency as the RM of Woodland and the RM of Rockwood and RM of St. Laurent are very closely linked and are all part of the Interlake.

I believe a natural dividing point in the province would be in the middle of Portage La Prairie, I would divide the RM and City of Portage into four quadrants along Saskatchewan Avenue and Tupper St. North. The southern two quadrants should remain part of Portage-Lisgar and the North West Quadrant should be merged with Dauphin-Swan-River Neepawa. The North East Quandrant could be added to Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman and everything north of the Assinniboine River and North of the Trans-Canada Highway in that area could be added to Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman.

You could add some of the provincial riding of Red-River-North and portions of the RM of St. Andrews and RM of St. Clements and South Selkirk to the Kildonan-St. Paul riding.

The RM of Springfield should be added to the Transcona riding and it should be renamed Transcona-Springfield.

Portions of Elmwood and Concordia should be added to Winnipeg North and Winnipeg Centre.

Wolselely and everything South of Broadway and South of Portage Avenue should be added to Winnipeg South Centre.

St. Boniface and Winnipeg South should stretch southwards to take in more of the capital region to the south of the City of Winnipeg.

These changes in the capital region would improve the rural urban balance of representation within the province of Manitoba's electoral divisions. As someone who originates in a rural area and now lives in the city I think I recognize that the urban rural divide is magnified by the way our electoral divisions have been drawn in the past.

I would also again suggest adding the portions of the RM of Rosser that are within the perimeter highway to the riding of Charleswood-St. James and Headingley as new developments within the city are expected in that region. I would also add Tuxedo that riding up to Kenaston and Route 90, and I would add more of the rural area west of the city to that riding to capture more of the capital region.

By better incorporating the capital region into more ridings it will encourage municipalities and various Members of Parliament to better work together to move regional projects forward for our major centers such as Brandon, Portage, and the Winnipeg Capital region and less parochial focuses on singular areas. These divisions will also encourage more competitive races in the City of Winnipeg and help to reverse what might be described as declining democratic interest, or stagnation.

Thank-you and I hope you consider these suggestions as you make your final report.

I had difficulty previously using your mapping technology online. It appeared to be an excellent option for making submissions, but was still a little unwieldy and I was unable to get it to work well when I tried previously to make a submission prior to your public hearings. But I hope the above is helpful.

Duncan Hamilton Winnipeg, MB

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