Comment 14 (31 March 2022) – comments and feedback

Mike Morrison

Subject: Miramichi Grand-Lake redistribution review

Dearest Commission members,

I felt compelled to write to you to add my submission towards your thoughts and the process going forward as you review the boundaries throughout New Brunswick and how redistribution may or may not affect the Miramichi Grand-Lake Electoral District 13006.

As a lifelong resident of Miramichi, New Brunswick, I have witnessed many changes to the Federal boundaries over the years. Some for the better and some for the worse as constituents were lumped together for various reasons to satisfy political agendas. It is with objective knowledge that I can say that the current riding boundary represents the best iteration of an electoral district since confederation yet some small adjustments could be made to create much deeper community and constituent cohesion throughout the electoral district.

The community interests are well served presently and the rural nature of the riding is such that most residents fit well within the boundaries. The addition of the Minto, Chipman, Grand-Lake and Harcourt portions of the riding have added to the communities of interest and those areas of the riding, with their surrounding populations, have melted into the identity of what is now Miramichi Grand-Lake extremely well. It would be my submission that those areas should remain as they have spent a decade building lines of communication throughout the Electoral District and now align well with the other rural communities such as Upper Miramichi and Doaktown. The alignment of the forestry sector that services the two geographical sections of the Electoral District with JDI mills in Doaktown and Chipman create an even greater community interest alignment as well and serve as an economic development justification for keeping those areas together.

I would like to now draw attention to one section that was lumped into the riding that has not seemed to align with the community interests of the larger electoral district. Elsipogtog First Nation (Big Cove), and the surrounding area within Richibucto (15), Weldford, and a portion of the Kent County area have never fully integrated into the Electoral District. The alignment of Community interests has never quite taken place and it is a disjointed section of the Electoral District as those constituents don't feel served by the rest of the riding. While Miramichi Grand-Lake has historically had three First Nation communities, those being Metepenagiag (Red Bank), Natoaganeg (Eel Ground), and Eskinuopitijk (Burnt Church), which I must stress fully connect with the rural City of Miramichi as they have been part of Northumberland County since it's inception, Elsipogtog has closer connection to Richibucto and Rexton which are in the Beausejour Electoral District.

As well, the majority of the population of those areas utilize Richibucto and Rexton for their social services and daily needs and also would consider travel to the larger urban City of Moncton first for additional needs before traveling to the City of Miramichi. It would be my submission that this portion of the riding be returned to the Beausejour Electoral District. To adjust population requirements on the Beausejour side of the equation, the sections of the Southeast portions of Beausejour could be included with Fundy Royal such as the line that crosses Dochester Parish and Westmorland down to include Sackville Parish, Sackville proper and back. The line adjustments for population transfer from Beausejour ED to Fundy Royal ED would depend on population offset requirements of course but these changes make the most sense in order to allow the reunification of the Richibuctio/Kent County/Elsipogtog portions of Beausejour ED.

It should be noted that the adjustments outlined will obviously require an adjustment in other areas of Miramichi-Grand Lake to accommodate the population number allowance for the district. It is my submission that a better alignment of community interests for the new riding would be to absorb Stanley Parish, Village of Stanley, Douglas, Waterborough and possibly Brunswick along with a larger Southern portion of Maugerville past the CN line further south towards Fredericton.

These rural areas have close alignment with the Rural Community of Upper Miramichi, Minto, Chipman and the Harcourt areas. Doing this would allow a more cohesive alignment in community interests as well as a like minded rural relationship when accessing Federal Government services and assistance. The new riding name would be well suited to be Miramichi-Grand Lake-Central New Brunswick and would build on the initial changes made in the last redistribution that seen a large portion of rural New Brunswick brought together under the new Federal Electoral District boundary.

I hope that you will take a close look at my suggestions made herein and see the value of the suggestions made in assisting you in a positive redistribution that keeps a rural alignment theme in its methodology. I truly respect the decisions you will be making and I trust that you will quickly ascertain that the submission I have made makes the most sense in relation to the complicated dynamic of community interest alignment in an electoral boundary redistribution process.

Kind regards,

Michael Morrison