Commentaire 47 (23 août 2022) – commentaires et rétroaction

Rob Moore, MP for Fundy Royal

To the members of the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for New Brunswick,

Thank you for your work as commissioners on the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for New Brunswick. As a longstanding Member of Parliament for the riding of Fundy Royal, I write to express my objection to the proposal put forth by the commission to change the name of Fundy Royal to Fundy Royal - Riverview. Every New Brunswicker living in the riding of Fundy Royal should see their community equally represented in the name of their federal riding.

In the name Fundy Royal, 'Fundy' refers to the communities situated along the Bay of Fundy, and 'Royal' encapsulates the counties of Kings, Queens and Albert - named for Prince Albert, the consort of Queen Victoria. It would be redundant to change the name of Fundy Royal to Fundy Royal - Riverview as the Town of Riverview is located in Albert County which is already represented in the name Fundy Royal. The current proposal argues that "The new boundary changes dictate a change of name to better reflect the new geographic boundary." However, as previously stated, Albert County is already represented in the name Fundy Royal; adding more of Albert County to the riding would not necessitate a name change.

When the entirety of the Town of Quispamsis joined Fundy Royal during the 2012 redistribution of electoral districts, the Commission at that time proposed to change the name from Fundy Royal to Fundy-Quispamsis. The Commission stated in their December 6, 2012 report to the House of Commons that the name change would be appropriate "considering that all of the town of Quispamsis will now be in Fundy Royal." However, according to the Commissions' 2012 report, the proposed name change "was opposed by all presenters, even those from the Quispamsis area." Many of the arguments against changing the name in 2012 are still valid today.

In 2012 many of those who presented to the commission objected to the name change given that it would result in one community receiving a special distinction over the many others. This would have given the appearance that other communities within these boundaries were of lesser importance. The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for New Brunswick made the right decision in 2012 when they ultimately decided to maintain the riding's name as Fundy Royal.

Every community in the riding of Fundy Royal should be able to see their region reflected equally in the name of their federal riding. The name Fundy Royal should not be changed as it currently achieves this fine balance of fair representation.

Thank you for your careful consideration and attention to this very important matter.

Sincerely,

Hon. Rob Moore, P.C., M.P. Fundy Royal