Comment 14 – comments and feedback

Philip Charbonneau

Hello there,

First, I'd like to thank you all for being members of the Ontario Commission. I know that doing these redistributions can be a complex, time consuming and an often thankless job. Many citizens don't understand the balancing act needed between population growth, political history, municipal and natural boundaries and cultural/linguistic considerations for the foundation of our riding boundaries. So, again, thank you for taking the time out of your lives to do this service.

I have some recommendations on the boundaries proposed. I've divided this message into the three areas of the province I have suggestions for, namely the area around Waterloo region, the Windsor-Essex area, and Halton region. Additionally, I have included a few comments about other specific areas or ridings that didn't need a full detailed section. I've included maps I've made of my suggested adjustments to the proposed boundaries.

Waterloo Region and Area:

Kitchener Centre: Generally, I agree with the proposed boundaries of this riding, but suggest some small adjustments I feel make the boundaries more clear and maintain neighbourhood integrity. The proposed boundary has shifted away from Fairway Road to split off sections of the Centreville and Idlewood neighbourhoods into the neighbouring riding of Kitchener South-North Dumfries. I suggest bringing the boundary back to Fairway Road as this maintains the integrity of these neighbourhoods in a single riding. To keep the balance of population, I suggest moving the added Kitchener communities from the Waterloo riding (the Bridgeport area) and a small section of west Kitchener to the riding of Kitchener-Conestoga. Kitchener Conestoga already contains a significant portion of west Kitchener, so adding further parts would be inline with the precedent of existing boundaries. I would also argue the Bridgeport section taken from the Waterloo riding would be better coupled with Kitchener Conestoga. The community of Bridgeport lies on the other side of the Grand River from the rest of Kitchener and has more geographic and relational ties with the neighbouring township communities of Bloomingdale and Breslau, both of which are in Kitchener-Conestoga.

Kitchener-Conestoga: As mentioned above, I suggest transferring the community of Bridgeport and a small portion of west Kitchener to this riding. I also suggest returning the western communities of Kitchener which form the current boundaries of the riding, and are now transferred to the proposed riding of Kitchener South-North Dumfries. Maintaining the continuity of representation is important to develop local political culture and transferring these neighbourhoods between ridings does not appear to offer any benefit to the voters there. To keep the balance of population, I suggest transferring the portion of the community of Hespeler lying north of the Speed River included in the proposed boundaries to another, discussed in more detail below.

Cambridge and Kitchener South-North Dumfries: I suggest returning these two ridings mostly back to how they were arranged in the last redistribution with the community of Hespeler included with south Kitchener and North Dumfries with Cambridge. North Dumfries, while a township with its own unique culture, economy, and rural needs, is more oriented towards Cambridge than Kitchener. Many citizens in Saint George or Ayr commute to Cambridge for work and many major roads flow into Cambridge rather than Kitchener. Further, the city of Cambridge is an amalgamation of three cities (Galt, Preston and Hespeler), and these three communities have maintained their distinctive identities and town centres. It was noted in the details of the proposed redistribution that returning a portion of Hespeler to the riding of Cambridge would “better unify the City of Cambridge.” However, the proposal splits the community of Hespeler in two and transfers this section of the community north of the Speed River to a riding dominated by the City of Kitchener and rural townships. I suggest it would be better to maintain the integrity of the community of Hespeler by including it, in its entirety, into a single riding paired with neighbourhoods of south Kitchener. To keep the balance of population in Cambridge reasonable, I would suggest transferring the communities of Blair and Preston Heights to the riding of Kitchener South-Hespeler. These two communities are separated from the city of Cambridge by Highway 401 and the Grand River and are connected to south Kitchener via Fountain Street. Additionally, the Conestoga College campus straddles both sides of the 401 being in both south Kitchener and the village of Blair which further suggests a connection between these communities. I would finally suggest the riding of Cambridge be renamed Cambridge-North Dumfries to recognize the distinctiveness of the township and people who live there.

Brantford: Shrinking the size of this riding to a more balanced and reasonable size was certainly necessary, however the transferring out of the Six Nations and New Credit First Nations, I argue, is not wise. The Six Nations reserve territory extends into part of the City of Brantford so maintaining reserve integrity I suggest is important. Additionally, Brantford is home to a number of cultural locations important to local First Nations peoples (Woodland Cultural Centre and Mohawk Chapel for example) so keeping these communities and these institutions together in the same riding seems right. There is also a significant community of Indigenous and First Nations peoples living in Brantford where many community, cultural and social services are. With this all in mind, I suggest maintaining the pairing of the City of Brantford, Six Nations and New Credit is a better fit than transferring these First Nations communities into Haldimand-Norfolk. I would also suggest a small adjustment to the boundary by the town of Paris. The neighbourhood bounded by Highway 24, Highway 403, Powerline Road, and the Grand River is an extension of the town of Paris with many new developments going up there. My suggestion is to include this area with whatever riding contains the town of Paris using the 403 as a boundary. The riding could be renamed Brandford-Six Nations, or to a name that reflects the Indigenous name for the Grand River which runs through both communities, O:se Kenhionhata:tie or Willow River.

Windsor-Essex-Chatham Area:

Chatham-Kent-Leamington-Kingsville: My suggestion here would be to reconsider expanding the riding to include the town of Kingsville, to instead incorporate the township of Lakeshore and some of the town of Tecumseh. The shared link to Highway 401 and Lake Simcoe would be a common identity for the Lakeshore and Chatham-Kent regions. To balance population the town of Leamington and area would be transferred to a reimaged Essex riding discussed below. I also suggest moving the northern boundary of the riding in North Kent all the way to the outskirts of Wallaceburg and Dresden to Baseline Road. This increase in population would be marginal, and it would ensure more of the municipality of Chatham-Kent is within a single riding. A new name would be needed, and I suggest Chatham-Kent-St-Clair.

Essex: As mentioned above, I suggest transferring Lakeshore Township to be paired with Chatham-Kent. Doing so would allow for all of south Essex County to be in the same riding. The communities of Leamington, Kingsville and Amherstburg all share similar tourist and agricultural economies as well as a relationship with Lake Erie. Pelee Island should also be in included in this riding as the towns of Kingsville and Leamington are the links for that community to the mainland. I argue Kingsville, Leamington and Pelee Island better associate with the rest of south Essex than Chatham-Kent. I would suggest renaming the riding to Essex South or Essex-Pelee.

Windsor-Tecumseh and Windsor West: I only suggest minor changes to these two ridings.

Windsor West should include the neighbourhoods of Ojibway and Malden to bring all of the City of Windsor between the two ridings. Windsor-Tecumseh should take in all of the neighbourhood of Remington Park to keep that neighbourhood all within a single riding as well. A small portion of Tecumseh would be transferred to the neighbouring riding of Chatham-Kent-St. Clair, namely the southern rural part of the township south of the 401 and the portion lying east of Manning Road. I recognize that there might still need to be some small juggling of neighbourhoods for population balance, but the boundaries I suggest for the Windsor-Chatham-Kent-Essex region I argue form more complete and like-minded groupings of communities and neighbourhoods for the ridings.

Halton Region:

Georgetown-Milton East and Burlington-Milton West: I argue the axis of division in the area should be north-south rather than east-west. A north Halton riding taking in all of Georgetown and everything north of Derry Road would include the historic ‘core' part of the city of Milton and pair it with Georgetown. The area south of Derry Road and North of Dundas Street could form a central Halton riding taking in the newer developments of Milton which have not fully formed part of the cultural core of the city as of yet, as well as some outlying newer developments in the northern parts of Burlington and Oakville. I would also suggest including a smaller portion of Burlington west of Highway 407 and north of Highway 403, bounded instead by Brant Street and Dundas Street and the 407. While this riding becomes a bit of a conglomeration of ‘leftovers', it does so by only encompassing those communities outside the cores of Milton, Burlington and Oakville leaving those urban identities intact. I would further suggest changing the names of both of these ridings to something simpler, such as Halton North and Halton Centre.

Oakville Lakeshore, Burlington Lakeshore, and Oakville North: I would suggest that these three ridings be adjusted slightly to better align to municipal boundaries. I suggest extending Burlington Lakeshore to the municipal boundary at Burloak while transferring the areas north of Upper Middle Road to Guelph Line to the riding of Oakville North. Oakville Lakeshore should align its western boundary south of the 403 to Burloak as well. Additionally extending the western boundary north of the 403 to Sixth Line would make up for this population loss. I would further suggest some name changes. The overuse of ‘Lakeshore' in riding names could pose a possible point of confusion for voters, especially since 4 of these ‘Lakeshore' ridings are all in a row (Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga, and Etobicoke). My suggestion is to simply name the two Lakeshore ridings in Halton region to their respective municipal names of Burlington and Oakville. This would reduce the chance of voter confusion and carry on existing naming conventions. Additionally, I suggest renaming Oakville North to Bronte. Oakville North does not reflect the portion of the riding that includes neighbourhoods of Burlington and may get confused with the neighbouring Oakville riding. Bronte is a well known provincial park and creek in the riding and would make a good name.

Other Minor Suggestions:

Townships of Mulmur and Adjala-Tosoronto: These two townships belong to Dufferin and Simcoe counties respectively. In the proposed boundaries they are split off from their counties to form part of a riding encompassing other municipalities. I would suggest trying to maintain the municipal boundaries when possible and the swapping of Mulmar Township to Collingwood-Blue Mountains and the southern portion of Adjala-Tosoronto to Dufferin-Caledon seems odd. My suggestion would be to return Mulmar to Dufferin-Caledon and Adjala-Tosoronto to one of the Simcoe County ridings.

New Tecumseth-Bradford: While I really like how this riding has been constructed, I do however have one small suggested adjustment. There is a portion of King Township south of Highway 9 included in this riding that I suggest would continue to fit better with the remainder of King Township. I would therefor suggest transferring this back to the riding of King-Vaughan to keep the majority of King Township in a single riding.

City of Barrie: This redistribution was a good opportunity to give the City of Barrie a dedicated riding, but the split of the city into two hybrid rural-urban ridings continues. I recognize that the city's population exceeds the limits of a single riding, but still feel one urban only riding could have been created to give Barrie's municipal identity a dedicated seat. Could this area be given a second look to see if this is possible?

Perth-Wellington and South Huron Shores: I would only suggest a small swap of townships between these two ridings to better reflect municipal boundaries. The Township of Howick, as part of Huron County, should be transferred back to Huron Shores, and the Township of Lucan of Middlesex be transferred to Perth-Wellington. Lucan is very close to a major community of Perth Wellington (St. Mary's) and would be just as good a fit in this riding as Howick was, while restoring all of Huron County into a single riding. I would also suggest a small change to the name of South Huron Shores, to just Huron Shores. It is easier to say, and since there are no other ridings called Huron Shores, the directional part of the name seems unnecessary.

Oxford-Brant, St Thomas, and London Area: The boundaries in this area need some refining, but I will let local residents make major suggestions for here. I do have a few suggestions I would put up for consideration if the boundaries are adjusted. The Riding of Oxford-Brant has a very high population. I would suggest splitting off the community of Ingersoll to help reduce the population and pairing Ingersoll with St. Thomas and parts of East London. These three areas have a long history of heavy industrial economies, relationship to the 401, and to the City of London. I would argue they make good partner communities for a riding, perhaps more so that South London does with St. Thomas in the proposed riding boundaries. I would also make the suggestion that London has some very distinctive neighbourhoods with their own strong community identities. Areas like Downtown, Old South, Old North, Masonville, East London and the University area should remain intact within a single riding. As proposed some of these communities are divided.

Lake Simcoe-Uxbridge and Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock: I like the new riding of Lake Simcoe-Uxbridge, but I would argue it extends too far to the east taking in communities too distant and disconnected from the major centres of Uxbridge, Keswick and the Lake Simcoe shore. I would suggest swapping the communities around Lake Scugog to Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes while taking the township of Brock into Lake Simcoe-Uxbridge. Brock Township shares an identity through Lake Simcoe with the rest of Georgina township and would be a better match in this riding. While I would argue the communities around Lake Scugog have more of an affinity with Kawartha Lakes than Lake Simcoe.

Gananoque-Brockville-Prescott and Lanark-Frontenac: I would suggest returning the boundaries between these ridings to align with municipal boundaries, as they are in the current boundaries. I argue that maintaining municipal identities within single ridings when possible is preferable and the proposed boundaries split the municipality of Leeds-Grenville in two. I would also suggest a simpler name for Gananoque-Brockville-Prescott which also reflects the municipality by keeping the name Leeds-Grenville. I would drop the unnecessary addition of ‘Thousand Islands-Rideau Lakes' that was tacked on in the last redistribution as it makes the name too long and doesn't add anything not already reflected in the municipal name.

Whitby, Oshawa, and Bowmanville-Oshawa North: I suggest that the proposed boundaries of these three ridings be adjusted slightly so that the entirety of the municipality of Clarington is part of a single riding. The riding of Whitby could take on portions of Oshawa that lie west of Thornton Road and north of the rail line by Gibb Street. Additionally, the riding of Whitby could include the community around Durham College and Cedar Valley Conservation Area bounded by Conlin Road, Simcoe Street and Taunton Road to help balance the population. I argue that this makes the riding of Bowmanville-Oshawa North more complete with the inclusion of the entirety of the municipality of Clarington as well as forms boundaries that still respect the urban identities of Oshawa and Whitby. I would suggest a name change for the riding of Bowmanville-Oshawa North to something that better reflects the municipality of Clarington. Perhaps something like Clarington-Oshawa North, or just simply Clarington.

Thank you again for your time and dedication to this process. I hope my suggestions are helpful and I'm looking forward to seeing the final boundaries.

Have a wonderful day,

Philip Charbonneau

Kitchener, ON