Commentaire 29 – commentaires et rétroaction

Honourable Justice Leitch and Commission Members

My name is Brenda Librecz and I have lived in Scarborough for over 25 years, raised my family here and started my career in public service at the City of Scarborough which was later amalgamated into the megacity of Toronto. I am a retired municipal public servant with over 30 years of senior level municipal service – in the areas of economic development and community services. I retired as a Commissioner of Community and Fire Services whereby I have a healthy respect for grassroot community development and understand the value of listening and observing what is happening at the street level.

In Scarborough, our communities have felt that their voices have not been heard. Scarborough has always had to fight for its share of community investments – from transit to investments in our health care, cultural or social infrastructure – now we need to fight to keep our democratic right to representation at all three levels of government. The federal realignment which takes a seat away from Scarborough will be another ‘hit' to a community's fight to be heard.

As a member of the Economic Development Committee for Scarborough Community Renewal Organization (SCRO) and a citizen of Scarborough, I am here to have my voice heard specifically in two areas:

1. Canada's Economic Engines our urban centres need more not less Federal Representation:

   • Toronto and other urban centres are critical to the Canadian economy they collectively generate 60% of Canada's GDP. Toronto (including Scarborough) alone generates 20% of the country's GDP.
   • We welcome the majority of new immigrants each year and provide excellent settlement services. With 80% of labour force growth from immigration – Canada depends on its urban centres especially Toronto for ensuring our economic future. Without immigrants our economic growth is challenged. Why is this important for our discussion today? It is important because Toronto and Scarborough have not stopped growing and will continue to play a critical role in attracting newcomers.
   • Toronto and other urban centres will be even more critical to Canada with not only the role we play in immigration but with the role we play in smart growth, intensification, climate change adaption, and housing shortages. Urban centres are the backbone of rental housing which is a critical component for both immigrants and Canadians alike.

   In fact, Toronto/Scarborough did continue to grow but it was not as fast as our neighbouring municipalities which should rightfully receive additional representation but not on our backs. Why is federal representation a zero-sum game for growing urban centres? It doesn't make sense. There are certain parts of Canada that are protected even if the population decreases to ensure regional representation across Canada which is understandable. However, this formula disadvantages urban centres the economic engines of Canada where the majority of Canadians live. Let's remember 81.65 % of Canadians live in cities. So where is the representation by population for urban centres?

2. Fairness for a growing Toronto & Scarborough with additional undercounted populations:

   • City of Toronto which includes Scarborough has over 500,000 new housing units on the books – close to 50,000 units in Scarborough with 10,000 in Agincourt, in the area that is being chopped up and losing representation. An additional 50,000 housing units in Scarborough would increase our population in the range of 80,000 to 100,000 residents – larger than many provinces total population.
   • There are 50,000 undercounted residents in Scarborough based on data from grassroot community service agencies and the recent City planning consultations related to multi-tenanted housing. This is not a new situation for large urban centres. It needs to be acknowledged and taken into account.

On that last point, based on my experiences as a municipal provider of community services, I can tell you that it is my opinion that the undercounted population is far larger than the estimate of 50,000 for Scarborough. While working in community services, I would spend time observing the communities under our stewardship, by regularly driving and walking through neighbourhoods mostly on garbage day. When you see three or four green bins in a single-family home -- not just in a few instances but over 30 % of the time it tells you something. My staff teams would share service stats by neighbourhood and provide good examples of how the population numbers didn't add up by area. Information from recreation registrations, park usage, library usage, language classes, fire calls, water usage, and on street parking and overloaded driveways painted a picture that helped to inform good decision-making -- not just relying on the census population data which has its own challenges.

Population increases forecasted by Cities with legitimate development projects in planning pipelines should be considered when undertaking a review of federal electoral boundaries. Especially when considering a reduction in seats which would avoid confusion and avoid creating a lack of respect for democratic processes.

The undercounted and undocumented need to be recognized and also considered in the Commission's evaluation process.

Reducing a seat in Scarborough or anywhere in Toronto is short-sighted. You will be returning that seat and hopefully more in the next federal electoral boundary review but with causalities – disenfranchised residents.

This federal electoral boundary review should not be just a zero-sum game – it is about our communities, our people, many equity seeking, whom need the representation in Ottawa, Queens Park, and Toronto City Hall. Further, our urban centres shouldn't be undervalued when it comes to our democratic institutions. We need fairness in having equitable representation across Canada especially where most Canadians live – in cities. Please reconsider the reduction in seats in Scarborough and retain our 6 seats within the boundaries of Scarborough.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Brenda Librecz