Comment 137 – comments and feedback

Braeden Soltys

I'm a resident of Toronto having lived in many neighborhoods across the city over my 14 years living here. I wanted to express my concerns over two proposals by the commission.

The first relates to Scarborough. The commission proposes to change the boundaries so that Scarborough would be represented by five seats in Parliament as opposed to six. Scarborough has its own distinct history and services (that are often undeserved by the city and province). The redistribution should keep the westernmost boundary as Victoria Park St, the northernmost: Steeles Ave, and southernmost: Lake Ontario. This is important as the provincial ridings and municipal wards as determined by federal ridings meaning Scarborough would be losing three seats of representation.

The second concern I have is the change of Parkdale-High Park's name. Though I appreciate the desire to add Indigenous representation to the ridings name, taking away "Parkdale" from the riding name would be removing an important recognition of the distinct neighborhood of Parkdale. The neighborhood has been home to many immigrant communities over the last century and remains embroiled in development pressures that threaten the existing residents. Removing Parkdale from the federal riding name will only contribute to the attempt to erase Parkdale and its history.

I hope the committee will take these concerns into account moving forward.

Best wishes,

Braeden Soltys