Comment 47 – comments and feedback

Michael Coteau, MP for Don Valley East

Dear Commissioners,

I write to you as the Member of Parliament for Don Valley East because of a concern I have with the new Don Valley East riding boundaries, outlined in your proposal.

The current boundary at the south end of the riding runs up the Don River East Branch from Don Mills Road, until Sunrise Avenue, where it then runs east until Victoria Park Avenue. Therefore, the apartments, condominiums and townhomes located along Vicora and Pavane Linkways, Linkwood Lane, Edgecliff, Shady and Windy Golfways, and Wynford Drive south of Eglinton, are all included in Don Valley East.

In the new proposal, the boundary at the south end of the riding runs up the Don Valley Parkway. This change therefore excludes the apartments, condominiums and townhomes mentioned above. This change would divide the Flemingdon Park community, of which all the aforementioned apartments, condominiums and townhomes are part of.

I would propose (map of proposal on third page) that instead of the boundary following the Don Valley Parkway until Eglinton Avenue East, you would instead move the boundary just slightly east, and have it follow the Don River East Branch north until Eglinton. I am proposing this for the reasons below.

The riding currently includes all of the Flemingdon Park community. This is an established community that is very close knit and connected. It is a high-density neighbourhood with many new immigrants and refugees to Canada. It also has a significant population of low-income families. Due to these statistics, the neighbourhood has a high concentration of services, both from Government and from not-for-profits, that help residents. The MP, MPP and city councillor work closely with these organizations and it would be logistically difficult and confusing for both residents and service providers to figure out which government representative to contact.

While it may not seem like a big change, the residents who live in Flemingdon Park, but on the east side of the Don Valley Parkway (that would be moved into The Beaches–East York if the proposed changes were to go through) would face significantly more challenges accessing the offices of their government representatives.

While on a map, it may not look far, the geography and traffic/transit networks make it much more difficult for those residents to get to the centre of Beaches–East York (where constituency offices are generally located) than to the centre of Don Valley East. Because of the Don River East Branch, these residents would either have to travel north to Eglinton, or southwest to O'Connor, to then be connected with the rest of the riding––by car, not too difficult, but by transit, significantly longer and with more transfers. While it is only a small change that I am proposing, it would keep a neighbourhood intact and wholly represented in one riding, and would make services significantly easier to access for the residents of Flemingdon Park who live on the east side of the Don Valley Parkway.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Michael Coteau

Member of Parliament

Don Valley East