Commentaire 348 – commentaires et rétroaction

Michael Sullivan

To: The Ontario Electoral Boundaries Commission

Re: Ontario Electoral Boundary Proposal

I was the federal representative for York South — Weston from 2011 to 2015. The riding is extremely diverse, is predominantly renters, is the lowest income riding in Toronto, and is a riding of predominantly 'working class' inhabitants.

The act which gives rise to your work describes two issues which can guide your choices of boundaries.

York South — Weston (YSW) has virtually no community of interest or community of identity with the adjacent ridings which you propose to merge it with. The average household income in YSW is just over $50,000. Etobicoke Centre (EC) and Eglinton Lawrence (EL) are just about $80,000. YSW inhabitants are 52% renters (of which 25% are in core need of housing). EC is 32% (16% core need) and EL 33% (17% core need). YSW is made up of 54% immigrants to Canada, vs 41% in EC and 38% in EL. (Source, Canada Census)

Its predominance of rental accommodation, much of which is in towers built 40-60 years ago, leads to the riding being a landing-spot for successive waves of immigration, from the Portuguese and Italian labourers in the 50's and 60's to Somali refugees in the 80's to Albanians, Roma and more recently Syrian refugees. Indeed one landlord in 2016 advised me he had to employ a Hungarian translator to communicate with the residents in his tower. And of course in the past 3 elections, a Somalia-born MP was elected as a result in part of the diaspora here. And, mirroring that success, from 2018-2022 a Somalia-born MPP was elected here. That result would probably be impossible with the riding elimination.

The single most important and frequent and necessary form of servicing provided by the local MP is related to immigration issues. My office helped with preventing the deportation of a 2 year old Canadian born child, reuniting families separated for nearly 20 years, and many, many other very tough issues. It is very hard to imagine an MP from Eglinton-Lawrence or from the new riding of Humber, which are nowhere near as recent-immigrant heavy as was York South Weston, paying the same attention and focus as we did.

I did advise you of the historical significance of the riding. Weston is the second-oldest municipality within Toronto, second only to the old city of Toronto itself. The riding has been referred to as the `Leader's Riding', represented by CCF and NDP leaders Ted Jolliffe, Donald C. MacDonald, David Lewis and Bob Rae.

In addition, the riding of York South — Weston is poised for significant growth in the next very few years. On Weston Road alone, within the boundaries of the riding, there are proposals for 8500 new dwelling units in towers along that corridor. (Source — City of Toronto application database). The intersection of Weston and Eglinton will soon be a significant transportation hub, with both the Crosstown LRT and the GO/UP Express lines having stops at that intersection. Weston and Lawrence already has a GO/UP Express stop, and one 30 storey building is already in place, with dozens more applied for. Other corridors (Eglinton, Lawrence and Jane) will also likely have significant applications, only swelling the number above. These projections cannot have been taken into account by your proposal.

The city of Toronto has grown at a 6% rate since 2011. As mentioned by one of the panel, the region just outside of Toronto grew at a faster rate (I believe it was 10%) and as a result of the formula, only one additional seat is allotted to Ontario. This then results in the rather painful process you have embarked upon.

You have determined to keep the city of Toronto as a separate entity from the rest of the province. There is no requirement in the act for you to do that. You have not kept to municipal boundaries in a number of other centres. For the purposes of redistribution, though, this results in the decision to reduce by one the number of seats within the city of Toronto, while increasing the number of seats outside of the city by two. This then results in the apparent reduction in the electoral representation of Canada's Largest City. I can find no other historical example where any commission has reduced the representation of any metropolitan area by eliminating an entire riding.

My recommendation, therefore, is to send you back to the drawing board. If the only way to keep the electoral quotient formula happy is to stop adhering to the municipal boundaries of the city of Toronto, then that is what you should do. Portions of the northern Toronto ridings could easily absorb some of the residents of the '905' as it is called. This would keep the quotient formula, while simultaneously not requiring the major surgery of eliminating an entire riding. The northern boundary is but an example. You might find easier work on the western or eastern boundaries. But there is much less of an affront to the 'community of interest' rule above when moving across what is merely an urban artery. The northern boundary, Steeles Avenue, is a primarily commercial avenue, and patrons come from both sides of that border, in relatively equal numbers. It is a good example of the homogeneity of the Greater Toronto Area.

I realize that with only 6 weeks left in your mandate, you might find this daunting. But you should do everything in your power to achieve a fair and equitable result. Reducing the representation of one city, when that city has grown significantly since 2011, should be something to avoid. And eliminating an entire riding, swallowing its citizens into ridings with significantly different communities of interest, goes against the considerations the act prescribes, and should be avoided.

Thank you,

Mike Sullivan,

Former MP, York South — Weston