Comment 146 – comments and feedback

Catherine Bell-Sood

I object to the previous redistribution of the city of Kingston Residents North of the 401 Highway to the Riding of Lanark and Frontenac (renamed Lanark Frontenac and Kingston).

We were not consulted at the time.

Happily we are requested to give our opinion regarding the new proposed redistribution to the east joining another riding.

My objections are the following:

• after the previous redistribution we have been very poorly served. The residents were never formally told that there had been a change. Not once has an MP or MPP visited our city residents. The offices are impossible to visit, because of distance and the costs of time and gas.
• By contrast when we were with Kingston and the Islands, a short drive took you to an office of MP or MPP. Those MP's and MPP's (regardless of their political affiliation ) understood our community. Our community is totally linked to the City and the City concerns.
• Many of our city residents north of the 401, if not the majority of the residents, are retired or close to retirement age. Consequently, communicating with an MP's office in Brockville under the NEW proposal simply will be untenable. No one will drive to Brockville.
• What people do at present (not willing to drive so far North) ... is to drive to the current MP's office downtown in Kingston to little avail, since the current City MP is not any longer in their riding and can not act for them.
• Believe it or not. If you ask many of the residents here who their MP is...they will give you the name of the current MP for Kingston and the Islands as their representative.
• As you are aware, after a Federal redistribution takes place, the practice is that the Ontario Legislature follows suit. This means that, for the issues most effecting us (health, social services, provincial taxation, provincial regulations etc., we again will not have ready access to an MPP who understands our area, our issues and hopes.

Respectfully,

Catherine Bell-Sood