Comment 182 – comments and feedback

Jamie MacDonald

By email: ON@redecoupage-federal-redistribution.ca
Redistribution of Federal Districts 2022
PO Box 37018 Southdale
London, Ontario, N6E 3T3

Dear Sir or Madame,

Kindly find enclosed comments on the Redistribution of Federal Districts for the Township of North Glengarry.

Currently, the County of Glengarry is currently split between two electoral districts — North Glengarry is assigned to the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell electoral district and South Glengarry is assigned to the Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry electoral district. North Glengarry is a lower tier municipality under the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.

On July 11, 2022, the Council for the Township of North Glengarry directed staff to engage the community regarding the redistribution of North Glengarry from the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell electoral district to the Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry electoral district.

As part of this process information was posted to the Township's website and promoted through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter asking the community to participate in a survey on this subject. In addition, to ensure that every segment of the population had the opportunity to engage in the process, ads were placed in the local newspapers, Glengarry News and in The Review editions dated July 13th, 20th and 27th as well as in Le Regional on July 26th.

The survey ran from July 12th to August 12th, 2022. It was available in French and in English, in electronic and paper format, and those who preferred alternative methods were invited to share their comments by phone, in person or by email.

The survey contained two questions:

1. In your opinion, would North Glengarry's interests be better served or worse served if it were aligned with the electoral district of Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry rather than the electoral district of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell.
2. Do you have any comments regarding the redistribution of the North Glengarry electoral district from the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell electoral district to the Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry electoral district?

At the closing of the survey, 140 responses to this question were received with the following breakdown.

140 responses to this question were received

Worse	7	5.0%
Slightly Worse	5	3.6%
The Same	2	1.4%
Slightly Better	11	7.9%
Better	115	82.1%

60 written comments were received and can be found attached to this letter.

In summary, North Glengarry's community indicated that its interests would be better served if it could be included in the Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry electoral district:

• Redistributing North Glengarry to the Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry electoral district would better align the borders of the electoral district to include all six of the Townships of North and South Dundas, North and South Stormont, and North and South Glengarry which are within the existing borders of the United Counties of Stormont-Dundas and Glengarry;
• North Glengarry identifies closely on heritage, history and shared culture with the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry;
• Confusion is caused for the Township of North Glengarry's electorate when they are aligned on municipal matters with the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, and on federal and provincial matters with the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell electoral district;

From this information, the Council for the Township of North Glengarry determined that the population was favourable in majority to the redistribution of North Glengarry to the Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry and supportive of the name change to the district of Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry.

We would ask that these comments be included as part of the public consultation in support of the Township of North Glengarry's redistribution to the proposed electoral district of Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry.

Best regards,
Jamie MacDonald
Mayor

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attachments

Comments received from the North Glengarry community during the consultation period on the redistribution of the electoral district (please note that comments are integral as to the way they were recorded in the survey):

• Agree with alighnment completely very confusing to be separated for electoral
• All 3 members of the household believe NG should be realigned with SD&G
• Currently North Glengarry is on the fringe of the Prescott-Russell electoral map and likely of the fringe of any benefits. In a manner of speaking it is as though North Glengarry is a victim of segregation, often seen as not quite part of the Prescott-Russell community and yet, because of our perceived affliation with GPR, we are sometimes perceived as a mere distant cousin in the SD&G County system.
• Do get us in North Glengarry out of the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell and into the electoral district of Stormont-Dundas and South Glengarry
• glengarry both
• Glengarry is ONE county with families, businesses, medical care and schools serving the whole county. Glengarry is also one of three countierising the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. Consequently to siphon North Glengarry off to be part of Prescott-Russell for Provincial and Federal elections means two MPs and two MPPs have to be involved in any requests or negotiations with the Provincial and Federal Governments which is counter productive. It would be much better for North Glengarry to be reunited with South Glengarry and return to being part of the Provincial and Federal constituency of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. constituencies of
• Glengarry itself as well as the Eastern portion of Prescott Russell have far different interests than Stormont, for example, could the boundary be split differently (vertically)?
• Go back to SDG
• Great idea!
• I always felt that having North Glengarry in Prescott Russel was odd, the issues are very different.
• I am in complete agreement with the points outlined in the Summary Information on the North Glengarry webpage. It makes perfect sense to align North Glengarry with SDG instead of NGPR and as is pointed out, it would more evenly distribute the populations of both electoral districts. Also historically we in North Glengarry have been connected to SDG and our shopping, our cultural connections are more entwined with SDG. North Glengarry is part of Glengarry and should not be separated!!G
• I feel we would be better served joining SDG as we are served by them at the county level anyway....Makes more sense
• I live closer to the town of Vankleek Hill than any other town in SDG so to me I belong to Glengarry Prescott Russell.
• I never could understand why we were put with Presccott- Russell in the first place. We are the ignored added appendage to that riding. We are a part of S.D&G municipally, so should be a part of them provincially and federally.
• I never understood the logic behind this electoral distribution. North Glengarry is in SDG and so it should be included during the federal and provincial elections.
• I think it should go back with the same district as South Glengarry. Glengarry was one county prior to them splitting it in half and creating a North and South Glengarry. They may want to keep their own municipal offices but it would help bring Glengarry closer together.
• I would like it back the way it was many years ago
• It is a better fit with SDSG district. We are not a natural fit where we are. Please go ahead and change this
• It's a natural association of like minded communities with shared interests.
• Just get it done - soon, as in before the next election!!!
• Maxville area does shop in Prescott-Russell district but political representation has been weaker in past years.
• Need to be changed a long time ago
• NG has way more socio economic ties to SG / Cornwall than the PR side. It was always simply wonky to have NG aligned with Prescott Russell.
• no where did it explain the financial impact on NG residents..like higher property taxes..service would change. what are the benefits no details of pro's or cons provided.
• North glengarry does not have the same needs as larger urban centres like Rockland and Hawkesbury and should be separated from the Gpr riding.
• North Glengarry electoral district being include with the rest of the SDG United County region is wholly more logical and appropriate to the functioning and interests of the population of North Glengarry. Alastair Fraser.
• North Glengarry is part of the United County of SD&G, sounds logical that it should be in that electoral district as well. Seems like a no-brainer to me. As a resident of North Glengarry, I know more about the elected officials, both federal and provincial, in
• North Glengarry never should have been removed from the three united counties to begin with.
• North Glengarry should be part of a renamed electoral district, North Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, and join a renamed upper-tier municipality, the United Counties of North-Glengarry, Prescott and Russell. 39 % of North Glengarry residents have French as a first language. Consequently, lets add "South" to the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, to match the electoral riding's name of Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry.
• North Glengarry would be much better served
• North Glengarry's future interests are much better served by alligning with S,D&SG vs PR. The political will to work on shared challenges and opportunities is strong and highly beneficial across our established SDG municipal region. I do not want PR to benefit from the strength of NG on a federal level when S,D&SG can clearly benefit from federal alignment with the population of NG. As a citizen of NG, I appreciate the initiative of our leaders on this question.
• Our county should not be split. We should be united together as our dealings are mainly with Stormont and Dundas.
• Personally we always believed that North Glengarry should be part of Stormont- Dundas-South Glengarry Electoral district.
• Pourquoi voudrait-on se joindre a un chateau fort conservateur lorsque la situation actuelle nous donne une vraie chance de changer de parti quand bien nous semble. C'est rare que des elections nous permettent un vrai choix direct et Glengarry Nord a cette chance. Pourquoi diluer notre importance politique? TRANSLATION: Why would anyone want to join a conservative stronghold when the current situation gives us a real chance
• to switch sides whenever we see fit. It's rare that elections allow us to have a real direct impact and Glengarry North has this chance. Why dilute our political importance?
• Seems to make more geographic and culturally historical sense to align NGlen with SD&G on the provincial political map
• Should never have been allowed to change..
• Should have Always been with sd&g
• Switch now!
• The area has more in common with our communities south of the 417, versus with the Russell, Prescott area.
• The current electoral district alignment makes no sense and NG must be part of the SDG alignment,
• The needs and inerestes of the peole would be better served as part of SDG as it has more of the same heritage
• The people of North Glengarry have much more in common with S.D.G. than with Prescott-Russell
• The purpose of the electoral districts is to provide members of the various local population across Canada an effective voice and representation in their elected governments. The population of different geographic areas have different histories, economic circumstances, needs, concerns and priorities. The general population of North Glengarry has more in common with South Glengarry, Stormont and Dundas than it has with those who live along the Ottawa River valley in Prescott Russell. We should not have our voices, needs and priorities drowned out by those who compirse a majority in communities mainly north of Highway 417. As electoral districts now stand, I do not feel my voice and concerns are well represented in either the Ontario or Federal governments. I would very strongly prefer to be represented, both Federally and Provincially, by elected Members of Parliament for Stormont-Dundas-Gengarry than by Members for Prescott-Russell.
• The redistribution would better reflect North Glengarry roots and values.
• This has been a pet peeve of mine for many years. I am completely in favour of being a part of the Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry electoral district.
• This has been a pet peeve of mine for many years. I am completely in favour of being a part of the Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry electoral district.
• This is lo ng overdue. We have very little in common with Prescott-Russell.
• This is where we belong , part of SDG.
• This needs to be done as being aligned with Prescott Russell has never made one ounce of sense.

• Trois raisons principales militent contre la redistribution des circonscriptions. D'abord, Glengarry Nord a une importante proportion de francophones, tout comme Prescott et Russel. Cette population habituellement tres minoritaire en Ontario a, au sein de la circonscription actuelle, une belle representation politique. Le federal aurait une obligation de s'assurer que le poids politique des francophones ne se voit pas diminuer davantage. Les francophones hors-Quebec ont besoin de cette representation et le federal devrait le sauvegarder. L'association avec Prescott Russel fait en sorte que les enjeux de la francophonie restent au premier plan des priorites. On peut simplement regarder les tentatives des comtes unis de SDG en ce qui concerne les ecoles qui souscrivent aux propos que les ecoles francophones font trop de marketing, qu'ils prennent des eleves qui iraient a la bonne ecole « normale », soit les ecoles anglophones en raison de leur maternelle ou encore qui entrevoient ('immersion frangaise comme une fagon de faire competition aux conseils francophones. (voir le rapport adopte par leur conseil : https://www.sdgcounties.ca/rural-education-report) Bref, les comtes unis n'ont pas a cceur les priorites des francophones ni leur perennite. Ensuite, la repartition de la population actuelle est incompatible avec le changement propose. La demographie et les changements de population n'etayent simplement pas le besoin d'un retragage ; it n'y a pas eu de changements importants. Prescott Russel serait coupe sans pouvoir atteindre le poids demographique necessaire et equitable entre circonscriptions a travers le pays et dans la region. Simplement, requilibrage serait tres difficile et exigerait un retragage qui bafouerait toute la region de l'Est ontarien pour l'accommoder. Dundas aurait peut-titre besoin de ceder le Nord ou le Sud! Enfin, it y a toujours eu un avantage de ne pas faire correspondre les municipalites aux circonscriptions. C'est utile d'avoir plus d'un representant (en pratique) au Parlement eta la legislature provinciale. Lorsque nos interets sont bien portes par notre depute tout fonctionne bien, mais lorsqu'on a des interets qui s'alignent avec les Comtes-Unis, avoir une relation indirecte, mais etroite avec le depute du Sud nous permet de faire avancer les choses. Notons aussi que le Nord et le Sud n'ont pas une histoire si partagee que ga quand ga vient aux priorites d'interets et politique. Regarder simplement le debat qu'il a eu pour l'etablissement des &cies GD et Char-Lan, ou encore les enjeux de manque d'eau au Nord. De plus, la 417 est l'engin economique principal de la region et it est donc logique que Glengarry Nord s'associe a Prescott-Russel pour mieux s'organiser pour en profiter. Les interets des citoyens sont bien servis par la carte electorale actuelle. Pour resumer, les francophones ont l'avantage dune circonscription qui les tient a cceur, la demographie actuelle milite contre la redistribution et nos interets sont mieux servis en ayant pratiquement une double representation politique. II ne faut pas retracer les circonscriptions.

  translation: Three main reasons against redistributing constituencies. First, North Glengarry has a large proportion of Francophones, as does Prescott & Russel. Within the current riding this minority population in Ontario has good political representation. The federal government would have an obligation to ensure that the political weight of francophones is not further diminished. Francophones outside Quebec need this representation and the federal government should safeguard it. The association with Prescott & Russel ensures that the issues of Francophones remain at the forefront. We can simply look at the attempts of the United Counties of SDG regarding schools that subscribe to the statement that French schools do too much marketing, that they take students who should go to English schools, i.e. because of their kindergarten or who see French immersion as a way to compete with French school boards. (see the report adopted by their council: https://www.sdgcounties.ca/rural-education-report). In short, the United Counties do not at heart prioritize Francophone issues or their sustainability. Second, the current population distribution is inconsistent with the proposed change. Demographics and population changes simply do not support the need for redistribution; there were no significant changes to the population. Prescott Russel would be impacted by not being able to achieve the necessary and equitable demographic weight between constituencies across the country and in the region. Simply, the balancing would be very difficult and would require a redraw that would cause chaos for the entire Eastern Ontario region in order to accommodate it. Dundas might need to give up North or South! Finally, there has always been an advantage of not matching municipalities to ridings. It is useful to have more than one representative (in practice) in Parliament and the provincial legislature. When our interests are supported by our MP, everything works well, but when we have interests that align with the United Counties, having an indirect but close relationship with the MP from the South allows us to move things forward. Also to note is that the North and the South do not have such a shared history when it comes to interests and political priorities. Just look at the debate that was had for the establishment of GD and Char-Lan schools, or even the issues regarding the lack of water in the North. In addition, the 417 is the main economic engine of the region and it is therefore logical that North Glengarry joins forces with Prescott &Russel to better align itself with them. Citizens' interests are well served by the current electoral map. To sum up, Francophones have the advantage of a constituency that is close to their hearts, current demographics militate against redistribution and our interests are better served by having practically dual political representation. You don't have to redistribute the ridings.

• Une autre maniere de nous faire disparaltre, ici je parle des francophones de Glengarry nord. Nous avons déjà de la difficulty a recevoir nos documents en frangais, meme les facture arrive en anglais seulement. II y a quelques annees nos factures etaient bilingues, je suppose que Gn a perdu la traduction.. nos affiche sur les poteaux (dead endo. Ou sont passes les affiche en frangais dans Alexandria?

  translation: Another way to make us disappear, and I mean the Francophones in North Glengarry. We already have difficulty receiving our documents in French, even the invoices arrive in English only. A few years ago our invoices were bilingual but I suppose that North Glengarry has lost its ability to translate. Signs on posts indicate dead end. Whre is the french signage in Alexandria?

• Very good services with Glengarry-Prescott-Russell.
• Was it not this way at one time? I believe as a rural area we have much more in common with S.D. and S. G.
• We are certainly far more suited geographically, culturally a d historically with Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry.
• We are in Glengarry, we definitely should be with SDG....it never should have been changed.
• We are SDG and it must remain as one we are not part of Prescott Russell
• We are SDG and it must remain as one we are
• We feel very strongly that this redistribution would be of immense benefit to the residents and businesses of the electoral district of North Glengarry, particularly in terms of economic development and environmental and recreational planning.
• We have much more in common with South Glengarry. Most residents to to Cornwall rather than Hawkesbury or Ottawa. We vote blindly in Fed & Prov elections.
• We were always well represented with our MP and MPP of GPR. We should be under GPR United Counties I never understood why we were with SDG
• Yes this would be a much better way!