Comment 235 – comments and feedback

Meg McCallum

I am writing to respectfully express my strong opposition to the proposed federal electoral boundary change proposed for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes. The present riding includes the entirety of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville and includes the adjoining separated towns of Brockville, Gananoque, and Prescott. To break up the County by reassigning some municipalities to a different riding, and in one case, actually split a Township between two ridings is ill-advised in my view. If equalizing population numbers is the goal, the inclusion of the Town of Smiths Falls in the Leeds Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes riding would be a more logical solution. The Rideau Canal, Rideau Lakes, Thousand Islands, and St. Lawrence Seaway create a connected geographic boundary which encompasses the municipalities that make up the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, the towns of Gananoque, Prescott, and the City of Brockville. These municipalities are connected by formal economic cooperation and share historical significance, agricultural and rural identity, and a thriving tourism industry based on an abundance of natural beauty and supported by the two ports of entry to the United States.

While acknowledging the difficulty of creating voter parity across Ontario, I respectfully propose that our communities ought to remain united by the county boundary. More modest adjustments to the current boundaries of our electoral district could surely be proposed which would still allow for objective population equality to be achieved by the Commission.

Sincerely,

Meg McCallum