Comment 289 – comments and feedback

Thomas Wedseltoft
Barbara Wedseltoft

As residents of Kingston who live live north of Hwy 401, we have been informed that the Federal Election Boundaries Commission is proposing that a portion of the Lanark/Frontenac/Kingston electoral district be redistributed to a proposed riding of Gananoque/Brockville/Prescott. To this change, my wife and I are opposed.

Previous experience as part of the electoral district of Lanark/Frontenac/Kingston has proven to be unsatisfactory for the following reasons:

1. Elected representatives are chosen by the voters. These voters are largely centered around urban municipalities which have a distinct controlling influence on who gets elected. As living in a rural area is less densely populated, our votes have very little meaning when it comes to the overly count. This is evidenced by the fact that during elections at both provincial and federal levels, it is rare to hear from those wishing to get elected. Mailings are rare although I do remember receiving one from an individual requesting our vote days after the election was held. Town halls are apparently held but unless notification is received in a timely fashion, residents are unaware of these events. Not everyone gets the local newspapers and prefer to capture the areas main news events on-line. Researching the positions on line of the slate does not allow an elector the ability to assess the trust worthiness, knowledge, skills and ability of those wishing to represent the riding. The same goes for phoning as you never get to speak with the individual who wants the vote. The bottom line, as an outlying area, the voter at best is paid LIP SERVICE as there are not enough votes to warrant the time and expense ( in the minds of those seeking your vote ) to travel the distances involved. That is why these people solicit in the larger population dense urban areas. Rural means very little.
2. Should there be a necessity to deal with an elected representative, we are reliant upon email, phone or in person visit. This is problematic for those who are physically or mentally challenged and especially so for those who are elderly. While many of us have access and the ability to use computers, there exist many who do not through cognitive or physical disabilities. Even the use of a telephone and dealing with an unknown person on the other end of the line can be intimidating. For these voters, having to drive or arrange for a drive of 45 to 50 minutes one way can be too much. Even then, when getting to the destination, there is the apprehension of what will happen should they level a complaint or concern. This is the reality of the mindset of so many voters who fall within this section. How will any elected representative's agent deal with the problem not having the knowledge of the area in which that voter lives. It becomes difficult for those voters to feel confident that their concerns will be taken seriously and quite often they will decide that taking no action is the best thing to do other than talk with neighbors and relatives about how they feel over issues that trouble them.
3. It may be assumed that as we are part of the rural community of the Kingston that we have much in common with other other rural farming areas. This is totally wrong as there are more voters who reside in single family housing in the rural area than there are farmers. This means that we are directly connected on a social, economic and cultural basis to the larger urban area of Kingston. We vote in municipal elections and cannot help wonder if our federally and provincially elected representatives feel that the city will look after us. The incumbents lack of contact pre and post election contact would certainly lead to a degree of credence towards this idea.
4. The lack of commitment to those of us who live in the Kingston north of Hwy 401 by those seeking election and elected, has caused an attitude of ' Why bother to vote ' , ' My vote does not matter because no one running or elected lives even remotely close to me, does not want to speak with me directly and does not know the area where I live '. It is no wonder that voter turnout is low each election.

The best solution for those of us effected by the proposed changes is change the electoral district boundary such that we are included in the Kingston and the Islands electoral district. Kingston is where we pay our taxes, do our shopping, engage in entertainment and cultural affairs and socialize. No two areas are the same and we are different from those of Gananoque, Brockville and Prescott. Our diversity is as different as the industry which is here, and in no way does this area parallel the new proposed electoral district.

According to the Government of Canada website pertaining to The Canadian Charter of Rights, Section 3 - Democratic Rights, there is an inherent responsibility " to consider the broader social and political context in order to determine whether the challenged measure infringes the right to play a meaningful role in the electoral process or the right to effective representation ". In other words, we as voters in this region are being prohibited from voting in an election for an individual who best represents the concerns and growth of the area in which we live unless we are moved into the Kingston and Islands electoral district. If the commission were to be of this view, then there is an improved opportunity for voters such as ourselves to feel that we are contributing towards this country. Not doing so by willfully leaving us as political outsiders, will only continue the apathy ( if not increase it ) towards the low voter turnout. This is something which the Commission has bear in mind. Whether we vote Liberal, Conservative, NDP or Green Party is irrelevant. What is important is that we elect persons in the area we live who are attuned to the needs of the community at all levels. Apathy towards the elections is not good, so positive action must be taken by decision makers to reverse this ever growing mentality. There exists a political philosophy which states the democracy leads to authoritarianism which leads to totalitarianism. Historically we have seen this occur in many countries either in part or totally. By the commission working to reduce the impact of apathy towards elections ( the attitude does spill over to other aspects of living ) we as a country can continue to grow as a democratic example. But to do that we must have the ability to feel proud in what we have accomplished and that all starts at home, expands out to the community, the province and then the country. We need to be able to vote as a community and as part of the Kingston and the Islands electoral district. Then we can start to be proud in ourselves and not feel like the apathetic political outside that we currently do.

Gives us back the vote that we so justly deserve. Not one that is based upon imaginary lines drawn up based upon census. We count, our community counts, we all matter.

Thomas & Barbara Wedseltoft