Commentaire 211 – commentaires et rétroaction

Hon. Paddy Torsney

Subject: Oakville Lakeshore Proposal

With apologies, this submission is coming one day after your deadline but I hope you will still accept my comments.

I have looked at the proposed map for Ontario, and specifically at the proposals for many ridings in the city of Burlington. I must say that the proposals being offered are a real shame for our city, our community of Burlington, and I hope you can find a way to fix them.

You'll recall, as I do very vividly, that around 1995 a new map for the riding of Burlington was suddently presented to Burlington residents that took the community of Aldershot out of the federal riding of Burlington and there was considerable backlash. In the next redistribution process, in the early 2000's, I was the first person to register to appear in person at your hearings (in Hamilton) due to the devastation that earlier redistribution had caused in our community and our sense of fairness around the redistribution process. While I agreed with the new riding, I had to be sure to let you know! (Note: in that mid 90's process we agreed with the first map and submissions for other ridings caused a ripple effect on the Burlington riding.) I went on to chair the House of Commons subcommittee on electoral boundary readjustment in 2003/4 and gained a deep appreciation for the difficult task you, and your colleagues across the country, have with finding the best solutions.

I can't stress how much I think these current proposals are wrong for the city of Burlington.

Having just two ridings in Burlington, really makes much better sense than having Burlington divided into four ridings.

The Burlington federal member of parliament's office is a real hub of activity and, even for Burlington residents who live outside the riding now - in that north east corner of Burlington (north of the QEW, south of Hwy 5) - their main location for government information, remains at the Burlington constituency office.

The proposed new alignment, where people from Tyandaga would be forced to align with the parts of Burlington farther north all the way up to Milton, just doesn't make sense in terms of their sense of community and travel. They are oriented to the core of the city and will feel left out and cut off unnecessarily - orphaned even!

The decision to break the south east corner off to Oakville also makes little sense as they too, feel a strong sense they are tied to Burlington's core, with school catchment areas and even bus routes aligning toward the centre of Burlington.

The northeast corner aligning with north Oakville as is currently the case, does make sense. While I could see some merit in adding some of these voters to the downtown riding of Burlington, I just can't see this value at the expense of the Tyandaga residents and those in east Burlington and south of QEW folks.

Again, having just two ridings in Burlington, really makes much better sense than having Burlington divided into four ridings. This is a community that sees itself as a vibrant city - whose people are more aligned together in Burlington than from Tyandaga to Milton and from East Burlington to Oakville.

Having spent many years helping Burlington residents in a busy constituency office access their federal government, and listening to their concerns, I can assure you that they will be angered and confused by the new alignments, and less able to access their MPs (particularly from Tyandaga), causing more frustration with government and its various arms, including Elections Canada. Tyandaga children go to schools in Aldershot, use the waterfront in Burlington and access the GO Bus in Aldershot and Burlington - they are not focused on Milton. They are suburban people, not focused on rural and farm-oriented issues as this riding north of Highway 5 will be.

I hope there is a chance to fix this and I hope you've heard from many people. I fear with so many other things going on, that you may not hear from enough people and their anger post-decision, should this proposed four riding plan go ahead will be like that of 1995 - with many news articles and much frustration at something happening far from Burlington having a huge impact on their relationship with their MP and the constituency office.

I appreciate this is not an easy job, and hope my comments are helpful.

Hon. Paddy Torsney

(Burlington MP 1993-2006)