Comment 25 – comments and feedback

Hon. Deb Schulte

Please see attached for my redistribution submission for the riding of King—Vaughan. This submission is consistent with the presentation made on Oct 17th by Frank Ye, President, King—Vaughan Federal Liberal Association, and includes more justification for the recommendations.

Sincerely,

Hon. Deb Schulte

Former M.P. for King—Vaughan

Dear Ontario Commission Members,

I am writing to you today as the former M.P. for King—Vaughan and a former Regional and Local Councillor for Vaughan, to offer some suggestions and reflections regarding the redistribution and proposed new federal electoral map.

I would like to start by recognizing the tremendous work already done by the Commission to try and revise the riding boundaries to reflect the significant growth in population of several ridings in Ontario, including the riding of King—Vaughan. I had the privilege and honour to represent the new riding of King—Vaughan for its first 6 years and was made aware of several issues with the former riding boundaries that I was requested to address by the residents at the first opportunity, which is now.

After reviewing the new boundaries, I noticed that unfortunately the issues are still present in the proposal, so would like to recommend that we make several changes to better reflect the community's affiliations, cultural connections, and interests. I will be making four recommendations to the King—Vaughan proposed boundaries that better reflect the community cohesion and character and ensure that the population remains very close to the proposed quota for both King—Vaughan and surrounding ridings.

1st Recommendation: Include Sherwood Park Maple Community

In the west of the riding, I would like to recommend that you move the southern riding boundary from Saint Padre Pio Gardens / Old Major Mackenzie Dr.to stay on Major Mackenzie Drive (Major Mack.) between Highway 27 and Islington Avenue. The small number of residents (240) that you have isolated from their community by having the boundary at Saint Padre Pio Gardens / Old Major Mackenzie Dr. (internal residential road that doesn't go through to Hwy 27), has concerned the residents and they would like us to fix this in the redistribution exercise. The residents are very much connected to Kleinburg, their kids go to public elementary school in the Village of Kleinburg, they consider themselves from Kleinburg, not Woodbridge, and they don't want their community split. Major Mack. is a 6-lane major road that goes down a ravine (Hwy 27 is in the ravine) at this location separating Kleinburg from Woodbridge in this area. People living south of Major Mack. consider themselves from Woodbridge and those living north, from Kleinburg. It would make more sense to have one M.P. represent the complete area north of Major Mack., than having it split between two.

2nd Recommendation: Include Sherwood Park Maple Community

Moving east in the riding along the southern boundary brings us to Maple and a small community in the south-west corner of Rutherford Road and Keele St., known as the Sherwood Park Community (286 residents). It is isolated to the east, west and south by the extensive Concord Industrial/Employment area. The residents and local Councillor, Marilyn Iafrate, have asked me to recommend they be associated with the Maple community to the north, to which they see themselves connected. The Vaughan Ward boundaries includes this area in the Maple Ward boundary to the north rather than the Thornhill Ward boundary to the south. It makes perfect sense to include them in the King—Vaughan riding, which encompasses Maple. They have no connection or affiliation to Thornhill. All the issues raised by these residents have been worked with the local Maple councillor and they would like to work with an MP that is working issues with the local representative rather than have a federal representative that has little to do with their area. I have been told that you are unlikely to draw a boundary along a river valley that bounds their community to the east and south, so we have a more extensive proposal that includes them and is consistent with current and future growth that will be included in Recommendation 4.

3rd Recommendation: East Boundary (Dufferin St. to Teston Rd. to Bathurst St.)

As we continue to move east along the southern boundary, we get to your proposed change to make Peter Rupert Ave. an eastern boundary. This is problematic for the community. The residents that live between Keele St. and Dufferin St. see themselves as living in Maple and are more connected, via services and cultural hubs, to Maple than Thornhill. The community on both sides of Peter Rupert Ave., use the same schools, parks, and services, so it does not make sense to split the community in half. There is a significant Chinese community that has settled in this area and the proposal would cut this community in half. It makes more sense to put the eastern boundary to Dufferin St. in this area, so as to not split the community in two, and to extend it up to Teston Rd. and joggle east to Bathurst St. on Teston Rd, rather than on Major Mack. This will result in a net change of negative 3,632 residents from King—Vaughan and put them in the riding of Vaughan—Thornhill.

The community between Dufferin St. and Bathurst St. is more connected and aligned with Thornhill. The Bathurst corridor is a very significant Jewish corridor with many schools and synagogues located along and near Bathurst St., with one of the newest centres, Chabad Romano Centre, located just south of Teston at 10500 Bathurst St. Many of these hubs require walking to attend on certain days, because of religious customs, which means many try to live close. Despite being north of the Thornhill centre these areas are much more connected to Thornhill, which has many services, schools and shops that are culturally aligned, and many attend the large Jewish community centre, Lebovic campus, that has now been allocated to Vaughan—Thornhill in the latest proposed redistribution map.

4th Recommendation: Move the southern boundary east of Hwy 400 to Keele St. down to Langstaff (or if required, to Steeles Avenue).

The final recommendation is to better align the associated communities and rebalance the population numbers between King—Vaughan and Vaughan—Thornhill. I am aware that the Commission does not consider any future growth, however given the high growth that is occurring in King-Vaughan and Vaughan—Thornhill, even since the last census in 2021, and is continuing over the next decade and beyond, it would make sense to align any boundary changes with what will likely need to be changed in any future boundary review.

The Commission should be aware of the very significant growth in the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC — Hwy 7 & Jane St.) and along Jane Street, up to Rutherford Road. There are currently over 10 high rise buildings, many over 50+ floors that have recently been built and are now being occupied. Currently this area is in the Vaughan—Thornhill riding, however, has little connection to Thornhill, being divided by Hwy 407 and the extensive industrial area of Concord.

"What city planning officials are now seeing is a trend in current residential development potential, both approved and proposed, representing more than 63,352 residents in 31,996 units moving into the VMC." New Report Highlights Massive Growth for Downtown Vaughan, By Yaseen Hemeda, November 26,2020.

The VMC and the Vaughan Mills Mall Development Area are much more connected via services, schools, churches and shops to Woodbridge and Maple than Thornhill. We are recommending extending the southern boundary of King—Vaughan down to Langstaff Rd. between Hwy 400 & Keele St. to include the Vaughan Mills Mall development area (Figure 1, Option A), which makes sense when considering the community services and affiliation. If our four recommendations are accepted then the population for King-Vaughan will be 113,113 with a deviation of -2.98% and Vaughan—Thornhill will be 123,016 with deviation of 5.51% (Figure 2).

As we believe that this will not be acceptable, we are proposing a southern boundary of Steeles Ave. from Hwy 400 to Keele St. (Figure 1, Option B). The majority of this additional area is industrial/employment lands, except for the VMC development area, and is disconnected from Thornhill by Hwy 407, CN Rail line and the CN MacMillan Train Yards. This additional area will give King—Vaughan a population of 118,723 with a deviation from quota of 1.83%, and Vaughan — Thornhill a population of 117,406 with a deviation from quota of 0.7%, which is a better population distribution and community alignment/affiliation than the proposed electoral boundaries (Figure 3).

I am hoping this information has been helpful and I am open to further discussions if you feel it would be appropriate and useful for clarification.

Deb Schulte

Figure 2. Southern Border at Langstaff

Commission Proposal
Electoral Districts	Population - 2021	Deviation from Quota - 2022	Deviation from Quota - 2022 (%)
King—Vaughan	116,118	-472	-0.40%
Vaughan—Thornhill	119,771	3,181	2.73

Our Recommendation
Electoral Districts	Population - 2021	Deviation from Quota — 2022	Deviation from Quota — 2022 (%)
King—Vaughan	113,113	-3,477	-2.98%
Vaughan—Thornhill	123,016	6,426	5.51%

Quota
116,590

Changes to King — Vaughan
Add Peter Rupert to Dufferin	6,504
Remove South of Teston, Dufferin to Bathurst	-10,136
Add South of Rutherford, West of Keele, North of Langstaff	387
Add North Major Mackenzie West, East of HWY 27	240
Net Change	-3,005

Changes to Vaughan — Thronhill
Remove Peter Rupert to Dufferin	-6,504
Add South of Teston, Dufferin to Bathurst	10,136
Remove South of Rutherford, West of Keele, North of Langstaff	-387
Net Change	3,245

Figure 3. Southern Border at Steeles

Commission Proposal
Electoral Districts	Population — 2021	Deviation from Quota — 2022	Deviation from Quota — 2022 (%)
King—Vaughan	116,118	-472	-0.40%
Vaughan—Thornhill	119,771	3,181	2.73

Our Recommendation
Electoral Districts	Population — 2021	Deviation from Quota — 2022	Deviation from Quota — 2022 (%)
King—Vaughan	118,723	2,133	1.83%
Vaughan—Thornhill	117,406	816	0.70%

Quota
116,590

Changes to King — Vaughan
Add Peter Rupert to Dufferin	6,504
Remove South of Teston, Dufferin to Bathurst	-10,136
Add South of Rutherford, West of Keele, North of Langstaff	5,997
Add North Major Mackenzie West, East of HWY 27	240
Net Change	2,605

Changes to Vaughan — Thronhill
Remove Peter Rupert to Dufferin	-6,504
Add South of Teston, Dufferin to Bathurst	10,136
Remove South of Rutherford, West of Keele, North of Langstaff	-5,997
Net Change	-2,365