Comment 42 – comments and feedback

Sunny Chan

I disagree with the proposed boundaries for the Markham-Thornhill riding. It splits too many communities apart. It further impacts the Markham-Unionville and Markham-Stouffville ridings, and Vaughan-Thornhill.

1. The western border should either be Yonge St, Bayview St, Richmond Hill Line railway, or some combination of the latter two.
2. As it currently stands, the use of the Don River feels highly arbitrary and questionable; when historical ward boundaries and existing city boundaries could serve it better
3. The Stornoway Crescent is separated from the Willowbrook Road (both attend the same public elementary and high school)
4. The Baywood Court is separated from the Thornlea Road (both attend the same public elementary and high school), plus
5. Northern Henderson Avenue is split off from the southern portion (which also attend the same public elementary and high school)
6. The use of Highway 7 as the continuous northern border is not ideal
7. Adding the Letchcroft Crescent community to the riding is fair (they are grouped with Miliken Mills for city wards) and it is slightly more appropriate for it to be part of Markham over Richmond Hill
8. Buttonville will be split, but south of Highway 7 is commercial, so it is not a big deal.
9. However, after Warden Avenue west, the northern bound should ideally run along Highway 407 instead of Highway 7 to avoid splitting the historic Unionville and Markham communities.
10. Highway 7 is more of a boulevard east of 401, it does not have the distinct community separation that Highway 407 does.
11. The eastern border is the most flexible
12. The old borders and new borders do not break any communities apart.
13. Donald Cousens Parkway is an alternative, if you need to resolve the population disparity by using Highway 7 instead of Highway 407 to make up for the population decline in the riding due to the amount of older citizens in the Thornhill portion of the riding.
14. The city boundary with Pickerling is another alternative.
15. The south border (Steeles Avenue East) is the only one I agree with.

Sunny Chan