Commentaire 14 – commentaires et rétroaction

Danny Whalen

Good afternoon

As President of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities, I want to share some of my concerns about the Redistribution plan's negative impacts on Northern Ontario. Currently, Northern Ontario has ten Electoral Districts, with the proposed plan reducing that number to eight. I have also attached two Resolutions, one a Draft, that speak to some of our concerns. We will continue to forward any other Resolutions we receive to ensure our Northern Voice is heard!

We would be happy to answer any questions the Commission may have. Your Executive Directors' information is below.

Thank you Danny Whalen

Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities

September 5, 2022 Federal Electoral Districts Redistribution – Ontario Commission PO Box 37018 Southdale London, Ontario, N6E 3T3 Sent by email: ON@redecoupage-federal-redistribution.ca

To Whom It May Concern;

The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) is the unified voice of Northeastern Ontario, representing and advocating on behalf of 110 cities, towns and municipalities. Our mission is to improve the economic and social quality of life for all northerners and to ensure the future of our youth.

As President of FONOM, I want to commend the Commission for adding Indigenous Representation to the Redistribution Plan for Northern Ontario. But I want to share some of my concerns about the Redistribution plan's negative impacts on Northern Ontario. Currently, Northern Ontario has ten Electoral Districts, with the proposed plan reducing that number to eight.

FONOM would ask that the Commission retain the current ten Electoral Districts as they are today, plus the planned Indigenous Representation!

Geographically Northern Ontario is quite large. The distance from North Bay to the Manitoba border is 1623 kilometres (the distance from North Bay to Charlottetown is 1693 Kilometres). Your research shows you that the existing ridings are large already. Currently, the Members have a difficult job fairly representing their constituents. The MPs do an admirable job and represent Canada well, but we believe the new alignments will make their efforts even more difficult.

FONOM would ask that the Commission retain the current ten Electoral Districts as they are today! Especially in the Northeast as any redistribution will divide our established First Nations, Francophone, and Municipal Associations.

We are also concerned that the planned consultation for Northern Ontario is only in Timmins and virtual. I have real concerns with only one in-person consultation session for a region of the province this realignment covers. This vital consultation is also coinciding with a Municipal Election. As a Municipal Politician running for re-election, I believe that very few individuals will take the time away from campaigning to drive to Timmins for the session on October 11th. The Northern Ontario session is also happening in the middle of the Hunting Season. The timing of the Commission's consultation highlights a further lack of understanding for our part of Ontario.

FONOM recommends you increase and extend the consultation in Northern Ontario until January 2023!

Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities

Also, I want to mention the Redistribution website is very hard to navigate. We believe anyone using the site to find the impacts on their community would be hard-pressed to get the information they seek. For your information, several web design firms are using focus groups of fifty- and sixty-year olds to beta test interactive websites to ensure their product is user-friendly.

FONOM would recommend to the Commission that they ensure they improve upon this platform for the next realignment in 2032.

Thank you. Danny Whalen President, FONOM

Motion regarding Electoral Boundary Changes in Northern Ontario

Whereas the proposed Federal Electoral Boundary Commission has proposed to remove one of the electoral ridings from Northern Ontario;

Whereas the proposed riding of Manitoulin-Nickel Belt would remove the municipalities of St. Charles, Markstay-Warren, and West Nipissing from the current Nickel Belt riding;

Whereas the municipalities of French River, Killarney, St. Charles, Markstay-Warren, and West Nipissing work together under the umbrella of the Sudbury-East Municipal Association (SEMA) for the betterment of each municipality. Currently SEMA is comprised of one geopolitical entity and any changes would fragment, diminish, and reduce access to federal representation for area residents;

Whereas the Commission is not taking into consideration the uniqueness of the said municipalities in Sudbury-East including the difficulty in competing for limited amounts of funding. Any changes to the current configuration would exacerbate the situation;

Whereas the Commission did not take into considering that the current Sudbury-East boundaries include a substantial portion of francophone citizens. By removing St. Charles, Markstay-Warren and West Nipissing from Nickel Belt would make it extremely difficult to advocate for our francophone population and would be detrimental for those municipalities being forced into mostly anglophone ridings;

Whereas the proposal to diminish Northern Ontario's voice in Parliament will have detrimental effect on participatory democracy and regional development as issues in Northern Ontario are significantly different than those in Southern Ontario;

Whereas the Electoral Commission did not take under consideration that the courts have rules that representation in Canada's democracy is no based merely on population but on regions of interest and the right of citizens to engage with their elected representative;

Whereas any changes to electoral boundaries should be based on the principles of maintaining communities of interest within the boundaries that are equitable in terms of culture, language, and geography;

Whereas Sema has a history of working collaboratively on projects and issues in our current riding. It will be inefficient to separate the work between two Members of Parliament and cause a duplication work for members of SEMA.

Whereas the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission is seeking public input on its proposed riding boundary changes, yet has scheduled on ONE in person consultation in Northern Ontario to be held in Timmins;

Now, therefore be it resolved that this Council calls on the Electoral Boundary Commission to not reduce the number of MPs for Northern Ontario and it respects the current geographical boundaries for those in Nickel Belt.

Let it also be resolved that the Commission follow its rules and consider our community interest and identity and the historical pattern of our electoral district in the province when determining reasonable electoral district boundaries for our community.

And finally, let it also be resolved that the Commission add an in-person consultation meeting to be held in Sudbury in order for all those residing in Nickel Belt have an opportunity to meet in-person with the Commission