Commentaire 232 – commentaires et rétroaction

Wayne Tocheri

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Good evening Your Honour Justice Leitch, Commissioner Bird and Commissioner Loewen.

Welcome to Thunder Bay and Thank You for agreeing to change your original plan by now including an in person Hearing here in Thunder Bay.

I am particularly pleased with the change because I had previously scheduled to attend in Sioux Lookout earlier in October. A return Travel Trip from here to Sioux Lookout for an evening meeting is, by necessity, a 2 day affair. When I could not secure any overnight accommodation in Sioux Lookout, I chose to attend the following evening in Kenora. It would be a slightly longer drive but at least I would be heard in a community that you were proposing as an additional component to my currently named riding - Thunder Bay-Rainy River.

I booked hotel accommodations, a rental vehicle and even called a few friends for travel company on this 2 day trip… I cancelled a medical appointment as well. Over the next several days my memories of the many, many times I've travelled Hwy 17 to Kenora started to weigh on my enthusiasm for the journey.

I decided to cancel the journey and instead opt for a virtual presentation on OCT 19 unless an opportunity for a Hearing in TBay were to be arranged.

My prayers were answered… Thanks for saving 2 days of my (remaining) life ! More importantly however, I hope you have had the experience of road travel on Hwy 11 and Hwy 17 in Northwestern Ontario.

It's a typical 2 day affair from Thunder Bay westerly along Hwy 11 when you arrange a 1 or 2 hour meeting at each location starting in Atikokan, then Fort Frances and Emo-- you even get an extra hour to work when crossing the Eastern time zone to Central Time.

After 1 night in a Fort hotel you can easily journey to Kenora (3 hours travel) along Hwy 11, hold an early afternoon Meeting and even another evening Event in Dryden (it's only another 2 hour drive along Hwy 17 heading easterly). Best advised, however, to overnight in Dryden before heading back to TBay arriving mid afternoon because now you lose an hour en route .

It's doable…I've done it many, many times …usually in the spring and early fall…when there's lots of daylight and less chance of an encounter with a moose, deer or bear.

I relate this type of itinerary because an elected Member of Parliament would need to have actual face time in these communities (and many others) several times a year in all manner of weather conditions. Effective representation requires substantial commitment and dogged determination across multiple community leadership, business, industry, health and social organizations to build trust and earn credibility. An MP must commit to real 'face time" to listen…to hear constituent concerns and recommendations.

Respectfully, I submit, the Commission's proposal to add the city of Kenora and 18 more First Nation communities to the already over-stretched riding TB_RR is not manageable -- it would be, in my opinion a set-up for failure respective of candidate performance, home based community, or party affiliation.

Effective representation must be a manageable undertaking… .this proposed riding is not manageable.

Prior to today I spoke with 3 former MPs for this area TB-Rainy River. (changed from TB-Atikokan in 2004 when it was expanded dramatically to Rainy River)- Dr Stan Dromisky served for 12 years -TB-Atikokan,

-Ken Boshcoff served for 5 years -TB-RR

-Don Rusnak served for 4 years -TB-RR

Each of these former MPs confirmed that extending the riding to include the Kenora area with additional First Nations, communities, towns and a city along Hwy 17 in the District of Kenora would be an untenable, overwhelming and otherwise unmanageable workload for an MP…absolutely not reasonable.

- John Rafferty,- MP for 9 years is now deceased, however having known him quite well over his tenure I'm sure he would voice similar sentiments.

-There is another MP that served this riding for 9 years- Iain Angus- who I trust will personally present to this Commission.

I feel quite confident in these concerns because I've not only traveled and worked in my personal career throughout this proposed riding but I've also served as chair of candidate recruitment for the Liberal nomination since 2014.

I'd like to address additional strong concerns about the serious dislocation of 2 populations adjacent to the current boundary with TB-Superior North. The first is the area north of Arthur St and north of the Neebing River - these 2 housing developments locally known as Parkdale and Northwood, have significant historical attachment to the original foundation settlements in Fort William and West Fort William. The 2nd and 3rd generations of Fort William homeowners built their new homes in the 2 new developments of Parkdale and Northwood. Two new commercial malls were also created in these locations to accommodate the growing population in Fort William (as of 1970 now amalgamated with Port Arthur and portions of Neebing and Shuniah Townships.) In the late 1960's the Board of Governors of Confederation College deliberately chose the area between the 2 populated centers -PA and FW- the area of Shuniah Township to be a south side balance to the Lakehead University campus which was located on the north side -in Port Arthur.

The development of the Harbour Expressway - east to west - between the 2 major populations was a badly needed access route into the harbour-front areas.

The Harbour Expressway is the most significant easily identifiable infrastructure for the 2 former cities. This now landmark route has served effectively for 2 decades. Sheer logic dictates that it should continue to be the demarcation boundary for the 2 ridings.

Similarly, where this Harbour Expressway meets the eastern boundary of the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge hence northerly to the Kaministiquia River should also remain as the rural boundary for the 2 ridings to avoid the proposed, and seriously detrimental division of the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge and the community of Kakabeka Falls.

A brief -1 hour drive in this area or a simple look out the window of your aircraft flying into Thunder Bay will readily confirm this natural, indeed, obvious and logical boundary.

I recognize your proposal to remove a portion of the population in TB-RR (Northwood and Parkdate etc) compensates for the additional population by including Kenora. However, this proposal only compounds the base error. Kenora does not belong in a riding with Thunder Bay and Rainy River. Kenora has virtually no significant historical or community interest with Thunder Bay-it never has and purposely is pursuing its own destiny in that District.

Kenora's history and its future lies with the territory to the west, northwest and its immediate south on Lake of the Woods. This area has a much closer relationship with Manitoba and Winnipeg in particular, for all manner of associations primarily because it is only 2 hours to the west - rather than Thunder Bay which is 6 hours to the south (on a good travel day). It should not go unnoticed that Kenora's citizenry continue to look westward to Manitoba for business, recreational, and even health services as a matter of convenience and practicality.

Kenora and Sioux Lookout are, and will continue to be, the logical business, social, health, and cultural service centres for the District of Kenora.

Please reconsider your proposal.

Since I've already mentioned the elephant in the room….that ever mindful word population - that is a focal point when adjudicating political ridings, please allow me a few more comments.

The north of Ontario is not easily populated….our growth, historically, has been slow and sometimes painful….quite different from the experiences in southern Ontario.

Northern Ontario's development has always been based upon its natural resources. This fact has meant hard, physically demanding work, perseverance and endurance is required of its citizens in what is often very challenging weather conditions - I'm being polite even to Mother Nature.

Our growth and at times our reduction in population is always tied to our natural resources. Northern Ontario's population change moves at a glacial pace, which can have sudden and unexpected surges. Our next significant surge is now building momentum. The mining sector activity has identified and is launching the most significant Ontario (indeed Canadian) mining development in this century. The need for specific scarce minerals are identified and are being extracted in this area - commonly referred to as the Ring of Fire… in the heartland of the District of Kenora.

The current population numbers of this district must not become a deterrent to the need for a specific federal riding for the District of Kenora. This region is simply too strategic to Ontario's future and must have a unique federal voice with its own Member of Parliament. Indeed, the Rules established for riding allocation provide clear license for the Commission to acknowledge this need.

Earlier this year we learned the results of an important community-based health study developed by Well Living House , a research centre focused on Indigenous health and well-being based in Toronto and completed jointly with an Indigenous health centre in Thunder Bay. The most significant finding of that study is that the Indigenous population in Thunder Bay is two to four times larger than estimated by Statistics Canada . Instead of the 9,780 adults estimate, there are actually between 23,080 to 42,641 Indigenous adults in Thunder Bay. This factor alone must be recognized by the Commission when adjudicating the population database for TB-RR and TB-SN.

For all of these reasons, I submit respectfully that the Federal Electoral Ridings of TB-RR, TB-SN, and Kenora remain essentially as presently formulated.

I trust that November 8 is a noteworthy date for the Commission. It is already a very important date in my history…

Respectfully submitted to the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission Hearing at Valhalla Inn on November 8, 2022.

Wayne Tocheri

Thunder Bay ON

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