Commentaire 2 – commentaires et rétroaction

Jim Patterson

Hi. I've been following the redistribution process with interest, particularly as it affects my home riding of Ottawa West-Nepean. I'm glad to see that the current proposal corrects an historic anomaly by moving the rest of the Carlington neighborhood (east of Merivale Rd) and Carleton Heights (between Fisher and the Rideau River / Canal) into OWN. Their inclusion in Ottawa Centre seems to be only because they were once part of the old city of Ottawa pre-amalgamation two decades ago.

I'm writing because you may have overlooked a small group of electors that are still left in Ottawa Centre even though geographically they are very close to the new Ottawa West-Nepean riding. This is the small neighborhood of Rideauview Terrace, which sits north of Baseline Rd between Prince of Wales and the Rideau Canal. Only a couple of dozen houses on three short streets, but by leaving this area in Ottawa Centre you've put them in a different neighborhood than their Rideauview neighbors only a few hundred metres away whereas the nearest Ottawa Centre electors would be in Little Italy on Preston St, some 2km distant.

I think this anomaly is easily rectified. Instead of the boundary south of the Queensway following Carling and then south on Fisher, extend it along Carling all of the way until Preston St, then south and subsequently follow the Rideau Canal and Rideau River to the railway tracks, the proposed new southern boundary. While this would pull in a large new area, it's mostly the inner part of the experimental farm, along with a few other federal buildings. The only residential area is the Rideauview Terrace neighborhood I mentioned, which would become part of the new Ottawa West-Nepean electoral district. It's only a few dozen homes so would have have minimal impact on electoral numbers but would ensure that this group of voters could vote much closer to home.

I hope you'll consider my suggestion. Thank you.

Jim Patterson