Commentaire 58 – commentaires et rétroaction

Doug MacQuarrie

As a resident of the current federal electoral district of Orléans, I am writing to document two concerns with the proposed redistribution of Federal Electoral Districts as presented in the most recent draft for review and comment.

The first issue is a residual issue stemming from the last review of electoral districts and this issue remains problematic. In its present form, the physical area of the City of Ottawa is the result of the 2001 amalgamation of 11 lower-order municipalities which comprised the Regional Municipality of Ottawa Carleton. A significant portion of the population (approximately 15%), facilities and geographic area of amalgamated City of Ottawa are the legacy of the former City of Gloucester, which at amalgamation had over 110,000 people and was the 3rd most populous of the former municipalities — the Cities of Ottawa and Nepean being 1 and 2 respectively. While the former cities of Nepean, Kanata, Vanier (which at amalgamation had, and looking at census tracts, still has a much lower population) all figure in the names of proposed federal election districts, the important regional and historical significance of Gloucester, dating back before the Baldwin Act of 1849, has been lost. More information about the history of Gloucester can be found at http://www.gloucesterhistory.com/index.html.

Gloucester doesn’t appear in the name of any of the proposed ridings.

This should be redressed by including Gloucester - perhaps most appropriately by including it in a renaming of the proposed ridings of Ottawa South and Orléans both of which have a large portion of the geographic area and population of the former city e.g. Ottawa South - Gloucester and/or Gloucester - Orléans.

Secondly and importantly, the proposed redistribution of two ridings will significantly fracture two communities of interest.

That Blackburn Hamlet is now proposed to be in Ottawa-Vanier (with no name change) is to mix apples and oranges. Blackburn Hamlet's existing association with the present configuration of Orléans is far more appropriate. Blackburn and Orléans have much more in common as bedroom communities in, or beyond, the greenbelt than some arbitrary linkage of Blackburn with Ottawa East/Vanier. This does not make good geopolitical sense. I append a letter I obtained from the website of the Deputy Mayor and City of Ottawa Councillor for the area who makes a very cogent argument as to why such a shift would be troubling. In previous electoral district reviews, this has resulted in a significant portion of the north-west portion of the former City of Gloucester (Rothwell Heights, Cardinal Heights and Beacon Hill North and Beacon Hill South being carved off and arbitrarily added to Ottawa-Vanier. What seems to be happening is that redistribution after redistribution, eastern communities are being added to Ottawa-Vanier to get its numbers ‘right’, rather than undertaking a total rethink as to what makes the most sense across the City of Ottawa as a whole to ensure the integrity "communities of identity and interest and historical patterns."

In an adjacent riding, the current draft proposal is poised for a similar yet avoidable 'apples and oranges' phenomenon should the proposed shift of the south-east corner of Innes Road and Hwy 417 occur. This would mean residences on Ramsayville Road, Russell Road and the neighbouring area, would be carved off of their closest communities and their historical patterns as part of the City of Ottawa to form part of the proposed riding of Prescott Russell.

Should these proposed realignments proceed, one 'Band-Aid fix' after another will result in these two communities of interest being needlessly fractured, placing numerical interest over representational interest. At a minimum, the Commission should ensure more appropriate labels for new ridings that would result. For example, should in the end Ottawa-Vanier be foist upon Blackburn Hamlet – despite the present request from myself and others – as a minimum, the riding should be renamed — Ottawa-Vanier-Gloucester. This makes good sense regardless since, as noted, even without the addition of Blackburn Hamlet it contains a good chunk of the population of the former City of Gloucester.

Your consideration of this input and your efforts to redress these shortcomings is appreciated.

Yours truly,

Doug MacQuarrie