Commentaire 7 – commentaires et rétroaction

Patrick Schertzer

I am writing with a short submission to voice my concerns with the proposed redistribution of the boundary for the riding of Kitchener Centre.

I am a lifelong resident of Kitchener residing in the Idlewood neighbourhood in Kitchener Centre. As Kitchener has grown the riding of Kitchener Centre itself has shrunk geographically leading to the creation of the current Kitchener South - Hespeler riding in 2015.

I'm glad to see the current proposal to change the boundaries of this riding because many people I spoke to in Hespeler were frustrated and confused by being part of this riding. They always felt they were Cambridge residents and accordingly did not want to be in a largely Kitchener riding. From my experience this led to lower engagement with people seeking elected office provincially and federally because they were more interested in what was happening in Cambridge which is where they considered home.

However, despite this positive change I believe there is a new problem with the proposed boundaries of this riding now called Kitchener South - North Dumfries.

Myself and other residents of the Idlewood area consider ourselves residents of the south part of Kitchener. We use the facilities at Chicopee Ski Resort in the summer and winter, we play sports at Sportsworld, and we take our children on trips to the Waterloo Region Museum. We increasingly have less of a community connection to the downtown core of Kitchener which is where the majority of the riding of Kitchener Centre lives.

Additionally, the current proposed boundary between Kitchener Centre and Kitchener South - North Dumfries along Daimler Drive cuts the Idlewood community of the south of Kitchener in half leaving part of the area in Kitchener Centre and part in Kitchener South - North Dumfries. This would be detrimental to the community and would isolate residents from their friends and neighbours. In short, this would be little better than the previous map placing Hespeler with the south of Kitchener.

As an alternative I propose moving the boundary of Kitchener Centre back from Daimler Drive to Ottawa Street North. The Idlewood area would then be bordered by River Road to the west, Ottawa Street North to the north, and Lackner Boulevard to the east and would be entirely in the new riding of Kitchener South - North Dumfries.

In order to make up for the additional population that would then be in Kitchener South - North Dumfries I also propose moving the boundary of Kitchener Centre from Kinzie Avenue east to Fairway Road, south to Highway 8, and northeast to River Road. This would also have the added benefit of keeping the community around Woodland Cemetery and Oaten Park together in Kitchener Centre which they are more connected to being along and near the main artery of King Street East.

While I acknowledge that the above proposed changes may not be a perfectly equal change of population from one riding to another, I believe that with the increasing density (and faster growth than other areas of the City) of downtown Kitchener in the next several years the difference between the ridings in population will be minimal by the time of the next census.

Lastly, I also believe that Fairway Road and Highway 8 make a better natural dividing line between the ridings than the residential street of Kinzie Avenue and will reduce voter confusion as to what riding they are in when an election is called.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my submission.

Kind Regards,