Comment 26 – comments and feedback

Andrea Seip

Cambridge. Many of us work, shop and play in Kitchener and Waterloo. Cambridge is just a town we drive through on the 401 as we head out of town and have no real connection too.

I regularly read the weekly and daily newspapers that serve Wellesley. They do not report on Cambridge happenings, but they do let me know what is making news in Kitchener and Waterloo. When I required hospitalization the ambulance took me to a Kitchener hospital, not one in Cambridge which would require an extra 30 minutes or more to get to.

As a child, I remember how contentious the issue of amalgamating Hespeler, Preston and Galt to form the city of Cambridge was. I believe that splitting off the residents of the northern portion of Hespeler from Cambridge, with whom they have a strong connection with is the wrong thing to do. Why would someone in Cambridge care what happens in Wellesley and vice versa? We are just not connected.

In Waterloo Region the Ion has been a major project for the last several years. I was very interested in where the tracks would run when they were building in Kitchener and Waterloo as these changes impacted my daily routine. Now that Cambridge is going through the same process I am no longer as interested as it will not affect me. But I am sure the residents of Hespeler are watching this issue closely.

I strongly feel that the riding of Kitchener-Conestoga would be better served by remaining tied to where we work, shop and play and are affected by the same issues. We share the same hospitals and medical facilities, the same roads, use the same transportation routes, and are served by the same media outlets. Perhaps most importantly, we feel a sense of community as we are affected by the same issues. I am sure the residents of Hespeler feel the same and would prefer to keep their Cambridge connections as that is what affects them most.

Thank you for all the work that has gone into this proposal.

Sincerely,

Andrea Seip