Commentaire 44 – commentaires et rétroaction

Lea Daniel

To the members of the Ontario Redistribution Commission:

I appreciate the work that has gone into the proposed redrawing of electoral boundaries but feel compelled to object to the changes planned for the Kitchener-Conestoga riding.

In the last boundary change my husband and I were shifted to Kitchener-Conestoga which is spread-out geographically and encompasses several areas that were unfamiliar to us. We have put a fair amount of effort into getting to know them and to making connections.

Many of the connections we have made are in the Rosenberg area which lies to the south of Forest Heights where we live. Because it is so convenient to our neighbourhood we find ourselves there most days for social, business, or shopping reasons. Rosenberg young people attend Forest Heights Collegiate while Forest Heights residents make use of the Community Centre at Williamsburg. I feel strongly that the Rosenberg area should remain part of Kitchener-Conestoga.

The proposal that Rosenberg be replaced with a portion of Hespeler does not work well since Hespeler's geographic and historical ties are with Cambridge.

I understand numbers need to be balanced. To make that happen the most natural addition to Kitchener-Conestoga is the section of Forest Hill bounded by Westmount Road, Highland Road, Fischer-Hallman Road and the Conestoga Parkway. When we were newcomers to Kitchener, we experienced Forest Heights and Forest Hill as one neighborhood. Our children went to schools in both areas, we all use the same pool, library and shopping malls and churches such as St. Georges Anglican serve both neighbourhoods. I believe these strong community ties should be respected.

We all want to encourage participation in the political process, but this has been difficult during the CoVid pandemic. I believe that ignoring natural connections will make people even less likely to engage.

Regards,

Lea Daniel