Commentaire 60 – commentaires et rétroaction

Sylvia Ranson

I am writing in response to the recent proposal to change the boundaries for the Kitchener South - Hespeler riding. I am currently a resident of Kitchener South and feel strongly that the riding should remain as is. Since this new riding was only created 10 years ago, we are just now becoming familiar with the riding boundaries. We already have disruption with there currently being 3 different Kitchener ridings—Kitchener South, Kitchener Centre, and Kitchener-Conestoga. It gets so confusing with all these changes.

From the documentation, I understand that the proposals for redistribution are based on "such considerations as social and geographical factors that include respect for communities of interest or identify, historical patterns of previous electoral boundaries." Given those factors, I wish to address the following:

Hespeler considerations:

1. Kitchener South - Hespeler was newly created as a riding 10 years ago. Changing it again will be hugely disruptive to the community.
2. Hespeler is a unique community, with a strong sense of identity—splitting this community would be a divisive act, not one that respects the community
3. Connections need to be made politically and economically. Splitting this community will disrupt normal course of business (e.g. two different MPs representing each area).

Kitchener considerations:

1. Kitchener South borders Hespeler and both are aligned as suburban ridings. It simply makes more sense to keep Hespeler together to continue to align with Kitchener South.
2. There is no shared history with North Dumfries and Kitchener South—this does not make any sense as North Dumfries is a rural area. Interests of both North Dumfries and Kitchener South will be fragmented.
3. At a population 119,851, Kitchener South Hespeler is currently well within the commission's own population target or +/- 10% from 116,590.

Regards,

Sylvia Ranson