Federal electoral districts redistribution 2022

Comment 5 comments and feedback

Back to all comments and feedback from the public

Marilyn Gladu, MP for Sarnia-Lambton

Written Submission for Federal Redistribution 2022: Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong

The input from the communities of interest was obtained through a town hall and public discourse. The concerns are outlined below:

  1. The change of the riding to increase population from 107,077 to 127,200

    According to the rules in the Electoral Boundaries Redistribution Act, the new quota of 116,950 can have a deviation of plus or minus 25 percent. This means the population could be as low as 87,712 and as high as 146,188. Sarnia—Lambton and the adjoining ridings of Lambton—Kent—Middlesex (111,242) and Chatham-Kent—Leamington (113,654) did not require any changes. There is no justification for altering these ridings. Twenty of the other ridings in the Ontario proposal have new populations in the range of these three ridings, and an additional seven have lower populations than these. That represents 22 percent of the new proposals. So why change these ridings? No better representation is being provided. In fact, for the reasons outlined below, the proposal actually creates worse conditions for representation than the status quo. Sarnia has actually moved further from the quota target ( from -8.2 % to +9.1 )

  2. The name change to add the Indigenous Walpole Island name, Bkejwanong

    Although there is no objection to adding an Indigenous name to the riding title, it is unfair to the Aamjiwnaang and the Three Fires Confederacy (the Ojibwe, Odawa, and the Potawatomi) who have been in this riding for decades and are not included in the Walpole Island name. These stakeholders should be consulted on including a more inclusive name to represent all First Nations in the riding, perhaps Anishinaabe.

  3. Walpole Island has significant connection and initiatives with Kettle and Stoney Point Nations, who, under this proposal, will now be in separate ridings, which is undesirable for them.
  4. The Warden of Lambton County (Kevin Marriot) now has three MPs to deal with instead of two for federal funding issues. He, along with the Mayor and councillors from St. Clair Township, as well as Mayor Bill Weber from Lambton Shores and Mayor Alan Broad from Dawn-Euphemia township would prefer to have Lambton County be the boundary for the riding instead of splitting it up. Dawn-Euphemia, with a population of under 2,000 has been split in two under the current proposal. They amalgamated Dawn with Euphemia in 1998 and this proposal undoes 24 years of uniting the economic and community ties between the two.
  5. The Mayor and councillors of Chatham-Kent, Wallaceburg (Ward 5 of Chatham-Kent), and Dresden area (Ward 4 of Chatham-Kent) are concerned about breaking up the municipality of Chatham-Kent into now three ridings instead of two. This will be confusing for the citizens, and more difficult to get approvals for federal funding (now three MPs to include instead of just two). Wallaceburg councillor Carmen McGregor highlighted the difficulty of getting federal infrastructure funding for a place with low population density that has 800 bridges and 16,000 culverts. This issue will be made worse by the proposed change.
  6. The Thames River, which was the natural dividing line historically for riding boundaries, has been replaced with numerous and different county roads, another source of confusion for voters.
  7. All stakeholders were dissatisfied with the scheduled sole public consultation session for the area. One virtual meeting for ridings from Hamilton to southwestern Ontario is not adequate. The recommendation is for the Commission to ask for a timeline extension, which is allowed under the Act, and to take the maximum time for public input. The timing of the proposal issue (at the end of summer, when many are on vacation, and the public hearing during the run up to the Ontario municipal elections) has marginalized the capacity for input from communities of interest.

This is the input I wish to have considered as part of the public hearings. In short, the riding should keep its existing boundaries or be redrawn to include all of Lambton County.

Respectfully submitted,

MP Marilyn Gladu

Sarnia-Lambton

Top of page