Federal electoral districts redistribution 2022

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Bob Purcell

Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario
c/o Ms. Paula Puddy, Commission Secretary
PO Box 37018 Southdale
London ON N6E 3T3

Sent via email:ON@redecoupage-federal-redistribution.ca

Dear Ms. Puddy, Commission Secretary

RE: Federal Electoral Districts Redistribution

We are writing in response to the Commission's proposed redistribution of the Federal Electoral Districts. The Municipality of Dutton Dunwich Council has voiced several concerns in your proposal and for the following reasons, outlined below, they are unanimously requesting the current boundary riding's be maintained.

The proposed district boundaries would mean that the County of Elgin would be divided into three federal electoral districts i.e., Elgin-Middlesex-Thames, London South–St. Thomas, and Elgin–Middlesex-London; unnecessarily fragmenting and negatively impacting the County of Elgin as follows:

  • With the loss of St Thomas, Elgin County, including Municipality of Dutton Dunwich, residents would hold only a minority share of the population of any of the proposed electoral districts that include the Municipality of Dutton Dunwich, diluting the ability

to influence the local Member of Parliament to concentrate on and address Dutton

Dunwich and Dutton Dunwich residents' interests.

  • The proposed ridings of Elgin-Middlesex-Thames and London South– St. Thomas do not respect the historical and existing fabric of the Elgin County communities.
  • The Middlesex-Thames electoral district is difficult to be considered as a district of manageable geographic size in southwestern Ontario. The existing Elgin-Middlesex-London electoral district is 3,557km2 while the proposed Elgin-Middlesex Thames electoral district is 6,262km2.
  • Splitting the Municipality of Central Elgin and Township of Southwold does not respect either of the community's identity, as it would be practically impossible to argue John Wise Line or Sunset Road divides two community identities.
  • The inclusion of a portion of the Municipality of Central Elgin in the London South-St. Thomas electoral district would take the most populous municipality in Elgin County and dilute its voice across two electoral districts.
  • The justification provided by the Commission for the creation of the South London-

St. Thomas electoral district does not even consider or acknowledge the Municipality of Central Elgin as part of Elgin County as per the proposal states and as follows:

Recognizing the development in the southern part of the City of London and the northern part of the City of St. Thomas, these areas are both included in the proposed district of London South-St. Thomas.

  • The Municipality of Dutton Dunwich, through Elgin County, partners with the City of St. Thomas on the provision of services, including social services. The proposed electoral districts separate Elgin County from the City of St. Thomas with regard to services that may be closest to the federal sphere of jurisdiction.

Foreseen Negative Impacts:

  • Community organizations would face greater time and complexity when seeking to engage the federal government and potential for contradictory positions taken by area Members of Parliament representing competing political parties.
  • Having multiple constituency offices/members serving singular municipalities complicates system navigation for residents, particularly in rural areas and effectively creates barriers and not remove them.
  • Representing such a large number of distinctive communities would limit a Member's ability to become reasonably familiar with all local needs, reducing time and resources available for individual concerns, issues, and initiatives etc.
  • Existing community identities of Elgin's constituent municipalities would be significantly diluted across two ridings that would be overshadowed by City of London.
  • Bisecting the Municipality of Central Elgin on John Wise Line is arbitrary and facilitates scenarios where neighbours could be forced to seek assistance from different Members of Parliament for the same concern; and
  • Will inevitably impact provincial riding boundaries, which tend to mirror federal boundaries. This would only magnify the complexities of severing municipal boundaries between two ridings where the provincial-municipal relationship is bound even more tightly across a number of service areas, ranging from court administration and transportation to long-term care and delivery of social services. Elgin County's constituent municipalities, through Elgin County, partner with the City of St. Thomas on the provision of services including Emergency Medical Services and Social Services.

Conclusion

The Commission requires that representatives proposing alternative federal riding boundary scenarios and must be prepared to indicate to the Commission not just the representatives' concerns, but to set out alternatives and, importantly, set out in as much detail as possible, including in a map, how other communities would be affected by the proposed alternatives. Due to the constraints facing our Municipality, the best avenue present to pursue alterations to the proposed federal electoral boundaries is via collaboration with the City of St. Thomas and Elgin County municipalities.

It is for these reasons that we provide this written submission and ask that the County of Elgin's seven (7) constituent municipalities remain fully contained and represented within one federal electoral district with the entirety of Elgin County and the City of St. Thomas. The current composition of the Elgin-Middlesex-London riding satisfies the Commission's stated requirement for population size, thus making it feasible to do so.

Sincerely,

  • Mayor Bob Purcell
  • Deputy Mayor Mike Hentz
  • Councilor Patricia Corneil
  • Councilor Amarilis Drouillard
  • Councilor Ken Loveland

CC:

  • Karen Vecchio, Member of Parliament - Elgin-Middlesex-London
  • Rob Flack, Member of Provincial Parliament of Ontario – Elgin-Middlesex-London
  • Mayor Joe Preston - City of St Thomas
  • Warden Mary French – County of Elgin

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