Commentaire 13 (Le 22 août 2022) – commentaires et rétroaction

Dick Harris

In the riding of Lac-St-Louis.

I am not writing about my own riding, but about the Dorval-Lachine-LaSalle riding, in which I lived until some time ago. (I worked on the unsuccessful campaign of then NDP MP, Isabelle Morin, in 2015.) The riding includes only half of the arrondissement of LaSalle, with the division being drawn in a seemingly arbitrary way.

This has two adverse effects:

1. It divides LaSalle into two arbitrary pieces, making coherent representation of issues in LaSalle that much more difficult.
2. It creates a riding which has two distinctly different pieces. These are the Western part, namely Dorval and Lachine west of 32nd avenue, which are largely populated by middle class professional families in owner-occupied single-family homes, and the Eastern part, namely eastern Lachine and the "western" part of LaSalle, which are much more working class, with a predominance of rented apartment buildings and condominiums. This arrangement is manageable when the eastern part is only eastern Lachine, because this belongs to the same arrondissement as western Lachine. But when "western" LaSalle is added, the riding becomes unmanageable, with vastly different issues preoccupying the two populations.

I realize that there are sometimes issues of equalisation of population which dictate riding boundaries. However, the situation in Dorval-Lachine-LaSalle surely needs a more creative solution! (And - let it be done in plenty of time before the next election, for the sake of those who must prepare their campaigns!)

Thank you for your attention to my comments.