REPORT from OTTAWA Rapport d’Ottawa

by/par Carol Hughes Federal member of Parliament Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing

It's been almost a year since the Federal ElectoralBoundariesCommissionforOntariofirst submitted their proposal to change the electoral map, proposing to eliminate Algoma-ManitoulinKapuskasing, and reducing the total number of ridings across Northern Ontario, from ten to nine. TheConstitutionofCanadarequiresthisprocessof redrawing electoral maps every ten years, and while a large part of the process is focused on changingpopulationdemographics,thedecisionto removearidinginNorthernOntariodefinitelyfelt shortsighted, particularly as the population in Northern Ontario is growing. However, despite rational arguments to maintain the number of ridings across the North, both during the short public hearing phase, and during Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) meetings, the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontarioultimatelydecidedtoeliminateourriding, and as a result this will surely negatively impact representationacrosstheNorth.

Following a short few months of public consultations,noneofwhichwereheldinAlgomaManitoulin-Kapuskasing, the current riding being affected the most by the proposal, the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario camebacktothetablewithasecondproposalthat didnotallowforpublicinput.Thiswasafterinitial interventions from across the North that voiced significantconcernsabouteliminatinganelectoral district. In the words of the Federal Electoral BoundariesCommissionforOntario'sreport,“this proposal for Northern Ontario generated considerable public interest, input and criticism. There were submissions related to several topics; however, there was an especially high volume of submissionsurgingtheCommissiontomaintain10 ridings in this region. This included resolutions from dozens of municipalities, political representatives,variousorganizationsoperatingin the North, and the general public.” There was a clear interest from Northern Ontario communities and residents to maintain their voice through the redistribution process and despite the number of submissionsfromacrosstheNorthtomaintainthe numberofridings,onlyminimalbutconsequential adjustments were made by the Commission to its initialproposal.

Sincetherewasnopossibilityforthepublic to provide input on the second iteration of the commission's proposal, it was up to Members of Parliament to bring those matters to the PROC Committee. Five MPs representing Northern Ontarioconstituenciesvoicedtheirconcernsabout