Redistribution of Federal Electoral Districts 2012

[Krago]

The New Brunswick Commission has accepted all four recommendations from the Standing Committee.

Addendum -- Disposition of Objections 

[Krago]

I listened to the presentations of Olivia Chow and Bob Rae to the House Committee yesterday.  (Hear it here.)  

Olivia was flogging the idea of splitting St. Paul's in half and creating a new Forest Hill-Rosedale seat, but that plan was dead on arrival.  

Bob was recommending the sensible plan of extending Toronto Centre south to the Gardiner, rather than using Front St and dividing the St. Lawrence neighbourhood.  However, his changes would add a net 5,515 people to Toronto Centre, and push Fort York-Spadina below the magical 25% deviation from the provincial quotient.  (The lower limit is 79,661 and Rae's new FYS would have only 76,965 people).  I seriously doubt the Commission would go along with it - Downtown Toronto is NOT Kenora.

[Krago]

The area being proposed to be added to Oshawa riding (Conlin to Taunton, Whitby border to Ritson) voted Cons 57%, NDP 30%, Lib 9%, Green 4% in the last federal election.

I used to live in that area thirty years ago.  There was a tank (military, not septic) on the NE corner of Simcoe and Glovers.

[Krago]

An interesting comparison:

• Mississauga - 6 seats - 713,443 pop. - 118,907 avg.
• Scarborough - 6 seats - 625,698 pop. - 104,283 avg.

[Krago]

The Tory members in Niagara Region complained about the huge population imbalance between Niagara West (86,533) and Niagara Falls (128,357).  Their plan was to go back to the Commissions' original proposal to link Fort Erie with Welland, and include Thorold with Niagara West.

There is another alternative that would reduce the imbalance without touching Niagara Centre.  There are 12,229 people that live in St. Catharines riding (from the January report) west of Twelve Mile Creek/Martindale Pond, and an additional 15,400 population in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  By moving St. Catharines riding eastward, this would leave the populations as:

• Niagara West:  86,533 + 12,229 = 98,762
• St. Catharines:  110,596 - 12,229 + 15,400 = 113,767
• Niagara Falls: 128,357 - 15,400 = 112,957

[Krago]

The Northern Ontario hearing was unusual.

Charlie Angus and Jay Aspin were in complete agreement on returning the riding boundary around Temiskaming Shores to the existing position.  I guess when you win your seat by 18 votes, riding boundaries REALLY matter.

Brian Hayes and Carol Hughes sounded as if they were opposed to each other, but actually supported maintaining the current border between their two ridings.  However, Hughes recognized that the Commission is firmly opposed to making Algoma--Manitoulin--Kapuskasing an exceptional riding, whereas Hayes felt that a recommendation from the Standing Committee would change the Commissioners' minds.  The key problem is that nobody wants to be part of AMK: not Bruce Mines, not Hilton Beach, not Lively, not Manitouwadge, and not even Hearst and Kapuskasing (until Hughes slapped them back into line.)

The Tory MPs took great delight in attacking Hughes and Angus over the 'inappropriate involvement' mentioned in the Ontario Commission's Report.  This was probably in retaliation for Craig Scott's constant harping over accusations of bias and gerrymandering levelled by Conservative and Liberal MPs against some Commissions, in particular the Saskatchewan MPs and Jimmy Karygiannis.

[Krago]

Some Quebec MPs suggested changes to ridings south of Quebec City, specifically to keep Maxime Bernier's Beauce fiefdom exactly how he likes it.  Here is an alternative plan that does a better job in balancing the populations while notionally flipping one seat (Lévis--Lotbinière-Nord) from the Conservatives to the NDP.

[Krago]

Adding the francophone community of West Nipissing with 14,149 residents which is always part of Nickel Belt,  

... since 2004 federally and not since God Knows When provincially.

[Krago]

The Final Final Alberta Report is now out.  There are three minor boundary changes (Ponoka County, NE Calgary and Hillspring/Glenwood) and one name change: Edmonton Callingwood is renamed Edmonton West.

[Krago]

Directional names are strongly discouraged in Quebec, so as to avoid having to translate federal riding names into English.  Calgary East/Calgary-Est is considered OK, but Laval-Est/Laval East is not.

Here is a quick read: Naming Canada's Constituencies

[Krago]

After the last redistribution in 2003, Bill C-20 was passed to change the names of 38 ridings from what was proposed by the Commissions (and included in the Representation Order).  Since this happened just days before Parliament was dissolved, the changes didn't take effect until after the 2004 Federal Election.  Of the 38 changes, 30 lengthened the district name (the winner: North Nova became Cumberland–Colchester–Musquodoboit Valley), 5 shortened the name (take that Prof. Courtney!) and 3 just moved the names around.

After the election, two ridings were returned to their original names:

- Bill 302 changed Kitchener-Wilmot-Wellesley-Woolwich back to Kitchener-Conestoga after the MP had a fit of sanity.

- Bill 304 changed Battle River back to Westlock-St. Paul.  This is one of my favourite political stories.  THEY CHANGED THE NAME OF THE WRONG RIDING and nobody noticed!  The Battle River flows through the middle of Vegreville-Wainwright, not Westlock-St. Paul.  Could you imagine the embarrassment, if they had actually held an election under the wrong name?

[Krago]

The other possibility is that they got the right riding, but the wrong river.  In a previous incarnation Westlock-St. Paul was called Beaver River.

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The BC, Quebec and Saskatchewan Reports are out.

[Krago]

The Ontario Report is now out.

[Krago]

The City of Toronto is planning on taking five years and spending at least $750,000 to redraw its ward boundaries.  I could do it in a weekend!

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2013.EX32.2

[Krago]

Reply from an e-mail I sent to Elections Canada:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

NOTE: The House of Commons is adjourned until Monday, September 16, 2013.

[Krago]

Reply from an e-mail I sent to Elections Canada:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

NOTE: The House of Commons is adjourned until Monday, September 16, 2013.

Will the expected prorogation for a new throne speech change this date?

The Calgary convention was supposed to come first. But the rescheduled convention date is Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. They won't prorogue to that late a date, surely.

So: when?

An Adjournment Tabling Day has been scheduled for Wednesday, August 21.  The remaining reports will be made public then.

[Krago]

Why don't you e-mail him and ask?  Then you can let us know.

[Krago]

Three new amended electoral boundaries reports are out today.  Ontario is still outstanding.

British Columbia
Quebec
Saskatchewan

[Krago]

That just leaves Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan which doesn't neatly correspond to any school division

What about "Smells Like Teen Spirit"?

[Krago]

Proportional representation is all about taking seats away from winning candidates from popular parties, and giving them to losing candidates from unpopular parties.

[Krago]

MMP: Why appoint the Leader's pals to the Senate when you can appoint them to the House of Commons!

[Krago]

Well, thanks to the new SK borders, 2 Tory MPs have announced they'll be running in rural seats that will be vacated, rather than run in the new urban ridings that make up most of their current ridings. Also, Nettie Wiebe and Noah Evanchuk have announced they will be running in the two new NDP friendly ridings.

Fantastic! Nettie and Noah will make amazing MPs; they are just the types the NDP need from the West. Even though Nettie will be representing an urban riding, as former president of the National Farmer union she brings needed rural "cred" to the NDP.
At any rate that's great news for the opposition who can see two, maybe three or even four seats in SASK.

Any word on a final report for Ontario? God i hope they make changes to Toronto

Back on track... in the new riding of Saskatoon West Pat Atkinson a former NDP cabinet minister has been asked & is thinking about running for the nomination. A couple other Liberals/Cons with "name" are mentioned too

Do you have a link?

[Krago]

Back in June, Toronto City Council authorized the City Manager to hire a consultant to re-draw the city's ward boundaries.  Here is my job application.

Based on Toronto's 2011 Census population of 2,615,200, the current 44 wards have an average population of 60,000 (for Wilf: 59,433.1818).

My plan would freeze the size of City Council, and adjust the boundaries so that no ward could be more than 10% above or below the average.

Here is the map:  Proposed Toronto 44 Ward Map - Option 1

Enjoy.

[Krago]

Back in June, Toronto City Council authorized the City Manager to hire a consultant to re-draw the city's ward boundaries.  Here is my job application.

Based on Toronto's 2011 Census population of 2,615,200, the current 44 wards have an average population of 60,000 (for Wilf: 59,433.1818).

My plan would freeze the size of City Council, and adjust the boundaries so that no ward could be more than 10% above or below the average.

Here is the map:  Proposed Toronto 44 Ward Map - Option 1

Enjoy.

Here are some alternatives:

Proposed Ward Map - Option 2
Proposed Ward Map - Option 2a

Enjoy.