Canada Federal Representation 2024

[Krago]

I see that Hatman considers Ottawa to be his personal fiefdom:)

Just wait until you get down to Windsor.

[Krago]

https://twitter.com/tjprovincial/status/1522916683341602816?s=21&t=ZqUwoB7zA...

What passes for front page news in New Brunswick.

[Krago]

I mentioned his name twice during the interview and sent the reporter links to election-atlas.ca and RidingBuilder.

It might be a Saint John vs Fredericton thang.

[Krago]

I have created an alternative set of ridings for British Columbia that may solve the 'Powell River' problem.

https://bit.ly/Canada343


I've moved the qathet/Powell River area from an interior seat to an Island seat.  For the three northern Island ridings, I would follow the exact same boundaries proposed by the Commission, though with slightly different names and populations:

• North Island--qathet -- 125,821
• Courtenay--Alberni--Parksville -- 122,772
• Nanaimo--Ladysmith -- 122,857

The 'slightly different populations' could be due to me using dissemination blocks and the Commission using dissemination areas.  I will have to check it out.


To compensate for losing qathet/Powell River, the new interior seat would extend north to include 100 Mile House, currently in Kamloops.  The three northern ridings would retain their current boundaries unchanged.

• Skeena--Bulkley Valley -- 89,689
• Prince George--Peace River--Northern Rockies -- 108,998
• Cariboo--Prince George -- 111,226
• Fraser Canyon--Coquihalla--Sea-to-Sky Country -- 107,952

All my proposed BC ridings would be within +-10% of the provincial average with the exception of Skeena, which would remain just within the -25% limit.

Please let me know if these alternative boundaries should replace the ones I published last week.

[Krago]

For clarity sake ---  the new riding (#43) you are proposing is called Fraser Canyon--Coquihalla--Sea-to-Sky Country ?

Yes.  I am open to suggestions for a better and shorter name.  (Sea-to-Sky-to-Canyon-to-Coquihalla?)

If I'm so smart, why did it take me so long to come up with something so obvious?

[Krago]

The best point in favour of the new sprawling interior riding is that it improves representation in all the areas it touches.

I'm not a big fan of the Cloverdale--Fraser Heights seat, but a Fleetwood North and Fleetwood South alternative would be worse.

Kelowna is too big for one riding.  Having the second seat include West Kelowna rather than Vernon would seem a positive thing to me.

That being said, what do you think of this?

[Krago]

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Also, a minor fix in downtown Coquitlam.



Why does QGIS make moving labels so friggin' difficult?

[Krago]

I reckon there's a much simpler solution to that Fraser Canyon--Coquihalla--Sea-to-Sky Country riding. I'm not going to map it out, because it's not terribly revelatory, but here's a brief description:

• Assign 26 seats to the general Vancouver area - 2 for N Vancouver/W Vancouver/Sunshine Coast; 6 to Vancouver; 5 to the Burnaby/New Westminster/Coquitlam area; 2 to Richmond; 1 to Delta; 5 to Surrey; and 5 to everything from Langley City to Hope and the Fraser Valley. Plenty of ways of doing all that
• Assign 5 seats to the Kootenay/Okanagan region, as at present
• Assign 2 seats to Peace River/Cariboo/Prince George, as at present
• Combine the Squamish-Lilloet and Thompson-Nicola districts with Kamloops and the bits of Columbia-Shuswap not currently in East Kootenay. That's exactly the right size for two districts - easiest solution looks to be to make one out of Kamloops and and the areas north of the Thompson River, though other arrangements are possible. It's a bit awkward, but much less so than stretching a riding from Squamish to Princeton.
• Advance Skeena-Bulkley Valley a bit further south to take in the Central Coast
• That gives the current North Island-Powell River the leeway to take the bits of Courtenay north of the river. There's a bit of urban separation between the two halves of Courtenay and the northern half shades into Comox, so it doesn't look like the worst thing in the world
• The remaining 6 ridings on Vancouver Island then shuffle along with fairly minor changes to ensure they're all within 10%

The proposed Fraser Canyon--Coquihalla--Sea-to-Sky Country is comprised of parts of five regional districts:

• Cariboo -- 13,898
• Fraser Valley -- 12,768
• Okanagan-Similkameen -- 10,540
• Squamish-Lillooet -- 50,496
• Thompson-Nicola -- 20,250

My understanding is that you want to:
move Cariboo to the Prince George ridings,
move Fraser Valley to the Mission/Abbotsford ridings,
move Okanagan--Similkameen to the Okanagan/Kootenay ridings,

and replace them with Columbia-Shuswap [40,772] and Thompson-Nicola [3,726] from North Okanagan--Shuswap.  Is this correct?

Or would you split Kamloops and join the SW/Central part of the city [40,252] to the Squamish--Lillooet riding along Hwys 1 and 5?

[Krago]

That's an excellent alternative.

I'm not sure that Squamish to Sicamous would be an easier sell than Squamish to Princeton, but the BC Commissioners don't have many viable options.

[Krago]

Question for Calgarians: Which is the better option?

Option 1



Option 2



Option 3



Option 4



And the inevitable Option 5




Suggestions for better riding names are always welcome.

[Krago]

After the overwhelming response, here is the winner:

[Krago]

Not sure if Calgary Ogden is the best name of the riding, but I would also say Calgary Heritage is a terrible name, and they still went with that.

Calgary--Weaselhead Flats


The federal commissioners try not to duplicate provincial riding names in Calgary.

Provincial

• Calgary-Acadia
• Calgary-Beddington
• Calgary-Bow
• Calgary-Buffalo
• Calgary-Cross
• Calgary-Currie
• Calgary-East
• Calgary-Edgemont
• Calgary-Elbow
• Calgary-Falconridge
• Calgary-Fish Creek
• Calgary-Foothills
• Calgary-Glenmore
• Calgary-Hays
• Calgary-Klein
• Calgary-Lougheed
• Calgary-McCall
• Calgary-Mountain View
• Calgary-North
• Calgary-North East
• Calgary-North West
• Calgary-Peigan
• Calgary-Shaw
• Calgary-South East
• Calgary-Varsity
• Calgary-West

Federal

• Calgary Centre
• Calgary Confederation
• Calgary Forest Lawn
• Calgary Heritage
• Calgary Midnapore
• Calgary Nose Hill
• Calgary Rocky Ridge
• Calgary Shepard
• Calgary Signal Hill
• Calgary Skyview

[Krago]

Sorry Krago, I was travelling and not checking the forum when you were looking for Calgarian input. With that said, I think this option is the one that I would have picked. One small suggestion that I'd make would be to adjust the border between Calgary Heritage and Calgary Ogden to be MacLeod Trail instead of the CPR line, at least south of 50th Avenue S. MacLeod Trail is the major boundary between communities that it touches in south Calgary, and I would imagine that the Haysboro Community Association in particular wouldn't appreciate having its residents on the east side of the rail line in a different riding. North of 50th Avenue S, it could actually make more sense to keep the rail line as the boundary so that Manchester can be in the same riding with communities like Windsor Park.

In terms of riding names, I agree that Glenmore is a much better riding name than Heritage. I know that the commission tries to not copy provincial names, but they let Edmonton Mill Woods and Edmonton Manning get away with it, so why not Calgary Glenmore too? A possible non-duplicating name could be Calgary Mount Royal, as both the communities of Upper and Lower Mount Royal as well as Mount Royal University are in the riding.

As far as Calgary Ogden goes, I think that it would actually make more sense to stick with Calgary Shepard. Aside from keeping the familiar name, the riding still includes the former hamlet of Shepard, the Shepard and East Shepard Industrial areas, and the Shepard landfill. Alternatively, it could be called Calgary Deerfoot Meadows, after the major retail/shopping hub that's roughly where Deerfoot Trail, Glenmore Trail, and Heritage Drive all converge.

It's wonderful to hear from you.  By the way, your handle NJALL is the Worst. Wordle. Ever.

I've taken most of your advice.  Calgary Ogden is renamed Calgary Shepard.  Macleod Trail is the border from 58 Avenue south to Southland Drive.  Manchester is in the same riding as Windsor Park.




P.S. I've added some alternative ridings in Scarborough to my main map:  https://bit.ly/Canada343

[Krago]

I noticed that all the Commissions proposed ridings are within +/- 5% of the provincial average.

Banff and Canmore are in separate ridings.  For some reason, Banff has been added to Yellowhead.

Edmonton-Winterburn is interesting.

Calgary--Midnapore crosses Fish Creek.  Hatman will not be pleased.

[Krago]

My Saskatchewan 14-seat proposal has been completely revised.

I've left the northern riding as proposed by the Commission, as well as the Battlefords--Lloydminster, Prince Albert, and Yorkton--Melville ridings.  I've created three seats entirely within the City of Saskatoon, and three seats in the combined Moose Jaw/Regina area.  The remaining four ridings were adjusted to balance populations.

See it here: https://bit.ly/Canada343

[Krago]

My Saskatchewan 14-seat proposal has been completely revised.

I've left the northern riding as proposed by the Commission, as well as the Battlefords--Lloydminster, Prince Albert, and Yorkton--Melville ridings.  I've created three seats entirely within the City of Saskatoon, and three seats in the combined Moose Jaw/Regina area.  The remaining four ridings were adjusted to balance populations.

See it here: https://bit.ly/Canada343

The NDP is not going to be happy with how you split Regina.

The Regina NDP hasn’t been happy for the past thirty years.


Would this alternative make them happier?

88,224 -- Moose Jaw--Regina East
86,971 -- Regina North
89,029 -- Regina Wascana





Does anyone know a simple way to move labels in QGIS?

[Krago]

When I revised my Saskatchewan proposal, I first had to decide which boundaries the Commissioners were unlikely to change (Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River) and which ones would be open to suggestions (basically everything else).

So when the Alberta Commission placed 11 seats entirely within the City of Calgary, and nine seats entirely within the City of Edmonton, I started to wave goodbye to my proposed Airdrie--Calgary North and St. Albert--Edmonton.  Then I began reading complaints about Sherwood Park, Beaumont, Banff, and the new Battle River--Crowfoot.

So I have a question: Should I revise my Alberta map to follow the Commission's 11/9/17 recommendation?  Or should I stick to my principles and try to convince the Commission that I'm right and they're wrong?

[Krago]

Commission	Current Status
Newfoundland and Labrador	God only knows.
Prince Edward Island	"The deadline to submit feedback and notices of representation at public hearings has now passed. Thank you for your interest in the redistribution process."
Nova Scotia	Last (virtual) hearing is next Monday, June 27.  The deadline to send comments and feedback to the Commission without attending a public hearing is June 28.
New Brunswick	The proposed map is out.  Public hearings will take place in September.
Quebec	Patiently waiting for Bill C-14 to pass the Senate.
Ontario	See Newfoundland and Labrador.
Manitoba	See New Brunswick.
Saskatchewan	The first public hearing in Saskatoon finished 30 minutes ago.  Hearings will continue to July 14.  People with day jobs are screwed.
Alberta	The proposed map is out.  Public hearings will start after Labour Day and finish after Thanksgiving.
British Columbia	Still time to get to the Heritage Inn in Cranbrook.  Hearings will continue to June 28 and then take a summer hiatus (for the Commissioners to repent their sins) until September.

[Krago]

Which Halifax option is better?

Option 1




Option 2

[Krago]

Has anyone tried using the Interactive Mapping Tool on the various Commissions websites?

Has anyone got it to work?

[Krago]

Also, does anyone have a link to observe the Nova Scotia Virtual Hearing tonight?  I didn't realize that you had to request a link one week in advance.

[Krago]

The Newfoundland and Labrador Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission has released its initial proposal:

https://redecoupage-redistribution-2022.ca/com/nl/prop/index_e.aspx

[Krago]

I had my fifteen minutes of fame at the Saskatchewan Virtual Hearing today.

Zach Jeffries, a Saskatoon city councillor who hasn't updated his website in two years gave a shout out to RidingBuilder and TalkElections.

[Krago]

I had my fifteen minutes of fame at the Saskatchewan Virtual Hearing today.

Zach Jeffries, a Saskatoon city councillor who hasn't updated his website in two years gave a shout out to RidingBuilder and TalkElections.

Nice! Any more details? Do people like the new Saskatoon Centre riding?

A lot of the usual suspects (I was the insufferable know-it-all).  

I had sent a link (https://www.bit.ly/Canada343) to my map to the Commissioners, so they already knew what I was going to show them.  The only question I received was whether there were any 'rurban' seats in my proposal.  I gave a long answer that could be summed up as 'not really'.

There was a Saskatoon hippie that liked Saskatoon Centre and wanted to add the University.

There was an irrigation expert who wanted to put Moose Jaw in the same riding as the various irrgation projects in central Saskatchewan.  He also wanted to rename 'Lake Centre' as 'Irrigation Centre'.

There was a woman from the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce who complained about Souris--Moose Mountain including the Regina suburbs.  She had just been hired three days earlier and read from a prepared statement.

There was a Ned Flanders-lookalike from Rosthern (home of the Rosthern Penis) who wanted the towns surrounding Saskatoon to be included in rurban ridings with neighbourhoods within the city, the way God intended.

There was Zach Jeffries, the city councillor from Saskatoon Ward 10.  He wanted to create a donut riding around the city, and included the newest subdivisions on the outer edge of Saskatoon for population balance.  He also disagreed with crossing the South Saskatchewan River, so who knows how he was going to divide the 'old' part of the city.

There was some cranky dude from Meadow Lake who claimed the Commissioners were handpicked by Justin Trudeau, and he probably wrote their initial proposal for DMCR.

And finally there was some other guy who had a 'very short presentation' and talked about himself for ten minutes.  I have no idea what he wanted.

[Krago]

The “Qu’Appelle” part of Regina—Qu’Appelle is mostly small town and rural. Moose Jaw is urban.

I combined Moose Jaw with Regina - and the surrounding rural municipalities - to create three seats that are almost entirely urban.