Redistribution of Federal Electoral Districts 2012

[doktorb]

"British Columbia Southern Interior" is a beautiful, beautiful name.

[Wilfred Day]

"British Columbia Southern Interior" is a beautiful, beautiful name.

It was, yes. Gone, replaced by South Okanagan—West Kootenay.

[Hatman 🍁]

"British Columbia Southern Interior" is a beautiful, beautiful name.

I hope that's sarcasm.

[Citizen Hats]

"British Columbia Southern Interior" is a beautiful, beautiful name.

I hope that's sarcasm.

I'd really like to see a lot of the superfluous directionals removed from riding names. There isn't a North Okanagan-Eask Kootenay, so why don't we just call it Okanagan-Kooteney? There is no Burnaby South-Seymour or East Okanagan-Coquihalla. If I were the redistribution king, I would mandate that directionals were minimized to where a proper toponomy simply can't be found. I'd also like to see m-dashes in riding names limited to one

[Wilfred Day]

I'd also like to see m-dashes in riding names limited to one.

But look at names like Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, and Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine. Or Chatham-Kent—Leamington and Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte. 

[Citizen Hats]

Only one of those has more than one emdash?

[Hatman 🍁]

Only one of those has more than one emdash?

Oh, you mean reducing riding names to two place names instead of three?

[Citizen Hats]

ya, no more 'West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea-to-Sky Country.  I'd like to see it renamed Howe Sound or Garibaldi or something. 

[Wilfred Day]

ya, no more 'West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea-to-Sky Country.  I'd like to see it renamed Howe Sound or Garibaldi or something.

The ten Commissions didn't say much about names this time, that I recall. Ten years ago, the Quebec Commission got into it. They started with "The guidelines for selecting the names of federal electoral districts published by the Secretariat of the Geographical Names Board of Canada in December 2001 were given uppermost consideration . . . Ideally, a federal electoral district should be designated by a single geographical name that is not repeated elsewhere; this is the easiest form of designation, even when some parts of the electoral district fall beyond the municipality, the physical entity or any other obvious characteristic that inspired the chosen name. The Commission proceeded to use single-word names that were, hopefully, both the most representative of the electoral district and that seemed to be able to rally the greatest number of citizens in the community."

Then the Report stated "Although many agreed with the objective of simplifying the names of electoral districts, there were various requests to return to multiple names for electoral districts. In many cases, the presenters expressed their attachment to the existing names and their desire, at the very least, to see their local areas reflected in the name of their electoral district."

After objections from MPs, they replied "When writing its report, the Commission agreed to modify its views and accept names with two elements. Even though there was often no prior request to that end, the Commission here accepts the requests for names with two elements supported by the Committee, as follows:" (five more double names.) But they refused to accept one triple-barrelled name and two quadruple names.

And this time, the Quebec Commission simply gave up, because when they refused last time, Parliament just changed the names anyway.

"An Act to change the names of certain electoral districts, which was assented to on May 14, 2004, following the tabling of the previous commission's decisions in response to the Committee's proposals, gives the impression of a much less harmonious end to those same consultations regarding the names of electoral districts. It could be inferred that the commissions' authority holds only insofar as it coincides with the views of the parliamentarians.

It is admittedly not our place to arbitrarily define the scope of the jurisdiction of parliamentarians. However, in our view, it may be dangerous in the long run for them to reclaim powers of which they chose to divest themselves to ensure independence and reduce, as much as possible, the appearance of partisan leanings. The wisdom that underpinned the introduction of the process should influence us at least as much today, at a time when citizens' trust in public office holders has fallen to levels that are worrisome for the health of our democratic societies.

Under the circumstances, we decided that it was not worth "balking" at the Committee's proposals even though we maintain that our positions were consistent with the spirit, and very letter, of the guidelines prepared by the Geographical Names Board of Canada for the selection of federal electoral district names, revised in January 2012 and provided by Elections Canada specifically for the purpose of the 2012 electoral redistribution. We consequently deemed it appropriate, with some exceptions, to follow guidelines stating that "[f]ederal electoral district names comprising three geographical names [...] should be avoided" and, even more so, that "names comprising four geographical names" should be simplified, since the results of such combinations "are long and cumbersome, and may also create difficulties on printed lists." The Committee, giving precedence to parliamentarians' requests, decided against supporting the results of our efforts in this respect. It also disregarded another guideline providing that "[v]ague descriptive names should be avoided", such as Centre-du-Bas-Saint-Laurent.

In an effort to maintain at least some degree of consistency, we have as a minimum taken the liberty to apply a rule that involves placing names in complex designations in alphabetical order, but stop short of renaming electoral districts that remain substantially unchanged."

[Hatman 🍁]

Ahh yes, the Alphabetical order rule. That was a terrible choice.

Ideally there should be a set of rules for naming ridings, and that in the very least the name should apply to at least 90% of inhabitants.

Failing that, they should just let me name them all!

[Wilfred Day]

Ideally there should be a set of rules for naming ridings, and that in the very least the name should apply to at least 90% of inhabitants.

There is. But I can't find them. "The guidelines prepared by the Geographical Names Board of Canada for the selection of federal electoral district names, revised in January 2012 and provided by Elections Canada specifically for the purpose of the 2012 electoral redistribution."

[Citizen Hats]

Ideally there should be a set of rules for naming ridings, and that in the very least the name should apply to at least 90% of inhabitants.

While that would produce names that our tasteless parliamentarians could accept, it wouldn't actually make them more manageable.  I personally think that the Alberta Commission did the best job with names this time

[Hatman 🍁]

Ideally there should be a set of rules for naming ridings, and that in the very least the name should apply to at least 90% of inhabitants.

There is. But I can't find them. "The guidelines prepared by the Geographical Names Board of Canada for the selection of federal electoral district names, revised in January 2012 and provided by Elections Canada specifically for the purpose of the 2012 electoral redistribution."

Guidelines aren't rules.

Ideally there should be a set of rules for naming ridings, and that in the very least the name should apply to at least 90% of inhabitants.

While that would produce names that our tasteless parliamentarians could accept, it wouldn't actually make them more manageable.  I personally think that the Alberta Commission did the best job with names this time

I do not agree, but then again most of the commissions epically failed in this manner.

[doktorb]

"British Columbia Southern Interior" is a beautiful, beautiful name.

I hope that's sarcasm.

I'd really like to see a lot of the superfluous directionals removed from riding names. There isn't a North Okanagan-Eask Kootenay, so why don't we just call it Okanagan-Kooteney? There is no Burnaby South-Seymour or East Okanagan-Coquihalla. If I were the redistribution king, I would mandate that directionals were minimized to where a proper toponomy simply can't be found. I'd also like to see m-dashes in riding names limited to one

In the UK, there's a few examples of compass points not being reflected in full. There's "Middlesbrough" and its neighbour "Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland"; and " Preston" is to the south of "Wyre and Preston North"

[Linus Van Pelt]

A bill was passed on Friday changing a bunch of the new riding names. Generally they seem to emphasize completeness at the cost of making things an ugly mouthful, but a few are just kind of weird and random.


Blainville changed to Thérèse-De Blainville
Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères changed to Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères
Centre-du-Bas-Saint-Laurent changed to Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques
Charlevoix—Montmorency changed to Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île-d’Orléans—Charlevoix
Chicoutimi changed to Chicoutimi—Le Fjord
Dorval—Lachine changed to Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle
LaSalle—Verdun changed to LaSalle—Émard—Verdun
LeMoyne changed to Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne
Mont-Royal changed to Mount Royal (only for the English version)
Sainte-Rose changed to Marc-Aurèle-Fortin
Soulanges—Vaudreuil changed to Vaudreuil—Soulanges
Ville-Marie changed to Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs

Brant changed to Brantford—Brant
Lanark—Frontenac changed to Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston
Leeds—Grenville changed to Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes
Mississauga—Cooksville changed to Mississauga East—Cooksville
Northumberland—Pine Ridge changed to Northumberland—Peterborough South
Ottawa—Orléans changed to Orléans
Peterborough changed to Peterborough—Kawartha
Rideau—Carleton changed to Carleton
St. Paul’s changed to Toronto—St. Paul’s
York West changed to Humber River—Black Creek

Humboldt—Warman—Martensville—Rosetown changed to Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek

Grande Prairie changed to Grande Prairie—Mackenzie
Medicine Hat changed to Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner
Red Deer—Wolf Creek changed to Red Deer—Lacombe
Sturgeon River changed to Sturgeon River—Parkland

Saanich—Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca changed to Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke
Vancouver Island North—Comox—Powell River changed to North Island—Powell River

Western Arctic changed to Northwest Territories

[MaxQue]

They finally got around Western Arctic? That idea is discussed since Nunuvut is a territory (1999).

On Quebec ridings.

Blainville changed to Thérèse-De Blainville: Makes sense, "Thérèse-De Blainville" is usually used to refer the area of Blainville and Ste. Thérèse
Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères changed to Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères: I would have prefered Boucherville instead of Pierre-Boucher (name of an hospitala and multiple institutions), but it's an improvement over Boucher.
Centre-du-Bas-Saint-Laurent changed to Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques: Can't be worse than "Centre-du-Bas-Saint-Laurent" (Center Lower-St-Lawrence!)
Charlevoix—Montmorency changed to Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île-d’Orléans—Charlevoix: I understand the feeling. I would have never guessed a riding called Charlevoix-Montmorency included parts of Quebec City.
Chicoutimi changed to Chicoutimi—Le Fjord: It's the old name.
Dorval—Lachine changed to Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle: I assume than there is a part of LaSalle in that riding.
LaSalle—Verdun changed to LaSalle—Émard—Verdun: I suppose Ville-Émard people were offensed.
LeMoyne changed to Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne: Good, since it could confused with the former City of LeMoyne. Charles-Lemoyne is another hospital.
Mont-Royal changed to Mount Royal (only for the English version): Obviously
Sainte-Rose changed to Marc-Aurèle-Fortin: I prefer Sainte-Rose, but I understand they prefer status quo.
Soulanges—Vaudreuil changed to Vaudreuil—Soulanges: Good. People are talking about Vaudreuil-Soulanges area, neer the reverse.
Ville-Marie changed to Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs: Too long, but I understand the intention. Neither Le-Sud-Ouest borough, not Île-des-Soeurs would be called "Ville-Marie" by a sane people. It refers to the downtown.

[Hatman 🍁]

Some of those are good, some of those are asinine.

Ottawa-Orleans changing to Orleans is good, this was the name I suggested on my blog.
Rideau-Carleton chaning to Carleton is the opposite. But not a terrible choice.

I don't understand some of these changes, especially to the historic names.  

[MaxQue]

Humber River-Black Creek sounds like it's somewhere in rural West, not in Toronto!

[Hatman 🍁]

Why not Beauport-Montmorency-Charlevoix instead of Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île-d’Orléans—Charlevoix?

Humber River-Black Creek sounds like it's somewhere in rural West, not in Toronto!

Yeah, I would've going with "University Heights" or something. The new name may be better, but why change for the sake of change? Especially if York Centre remains.

[MaxQue]

Why not Beauport-Montmorency-Charlevoix instead of Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île-d’Orléans—Charlevoix?

Humber River-Black Creek sounds like it's somewhere in rural West, not in Toronto!

Yeah, I would've going with "University Heights" or something. The new name may be better, but why change for the sake of change? Especially if York Centre remains.

Because Montmorency is a waterfall on the Quebec city border. I doubt much people on Côte-de-Beaupré or Orléans Island associate with it. We have a provincial riding of Montmorency, which is a mess. You can't even go between the two parts of the riding without leaving the riding. It includes Beauport and Ste. Brigitte de Laval, which in Jacques-Cartier MRC, anyways, not Côte-de-Beaupré or Orléans Island. So, they used the lazy way of just naming the MRCs (well, 4 of 5, they obviously didn't named the horribly named Charlevoix-Est MRC).

http://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/francais/provincial/carte-electorale/carte-circonscription-2011.php?bsq=673
The waterfall is on the Quebec-Boischatel border.

On Quebec subject, since the provincial map has been used for 2 elections, the election office started the process of drawing a new provincial map. Given than current map was passed in 2011, that's very silly.

[Wilfred Day]

Northumberland—Pine Ridge changed to Northumberland—Peterborough South

Leaving the 16,250 people of the Newcastle area no longer reflected in the name. Could have been Northumberland—Newcastle—Peterborough South. Only 11,063 people are in "Peterborough South."

[Hatman 🍁]

Why not Beauport-Montmorency-Charlevoix instead of Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île-d’Orléans—Charlevoix?

Humber River-Black Creek sounds like it's somewhere in rural West, not in Toronto!

Yeah, I would've going with "University Heights" or something. The new name may be better, but why change for the sake of change? Especially if York Centre remains.

Because Montmorency is a waterfall on the Quebec city border. I doubt much people on Côte-de-Beaupré or Orléans Island associate with it. We have a provincial riding of Montmorency, which is a mess. You can't even go between the two parts of the riding without leaving the riding. It includes Beauport and Ste. Brigitte de Laval, which in Jacques-Cartier MRC, anyways, not Côte-de-Beaupré or Orléans Island. So, they used the lazy way of just naming the MRCs (well, 4 of 5, they obviously didn't named the horribly named Charlevoix-Est MRC).

http://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/francais/provincial/carte-electorale/carte-circonscription-2011.php?bsq=673
The waterfall is on the Quebec-Boischatel border.

On Quebec subject, since the provincial map has been used for 2 elections, the election office started the process of drawing a new provincial map. Given than current map was passed in 2011, that's very silly.

Take out your old maps, Max. There was once a Montmorency County #1 and a Montmorency County #2. One included Orleans Island, and other included the mainland (I assume the Cote de Beaupre area?).

And the rule in Quebec is to change the boundaries after every second election? What insanity!

Northumberland—Pine Ridge changed to Northumberland—Peterborough South

Leaving the 16,250 people of the Newcastle area no longer reflected in the name. Could have been Northumberland—Newcastle—Peterborough South. Only 11,063 people are in "Peterborough South."

I knew you'd be upset with the name change!

I suspect a lot of riding names will change once again after the 2015 election and the new MPs realize how crappy a lot of them are.

[Hatman 🍁]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Actually, the opposite happened. They're going with the historic riding name of North Island-Powell River. I suppose this is better. Having "Comox" in the name seems redundant.

[Linus Van Pelt]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Actually, the opposite happened. They're going with the historic riding name of North Island-Powell River. I suppose this is better. Having "Comox" in the name seems redundant.

Oh yeah, you're right - thanks. I'll edit it above.

[Citizen Hats]

Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes nearly beats West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea-to-Sky Country for syllable count. What an awful name.  Brantford-Brant gets honorable mention for derpishness

on the other hand, I would say that Orléans, Carlton, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, and North Island-Powell River are decided improvements, and Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke is a modest one