Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Feb. 14th, 2013

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

This is what the commission is saying:

The Commission is satisfied that the counties of Barrhead, Westlock and Woodlands are a reasonable fit with many of the communities in the north. The inclusion of the southern counties in the electoral district of Peace River—Westlock is desirable to increase representation in the northwest.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

I realize what they said. I'm telling you I live there and that is not the case. Just because a community has agriculture or forestry or mining or oil and gas doesn't necessarily mean it's connected culturally or historically or that it identifies with those other communities. It's not that there's that much difference, but certainly there's a massive amount of forestry without any population between those communities. We tried to describe that to the commission. I wasn't the only one who told them that.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

So you're saying the commission heard your views but they did not listen.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

They did not listen.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

I wish you the best of luck for the next run.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you.

Mr. Reid.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My questions relate to the maps. Can we put Yellowhead back up again so that the whole thing is shown?

Thank you.

My first question is not to you, Mr. Merrifield. It's to our people from Elections Canada.

Am I right that the map here is overlaid? The dark grey boundaries are what Mr. Merrifield and the other Alberta MPs are proposing? The light brown boundaries are the boundaries that were drawn in 2004 and continue to exist to this day?

[Johanne Boisvert]

No.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

They're not?

[Johanne Boisvert]

They're the ones—

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

That's the report. Okay. The one on the right is neither. So what is that one?

[Johanne Boisvert]

That's the report as well.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

How does the report have two different sets of boundaries that aren't the same?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

It's the same. It's the same as the grey one. It's the same as the brown one.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

So right here, it is different. That is different from that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I recognize that it's a straight line on this map and it's a curvy line on that map.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

All right, but that is not the same as that. They may be the same proposal, but they're different maps that do not reflect the same facts.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I'm seeing the same differences as Mr. Reid. Is there a—

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

That's right.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

It must follow a river—does it?—going up there.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

They're substantially the same; however, I'm seeing a difference also. Are they different anywhere else?

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

There may be other differences. It's hard to tell because it's overlaid. That was the first thing I wanted to get resolved before we go on.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

I think it follows that river. One is a straight line and the other is a curvy line.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

It's conceivable that whoever drew up the map made a mistake. I don't know; I'm just trying to find the answer. It just confuses me a bit.

[An hon. member]

Or maybe that's a highway.