Procedure and House Affairs Committee on March 26th, 2013

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you.

Mr. Armstrong.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Mr. Clarke, I want to clarify some things. The area of your riding that has been removed by the commission is primarily one with more urban enterprise centres. Is that accurate?

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Yes. What they have done is they have forced me to drive through Mr. Hoback's new riding of Prince Albert. It effectively makes me travel two hours just to reach the eastern part of the constituency.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

It's through this highway here.

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Yes.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Now, if you look at the people in this area of Rob's riding, they actually drive into Choiceland, this area here, to do their shopping. That's their first contact into their commercial activity.

That has historically, in the old boundary, been part of Mr. Clarke's riding, even though it's in that area there. That was the logic of the previous boundary commissions in including that with the northern riding.

That's what Mr. Clarke is trying to say—that by having this area here, you actually do have a community of interest with the people who come out of this region who shop in that area.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

That's the shopping district. So what they've effectively done is move the enterprise centre, the sort of service centre for that southern part of your riding, into a different riding.

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

That's correct.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

When you were talking about the demographics and the problem with the new riding boundaries, what you were really getting at is that the more enterprise areas, areas where economic activity actually centres, are now being pulled away from your riding, leaving your riding separated from some of the economic enterprise zone in your riding.

That's what you were trying to get at. Am I accurate in saying that?

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

That's correct. Most of the trade now—or what could possibly happen—will go back into the Choicelands, the Smeatons, the Loves, the Nipawins, and also into Prince Albert.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

When you're talking about ethnic diversity and the.... You were talking more from an economic point of view. As someone with a first nations background, obviously you're not going to have any problem representing first nations people.

What you were getting at is that you're now having a separation in your riding—a population in that riding separated from the enterprise zone, where they actually shop and do their business.

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Well, that's the problem I had with the commission. They missed the grand scheme of things in terms of the economics in northern Saskatchewan. Mining, forestry—everything is focalized on resource development.

When you have communities in the eastern part of the province that get flooded out regularly on a year-by-year basis, that are secluded because of roads, floods, or fires, it makes it very difficult for them to even participate in any type of economic development.

When I look at northern Saskatchewan, especially central northern Saskatchewan, and see what's available to them, when other communities don't have the same availabilities, that's where I get frustrated. We look at northern Saskatchewan as a whole. The north is very resource-rich, and I'd like to see them prosper.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

So really, for the economic prosperity of the majority of the population in your riding, be they first nations or whatever ethnic background, it's better to have that service area in the riding so that if there are issues in that service centre, they're represented by the same representative in Ottawa.

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

That's correct.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Thank you.

[Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

But—

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Go ahead. Mr. Sorenson wants one little question here, and there's not much time.

[Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Yes, okay.

Those comments are true for the entire province. This is not just one riding.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Sorenson, you have a minute and a half.

[Kevin Sorenson, Conservative, Crowfoot, AB]

Thank you.

I'm not a regular on this committee, I guess, but in Alberta we've been fortunate enough to see major growth population-wise, and we've received six more seats because of it. For us as members of Parliament, there's nothing we're more fearful about than boundary changes. For constituents, there is nothing more frustrating than moving from one constituency to another constituency.

Certainly I can see the concerns that some of your constituents would have in the long distance of travel when people from outside Regina are going into Regina to do their shopping.

The other thing, too, that I would have a question about is the cost. I know that even in my own constituency changes, very minor boundary changes and a name change, there will be significant cost.

I guess, Mr. Hoback, my question to you would be more with regard to the apathy of the voter in this switching. Listen, we understand it when we see a province that has population growth, but how should the average constituent understand it if you do have those on the commission who simply think it's time for a major change, even though population doesn't warrant it?

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

That's a good question.

Actually, it comes back to the mandate of the commission and the common interest scope. When you start putting people in ridings where they don't have common interests....

For example, if you put somebody in a riding and make him drive 300 kilometres one way to meet his MP, that obviously is not something that is relevant to that individual, to that constituent.

Let's go into the aspect of an election. When you're starting now to ask them to come out and vote, the first question they're going to ask is, “Why am I driving out of my region to vote? Why can't I go vote in Prince Albert, which is 22 kilometres away? Why do I have to drive to Saskatoon or Humboldt?”

It doesn't make sense. That's what's frustrating about the boundary changes that they've done here. They don't match the normal trade patterns of the individuals who do the activity in the province of Saskatchewan.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you.

That's all the time we have.

It's been great to have you here today sharing your thoughts with us.

We had originally planned that the committee would look at the start of the B.C. report today. We are not at that point. We don't have it out to the members yet. So the B.C. report will wait till after break week. It was your chair's wishful thinking, not the fault of the analysts for not having it there.

I have nothing else for the good of the committee. We'll see you all on Wednesday afternoon this week.

The meeting is adjourned.