Procedure and House Affairs Committee on March 26th, 2013

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

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Your time is up, so we will distribute the letter.

Mr. Reid.

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

Can I ask the Elections Canada people to put up the maps so that we get the entire southern boundary of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River? I have some questions, starting with Mr. Clarke, about the presentation he made.

You've put up a map based on the current boundaries, and we have to work from the proposed boundaries. You have three things marked down, and I just want to ask you about them. Number one, you say an entire area should be removed from your riding.

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

Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River?

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

Yes, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River. I live in Mississippi Mills, so I shouldn't complain about this.

Anyway, you have this area you're talking about, and separately you're saying this other area should be added back in, as it was taken out. And there is a third area you're concerned about. Could you remind us very quickly what the populations are for each of those three areas going from east to west?

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

One of the great issues I have with the redistribution of the boundary drawings is that if you go into northern Saskatchewan, to Fond-du-Lac, just to drive down to Prince Albert it's over 14 hours. To transverse over to the eastern part of the province into Nipawin and over into Red Earth, Shoal Lake, and Cumberland House, you're adding about another additional four hours.

When you go into the southern portion.... I remember being stationed up in Red Earth First Nation. Having to police that area was very difficult, because of the remoteness and the accessibility of meeting clients' needs. Having to drive into the southern portion of that riding...a lot of times, if that road was washed out or inaccessible, as an RCMP member I would have to drive around and go south through Prince Albert, in that jurisdiction there.

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

Is this the part you're talking about here?

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

Correct.

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

All right. Thank you.

I'd ask you one quick question to make sure. Your map shows the entire square area coloured in, but I notice that only part of it is.... You're saying it should all be removed, so in essence you're really saying this part here should be removed because this part already is removed. I just want to make sure I understand that.

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

After the commission's report...I'd like to maintain the status quo, because what the commission has forced me to do is drive through literally two different constituencies to meet the needs of my constituents.

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

In that particular part of the riding.

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

Correct.

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

Mr. Hoback, you also had a map, and you dealt with those areas, obviously, where your riding overlaps with Mr. Clarke's. But there's also another riding down here. Am I right?

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I'm looking in the southern parts. If you go to map 1, you'll see that we've highlighted them. We'll see if this works. If you look in this area here, the city of Prince Albert is there.

Now, under the new proposed boundaries, these folks would actually be travelling into the next riding in order to have representation. If you look at the second area, approximately right in there, they already do most of their shopping in the city of Melfort. They do all their trade and commerce there already, so for them to go somewhere else doesn't make a lot of sense.

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

That's an area that you currently represent that would be taken out under the proposal. Is that correct?

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Yes. It's unfortunate that we don't have brighter highways there, because I can't pull up the highways here to get you exactly—

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

It's Highway 11.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Actually, I think I'm pointing in the wrong direction here. If you go down to the bottom.... Basically, you have a situation where you have your constituents close to a riding office, within a half-hour's driving distance, yet now, because of the new boundaries and the way they've shuffled things around to create the urban centres, you force these people to drive an hour and a half to three hours, depending on the location, and on road conditions they're facing at that time of year.

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

Where is the constituency office they would have to go to?

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

For example, in the St. Louis area, they would actually go to Melfort. We have a constituency office that's open there one day a month. They go there, for example, or St. Brieux. That part would go to Melfort. St. Louis would go to Prince Albert, all within easy driving distance, and also part of the normal routine they would have in their day-to-day shopping, sports, and in other events they would be doing with their families.

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

Do I have any time left, or have I used it up?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

You have 15 seconds.

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

Mr. Breitkreuz, did you actually have a specific change you were talking about? I didn't see a map in your presentation.

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

There's an area that I would now have to represent that has been added to my constituency, and I would have to go into another constituency for most of the year to access that area.

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

That's the—