Evidence of meeting #58 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was commission.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
They have made representations, but the things we're discussing now, such as the inclusion of Rimbey and so on into the central Alberta ridings, were dismissed by the commission, and I'm here to make the case.
They don't need to be dismissed. The commission, in my estimation, wanted to stick to the 107,000 within a tighter tolerance and appeared to be unwilling to budge from that particular number.
What I'm suggesting to you is—
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
There is that, but there is also the sense that the commission seems to value having hybrid ridings. The commission seems to think it's good to have part rural and part urban together, which is the opposite of what you are proposing.
They make the point that—
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
Well, that's the word of three people who haven't been elected, Mr. Dion.
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
Yes, I understand, but it seems that in other provinces we have commissions that argue your point against some of your colleagues. It's interesting how complex our country is.
You don't have anything new to tell us that we may put in our report to help the commission to think twice about what the commission is proposing.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
Well, I do believe I did bring a couple of new perspectives here when it comes to dealing with the first nations. I don't know if that argument was heard before.
Liberal
February 7th, 2013 / 12:25 p.m.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
Also, the renaming of the Red Deer—Wolf Creek riding only makes sense.
As I said, I think the boundary commission, in its deliberations, could have done more, which is what I am proposing now: a little bit more. I am not proposing wholesale changes, but a little bit more towards respecting the wishes of those central Alberta residents.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON
For what it's worth, in the English edition of the Alberta commission's report, page 15 is all about the whole hub and spoke, partly urban and partly rural riding concept, along with some alternatives—including the doughnut, which has been used in at least one place in Ontario—and then just attempting to divide up purely urban, purely rural areas. Everybody can read it and see what the philosophy was.
One of the things it mentioned, and it's a thought that was crossing my mind anyway, is that the nature of a partly urban, partly rural riding is different when it is a riding that is, say, half urban, half rural on the one hand.... I have some personal experience with this situation. I used to represent a riding, Lanark—Carleton, which was half urban and half rural population, although geographically it was 90% rural. Then after the riding was split in the last redistribution, I went to the rural component and a riding was created, Carleton—Mississippi Mills, which is about 80% urban but has a rural component.
I would say there is a distinction between the status quo before and the status quo afterward, given that it's easier to get to events in urban areas, and the money—the donations and so on—tends to come from urban areas. Your riding association meetings and so on tend to be held in the urban area, depending on where your directors are. There is a tendency for the interest to shift to the urban area, and then the rural area may be neglected. When you have that kind of split, rural is a minority.
All of this is by way of asking what percentage of the population is rural versus urban in what they've proposed.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
The population of the City of Red Deer is approximately 85,000, so there we go to a shift whereby, as I said, the largest community before that was 12,000. That's just one riding, and I believe 30-some thousand—
Conservative
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
Yes, that's right, roughly.
That's nothing I've ever dealt with before as an MP. It's going to be something new, if that's where I intend to run. The same would be said for the new northern riding, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, where you'd have 30,000 to 40,000 people having that effect from right at the cusp of the City of Edmonton, which is a much bigger fish than Red Deer, and I'll give you an example.
There has been a lot of talk in Edmonton about tax dollars potentially being used to build an NHL hockey arena. That might sound appealing to an Edmonton MP, but it certainly doesn't sound appealing to a Wetaskiwin MP. These are the kinds of conundrums that MPs will be facing when they're dealing with these kinds of issues. MPs sometimes have to deal with difficult issues, and I understand that, but this will be the difference. The lifestyle choices that people make reflect where they live and where they work and where they play, and they're different worlds.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON
Sorry; I didn't get the number answer I was looking for. I'm really talking about two new ridings. In the two new ridings, what percentage of each one is rural?
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
It would go up drastically. The amount of urban versus rural would change. Right now, in the current Wetaskiwin riding, which is 15,000 square kilometres, I would say probably 65% live in small towns or cities and the rest live in the country or in villages or hamlets. That would probably change to more of an 85%-15% split.
Is that what you were looking for, Mr. Reid?
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON
That was what I was looking for, yes.
Conservative
Conservative
NDP
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Actually, the commission studied two different proposals with regard to Red Deer. The first was to maintain the current status, and the second was to create one riding for Red Deer and one rural riding in a doughnut around the city.
Are you in favour of this second proposal?
