Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Feb. 7th, 2013

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

These folks have issues of medical transportation that a person next to Edmonton could never understand. It's one of the debates that's going on right now, so it's absolutely essential, and I can't make it strong enough. Regardless of what impacts it has on me personally, it's absolutely essential that this committee not recommend pushing communities that communicate better with the Northwest Territories to be with a suburb of Edmonton.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Jean, did you want to—

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Mr. Cullen, you might be interested to know in relation to this particular area and this map that is proposed that my riding went up to here. In this part right here, 80% of them vote for Conservatives.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I would bet they vote for you, not necessarily—

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

No, I would say for Conservatives, but my point is that I'm losing the strongest Conservative part of my riding, by far, to recommend this to get what is fair, and that's why I stayed out of the process. It needs to be independent, but certainly it needs to be logical.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

This is the challenge. As you pointed out, by the nature of this process and the nature of the work we do—and I had the same deliberations in participating in front of the commission, or not—there is the inherent suspicion, at least from the public, that there is a partisan overlay on top of the map and on what the implications will be district by district and house by house.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you, Mr. Cullen.

Mr. Lukiwski is next.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Brian, I'll come back to you for a minute. This has a bit to do with communities of interest and how that aspect that weighs into the commissioner's decision on boundary relocation. It's a little bit on communities of interest as well.

You mentioned that in Fort McMurray the current population is roughly—what, 105,000 or 110,000?

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

By their own census, it's 103,000. That's the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

In the proposed map as presented by the commission, I would also assume that Fort McMurray is by far the largest centre in that riding. Correct?

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

It is.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

You also said you believe that by 2025 Fort McMurray will have grown to approximately 250,000 people.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

That's what all the industry experts have predicted. That's what the Alberta government has predicted. Any website will show you that.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

The population variance for the Alberta ridings, plus or minus whatever you're trying to achieve, is what?

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Right now mine is about 11%. I think Chris's is at 12%.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

No, I mean the average population per riding, if you were to divide all ridings equally, would be what?

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

I think it was 108,000, approximately.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

What you're saying is now that the.... Is it called the City of Fort McMurray?

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

It is called the City of Fort McMurray, or it was. It's now called the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes, as I said, 66,000 square kilometres, and Fort McMurray is in the centre of that. There are probably about nine hamlets on the outside, which are mostly aboriginal hamlets.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

I'll back up a step, then. Is Fort McMurray proper 103,000, or does that 103,000 include the hamlets?

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

It includes the hamlets.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

What's the circumference? Is it 25 kilometres, 50 kilometres?

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

I go to the Northwest Territories, which includes Fort Chip and some other communities, so you're talking 400 kilometres.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Okay. What I'm trying to get at is this. What is the population now of, if we wanted to call it by its old name, the City of Fort McMurray, and what will it be by 2025?