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
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Again—and I apologize, because I'm having trouble getting my head around this—would it be accurate to say that the commission, in their proposal, had a blend between a portion of Edmonton and a portion of the rural area outside Edmonton?
Conservative
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Right, and your suggestion is to not have that.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
My preference and the preference of my constituents—if you want to read this—is not to have any of Edmonton in the rural riding. They want the riding of Wetaskiwin, the rural area. I don't think that's a reasonable thing to do, given the domino effect that would happen. All I'm here to do today is to try to get as much back as possible of the rural component for those communities that want to maintain the relationships. There are economic partnerships and all kinds of reasons that these things make sense. Rimbey would come back into a central Alberta riding. Rocky Mountain House considers itself a central Alberta community, and these things were out in the west country.
The partnership between Wetaskiwin, Hobbema, and Ponoka in that particular corridor there, with the relationships they have directly with the first nations, has been completely severed. The relationship between the first nations in Wetaskiwin is much stronger than the relationship between Hobbema and Ponoka, yet the commission put the four bands of Hobbema in the riding with Ponoka and not in the riding with Wetaskiwin. Wetaskiwin is a Cree word meaning “the hills where peace was made”. The name of the riding and the city come from that relationship with first nations.
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
I think I have it figured out now, but I want to ask a question that Mr. Dion asked to our two previous presenters: were the recommendations you're making on behalf of constituents you've talked to made towards the commission, or are these brand new?
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
Mr. Lukiwski, the things I'm telling you today echo exactly what was said, for the most part. I don't want to sound too aggressive, but the boundaries commission basically summarily dismissed them. I have all kinds of submissions here from every county saying that they don't want anything to do with what the boundaries commission has proposed. They came back with a second set of maps, making just some minor alterations on behalf of the County of Wetaskiwin, but they really didn't heed any of the considerations that were made by the central Alberta communities and stakeholders.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you very much, Mr. Calkins.
The challenge the commission had is that you folks have grown. In order to insert a brand new seat of some kind into this immediate vicinity, it's Solomon's choice as to where the lines go. They had difficulty and, judging by your constituents, they didn't meet with great success. What this committee has been talking about are communities of interest, places that self-identify as having a connection with another place and people.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I noted a couple of things in your testimony. One is that I can sense a certain amount of passion from you on this. What happens, what the place looks like, and how people connect to one another have strong emotional impacts. Am I overreaching here? It just feels as though you care about this thing in a way that isn't necessarily the way we argue about certain issues in the House.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
I care about this issue the way I care about all the issues that I represent on behalf of my constituents. I was born in the town of Lacombe. I represent the town that I was born in. I grew up on the farm and played hockey with all of these communities. All my friends and family, everybody, is in the central Alberta community that I call home. I can completely relate to and identify with their concerns.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
One of the things that struck me—and I didn't know this—is that there has been a Wetaskiwin, as you said, since—
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
—since Confederation.
I'm looking at the letter you sent to the committee, and in your first point, you said, “Many constituents and municipal leaders feel that the hybrid model will not allow the interests and identities of the riding to be clearly communicated at the federal level.”
Can you tell me a bit more about what you meant there?
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
This is me articulating their concerns, and I think I've already done that in the sense that I've given an example of how a community—one of the founding cities of our province, Wetaskiwin—goes from being one of the prominent communities in the constituency to being well down the list, third or fourth in prominence, yet the riding has shrunk, and their place in it has as well, which is a conundrum.
That's the voice I'm echoing here today. Perhaps that concern can be mitigated through a good representative; perhaps it can and perhaps it can't.
I should note, based on what you started off with, that if the commission left the current riding of Wetaskiwin completely alone, it would fall well within the tolerance that was set out by the commission's own guidelines. I suppose it all depends on where you start drawing lines.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Yes, it does, and on the dominoes that you talked about.
The first point you made was about influencing how the issues of a community like Wetaskiwin are pushed forward at the federal level. The perception from your constituents, particularly in that community, is that their influence diminishes. This is because they go from being a leading voice within that riding—meaning that the issues they are presenting to the MP get promoted—to a third place position. There's an implication by what you're saying that their issues are different from those of the suburbs around Edmonton, the southern suburbs.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
I would wager that the answer to your question is self-evident.
Mr. Cullen, you represent a rural area. What folks want to see is their MP. In a rural area, a rural MP has a different approach, I think, in dealing with constituents, because it's a very personal, very face-to-face approach.
I'm not trying to diminish by any means the role that an MP plays in a larger urban centre. Everybody has something to contribute, but when you're part of a larger city, you're one of many MPs representing maybe the entire interests of a city. The reality is I'm the only MP Wetaskiwin has. I'm the only MP that Thorsby has. I'm the only MP that Calmar, Breton, Warburg, Lacombe, Ponoka, Hobbema, Blackfalds, Alix, Mirror, Clive have. I'm the only MP they have. When you go through—
NDP
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
It's actually Hank Snow, singing “I've been everywhere, man”.
That requires an approach different from the approach in a larger urban centre. The concerns I've heard are that if the MP comes from a larger urban centre, they're going to focus on where the votes are, and if the votes are all in the larger urban centre....
Conservative
Conservative
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
It sounds as though the people you represent would actually prefer something different from what you proposed. You said at some point in your testimony that it might not be possible and you recognized the realities, so what you've offered here is a version that would be more acceptable at least to the people you represent currently—not perfect, but better than what is offered up by the commission.
