Thank you very much.
I'l start with giving you a history of how we arrived at this current map. In the first proposal, the current Lethbridge riding was changed to cut out all of the communities south of Lethbridge and south of the County of Lethbridge line. The people in that area recognize that when you add six ridings to a province, things need to change, so while they're disappointed to be left out of the Lethbridge riding, they realize that something like this had to happen.
But what really concerned the mayors and the general population was the division of that region into two separate ridings. There were almost 1,200 signatures requesting that this region stay together, because it is a community of interest.
There have been concerns expressed that this community of interest is just an attempt to create a riding based on religion. This region is sometimes referred to as the Mormon Trail. That's an historic designation. One of the towns in that area is a national historic site because it was founded by the Mormons in the early 1900s, but more Mormons would be staying in the Lethbridge riding than there would be in this new riding. That's an historical fact more than anything else.
Anyway, they were very happy to have been put into the same riding because it united that community of interest, but they were discouraged to be put into the Medicine Hat riding, not because anyone has anything against Medicine Hat, but because they just don't have much to do with Medicine Hat. They feel that as a region with a very small population, at the very tail end of a large geographical riding dominated by a large city that will have almost 60% of the population, they will be an afterthought.
The proposal is to accept Mr. Payne's proposal to put Brooks and the County of Newell back into the Medicine Hat riding and put the County of Warner and the County of Cardston into the Bow River riding. Now, even though this will still be a large geographical riding, it will not be dominated by a large city.
To quote the report from the public consultations, the reason they put Taber into the Bow River riding was for a similar concern. At the public hearings, the Municipal District of Taber indicated that they had some concerns and said that “their...wish was to remain in an electoral district with an agricultural and energy focus”. The report stated, “The Commission is of the view that the M[unicipal] D[istrict] of Taber is a similarly good fit with Bow River, particularly as communities with similar interests and rural connections exist throughout that electoral district.” Then it listed some of the communities in that area, saying “all of which are rural and agricultural in character”.
That would be the same for those communities and areas within the County of Cardston and the County of Warner. They feel that even they would still be in a large.... They know they can't avoid being in a large geographical area, but they feel that they'll be better represented and less of an afterthought by being in a large geographical area where they are not dominated by a large city and where they share these common interests and economic concerns.
I have submitted to the committee letters from all of the mayors supporting this, with the exception of Milk River and Coutts, which are on the south end. They don't mind being in the Medicine Hat riding because those communities do have more of a connection to Medicine Hat. The numbers would work out. They have no objection to splitting the county if they put the County of Warner into the Bow River riding.
Finally, I would just like to say that if we are able to make this change, I'd request a change to the name of the riding, since “Bow River” would no longer aptly describe the area. I'm not too concerned with what it is, as long as it reflects the area better—something like “Prairie lands” or “rural southern Alberta”, or something like that.
Thank you.