Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Feb. 14th, 2013

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

What is the new riding? Can you show that up there?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

The new riding would be this one. It goes from the middle of Alberta right up to the territories.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

In making the changes that you're suggesting, what effect does it have on the new riding that the boundaries commission suggested?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

I believe it would be much easier to represent that area because of a common interest. Its population would be about 11% lower than the 107,000 that they're representing.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

It would be 8,000 or something like that.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

It would be much more functional.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

It's a growing population.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

It's very much a growing population.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

All right.

We've gone over our time by almost half an hour, but Mr. Cullen, by all means.

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

My only concern—and I don't know if you share this, Rob—is that we don't really have anyone to speak for this new riding, because there isn't anybody. We've talked about the logistics of moving around this place. Do you share some of the concerns that I'm starting to feel? I don't know that territory, but it looks like a heck of a riding to try to serve.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

It's a monster riding to serve.

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

I don't mean just in size, though. Some big ridings are not that tough. This one looks both big and very logistically hard.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Just to give you an idea, on the other side, you have a very large population in the Fort McMurray area. That's Brian Jean's. You can service the bulk of the population there much easier. Over here, you have small communities all the way through.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Is there any chance of putting what is currently in northern Alberta on this side, so we can see the difference, as we've added this riding in the middle?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Would it be a difficult riding? Yes, but it could be much more functional on this map than on the commission's.

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

Your suggestion is that it's tough either way?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Yes, it's going to be a tough riding either way, because of the geographic size of it.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

But it's better with your proposal?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

It's better with our proposal, yes.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Yes, much better, because they're smaller numbers, but they're all northern-focused. The MP would likely come from the central part of it rather than the southern part.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Yes.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

The population base in the riding changes more to the centre, so that the people living there go north more, whereas if the big population base is in the south, it's going to be difficult for them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Merrifield, thank you for coming today.