Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The argument we hear today is extraordinary, that it would be against the political culture of one of our provinces to create urban ridings. Everywhere else we have heard colleagues in this committee telling us the commission wants to merge their rural region with a city, and they object. I read in the Leader-Post that we don't see Thunder Bay divided four ways so that northern Ontario ridings are made smaller. It does not exist elsewhere.
So the claim that it would be against the political culture of Saskatchewan makes Saskatchewan the distinct society of electoral boundaries.
I have some familiarity, Mr. Chair, with this argument of distinct society, that we are so distinct from the rest of the country that we need to do things completely differently. I have challenged that in my province. I would like to briefly challenge that here and ask if Saskatchewan is really so distinct on the rural-urban issue.
I'm puzzled by the number of people from Saskatchewan who support the recommendation of Professor Courtney and Justice Mills. As a political scientist I have a strong regard for Professor Courtney, as do all political scientists in Canada. By the way, it's not only the political scientists of Regina and Saskatoon who said these recommendations make sense. I have here a letter from Charlie Clark, a city councillor from Saskatoon, who supports these recommendations. The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association supports this recommendation. I understand not all their members do, but the association does, and they have compelling arguments to make that point.
I have an editorial from The StarPhoenix dismissing the claim that 75% of the submissions were in favour of the current urban-rural split as largely, and I quote them—it's not me, it's The StarPhoenix—because of “pre-formatted postcards distributed to supporters by Conservative MPs”. This is what is said in your province, in an editorial in the Leader Post supporting the recommendations, and so on.
Mr. Goodale, how strong is the support for the status quo in your distinct and lovely province?