Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Esteemed members of the committee, thank you for allowing me to speak today on the report phase of the redistribution of electoral boundaries for Ontario.
I am here today to express my concerns regarding the latest redistribution of the electoral ridings in Scarborough that have been made by the electoral commission for Ontario.
For the record, I am a professional engineer, and I continue to apply engineering principles when a problem needs to be resolved. The principles are simply common sense. Engineers define, analyze, and investigate problems so that solutions can be developed, tested, and verified. These processes apply to all engineering problems. An engineering problem is any challenge you are faced with that makes you apply your knowledge of engineering principles. For example, how do we fix this process? How do we make a better product? How do we design this competency to apply engineering knowledge?
I followed with interest the work of the commission. I was extremely satisfied with the work done and the proposal made initially with the new riding of Scarborough East, with the right balances in place in terms of representation by population, communities, and surrounding boundaries, both inside Scarborough and the interaction with surrounding municipalities.
That said, I will concentrate on the issues relating to the initial and the latest decision of the commission regarding the riding of Scarborough East.
The initial proposal of the Scarborough East riding, being from the northern boundary of the city of Toronto—Steeles—to Lake Ontario was a careful proposal, taking into consideration same communities of interest and the new vibrant community developments north of Highway 401, very similar to those to the south of Highway 401.
Moreover, it was including the entire part of the newly created urban national park, Rouge Park, which soon will be the pride of Scarborough, the city of Toronto, Ontario, and Canada.
Another notable aspect of the riding was its interface with the Pickering—Uxbridge riding in the east, which is a natural interface taking into consideration major transportation issues that need to be addressed urgently in the eastern part of the GTA.
The only objection I had, as a private citizen living in West Hill, Scarborough, for more than 30 years, and making a submission to the commission at its meeting on November 14, 2012, was to change the name of the new riding to Scarborough East—Rouge Park in order to emphasize the new jewel and pride of Scarborough, which is unique in the world: Rouge Park.
The latest proposal of the commission surprised me. How did the few submissions at the hearing of November 15, 2012, most of them openly political, influence the decision of the commission so radically as to come up with a totally new version of the map for Scarborough, with no clear line of thought, consideration, or logical process—for example, making a decision that Highway 401 is a boundary between the riding in the east end of Scarborough, while in other parts of Scarborough denying it?
In conclusion, I am asking that the commission maintain its initial proposal for Scarborough East riding, with the suggested name change. I am confident that other minor adjustments to the other ridings in Scarborough can be made to the satisfaction of all stakeholders involved.
Finally, I believe this boundary change will better reflect the characteristics of our community and result in stronger representation based on a united voice of constituents expressing shared needs and interests of the eastern portion of Scarborough. I also believe this boundary change will lead to a stronger interest of people with roots in Scarborough to be involved in the political process.
For the record, I have also the support Raymond Cho and Ron Moeser, two long-time councillors from the east end of Toronto.