Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for having us today.
It's a new experience to be on this side responding to rather than asking questions. I'm sure that down the road it will help me in my task when I'm on the other side.
My family has lived in what's now called Scarborough Southwest for over 90 years, ever since it used to be a part of Toronto Danforth. Every decade ridings change, demographics change, population bases change. Under both proposals put forward to date, my riding is the one that would see the least amount of change.
I'm before the commission in order to present the holistic approach required for Scarborough. When you look at changing one riding, you have to look at the ridings next door. We were very pleased at the beginning of the process that the commission looked to have six full ridings in Scarborough instead of five and a half, thus correcting the stopgap measure put in place a decade ago, because we believe that to have six full MPs will bring more effective representation to Scarborough.
The initial proposal raised some concerns, mostly by the member for Scarborough—Rouge River, that we sought to address. Unfortunately, what impacts Rouge River spills over to the rest of Scarborough and, certainly, we want to be able to see Scarborough a safe place for all the residents.
We had several residents in my riding raise concerns about the divisions being recommended in other areas of Scarborough, which is what led me to appear before the commission as well as to make proposed changes to the boundaries. As I said at the beginning, my riding wouldn't change very much one way or another.
However, there is much confusion for residents in the northern chunk, called the Ionview neighbourhood, which has been part of Scarborough Southwest for 10 years now. Up until last November, the local legion, the Dambusters legion, a very famous unit in the Second World War, still believed they were part of Scarborough Centre because they keep flipping back and forth between ridings.
The first proposal would have had them return to Scarborough Centre, leading perhaps to more confusion for residents. This is why we proposed that maintaining the status quo for Scarborough Southwest, where this riding wouldn't change, would also allow changes to happen in a more holistic approach in the rest of Scarborough, to ensure that the best representation and ideas were brought forward.
We had over a dozen residents go before the commission to propose changes and make submissions. I'm very thankful for people taking time out of their busy days to go before the commission, because the boundaries do matter, in terms of the representation that we members of Parliament are able to give our residents.
The commission was certainly tasked with a difficult challenge in trying to redraw the lines for Scarborough. We recognized that no matter how we looked at it, in order to keep the outer boundaries for Scarborough as a whole at Victoria Park, Steeles, the Rouge, and then Lake Ontario, unfortunately, one riding might have to cross the 401, another logical boundary that does exist. Hopefully, 10 years from now, the population will change so that doesn't have to happen any more. But we know that sometimes interim measures need to be taken and that the commission is not tasked with looking at future growth when deciding riding boundary lines.
I'd like to conclude by saying that I certainly agree with the new proposal. I think it provides better ridings and alignment of communities of interest. What is being proposed in the new Scarborough East riding would keep the waterfront and the bluffs together as a community of interest. It would reconnect Malvern and Morningside Heights. It would create the new Scarborough—Wexford riding, which more closely aligns an old Scarborough Ellesmere riding that used to exist with areas where communities of interest already align. As it’s a well-established community, I believe that if a riding has to cross the 401, it is the logical place because lots of commerce and travel have taken place across that boundary in that area for over 50 years. A natural alignment exists there. Even the old Scarborough—Agincourt riding, when it was much smaller, used to cross the 401 and go south, so there's certainly an argument to be made that this can happen again.
Certainly, I'm very pleased with the process and with the job the commission has done. They actually responded to the public concerns that were raised at the meetings and then redrew a map based on the submissions that had been made by the public.
Thank you very much.