Thank you.
I'm very pleased to participate in today's meeting and to present my objection as the member of Parliament for the electoral district of Scarborough Centre.
As an individual who was born and raised in Scarborough, and who still lives there raising my own family, I am deeply concerned about the negative impact these latest changes will have on the majority of residents, established communities, and natural historical boundaries, not only in my own riding of Scarborough Centre but also to Scarborough as a whole.
Therefore, although I represent Scarborough Centre, I'm here to speak on behalf of all of Scarborough. There are essentially two areas of Scarborough that need to be addressed by redistribution.
The first is Scarborough—Rouge River, which has the largest population, with a quotient deviation of over 27%.
The second area is Pickering—Scarborough East, which is a split municipality riding with different council bylaws and non-connecting transit on both sides of the Rouge Valley.
It is easy to determine that the requirement for boundary review in Scarborough should largely be focused on these two existing ridings, both of which are in the northeast and eastern area of Scarborough. The aim of the commission should be to cause the least disruption in the remaining well-established electoral districts, where little or no change was even necessary.
The first proposal in 2012 did exactly that. It achieved it by separating Pickering—Scarborough East's population so that it remained in a Pickering riding, and it put the Scarborough population solely in a Scarborough riding. It did this by splitting Scarborough—Rouge River to create a new electoral district in the north, called Scarborough—North, to accommodate the growing population.
It did this by combining the remaining portion of Scarborough—Rouge River with Scarborough's east side, which also borders and includes the Rouge River Valley, to form Scarborough—East.
I want to note, for the record, that the unique nature of this natural environmental area, and the prominence of the future national park, adds to the logical creation of the proposed electoral boundaries in the first proposal. In fact, it is the only area of Scarborough in which the creation of a single riding made up of communities both north and south of Highway 401 actually has any merit.
Lastly, it left the four remaining Scarborough ridings, the ones that were farthest away from the areas that needed to be addressed, almost the same or with only minor boundary changes.
This proposal presented in 2012 was overwhelmingly logical. It had the least impact on the greatest number of Scarborough residents, well-established communities, and historical boundaries. In contrast, the new 2013 report stage maps are overwhelmingly illogical and lack any real merit. The reason is that the focus shifts away from the northeast and eastern ridings and completely divides three well-established electoral districts of Scarborough. This is where little or no change should have occurred, as it simply was not necessary. Those are the ridings of Scarborough—Agincourt, Scarborough Centre, and Scarborough—Guildwood.
Scarborough—Guildwood has been completely obliterated and no longer exists. This change moved constituents and communities either east or west into new ridings. Scarborough Centre and Scarborough—Agincourt have been divided, split almost exactly in two, so that the west half of each has been combined to create a brand-new electoral district named Scarborough—Wexford.
The new riding of Scarborough Centre has the highest population growth. I emphasize that this is anticipated because of the continued construction of condos in and around Scarborough Town Centre and the Civic Centre. In a short time, it will be overpopulated.
The new riding of Scarborough—Wexford is both north and south of Highway 401, a major highway that divides both areas. It should be noted that there's no real connection between these two communities north and south of Highway 401, with respect to demographics, issues, or common interests. Whereas in the first proposal, with the creation of the Scarborough—East riding, which ran north and south along the Rouge River Valley and the future national park, there was commonality.
The 2013 revised proposal will result in the most significant changes, which will effect all of Scarborough, with the greatest impact on the majority of Scarborough residents, well-established communities, and historical boundaries, which is the complete opposite of the original proposal in 2012.
Mr. Chair, may I ask how long I have left?