Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 9th, 2013

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

And it will start with which percentage again?

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Sorry? I'm not sure I have that information on the Mississauga Centre riding.

I can just check and see if I have it.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

I believe it's currently 11% over quotient.

[Wladyslaw Lizon, Conservative, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

If I may, Mr. Chair, I would like to indicate that in the proposed boundaries of the riding of Mississauga East, there is still room for new development. A new development will also increase the current population to the higher level.

It's not only Mississauga Centre that will be affected by new development.

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

Okay.

Now that your propositions are made public, will some people be surprised and send letters of protest to this committee, saying that they weren't aware and they don't agree, and so on?

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Sir, with respect to the eastern boundary of Erin Mills, my understanding is, and it's on the commission's report, that the presentations that were received—and there were several from residents in the affected area of the community from Mississauga—Erin Mills—were all very supportive of what I have proposed.

I believe there was one presentation from an individual who is the current Liberal riding EDA president, who asked that the boundary be made further west, to the street of Erin Mills Parkway. But that was the only one that would be different from what I'm suggesting today.

[Wladyslaw Lizon, Conservative, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

If I may add something, Mr. Chair, I mentioned before that the riding of Mississauga East existed in more or less those borders before the last redistribution.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Gill, whatever time you'd like, apparently.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Chair, I would just like to put this on the record, and for you to make a note, of how cooperative all the MPs from the Region of Peel have been.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

On Tuesday it was the Brampton and Caledon MPs who appeared, and today it's Mississauga. It's wonderful to see the cooperation. Maybe you can use us as an example for other panels appearing in the future.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I'm sure the whole committee will write that into their report: the cooperation of the Region of Peel and Mississauga.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

I'm not sure if it has anything at all to do with the Region of Peel MPs being Conservatives or anything, but it's something that—

[An hon. member]

You may have lost half your audience there.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Would you like to keep digging this one?

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

My question is this. It's wonderful to see that all of you are in agreement with the proposal, and I understand that you have the support of all colleagues and, obviously, the community. So based on your proposal and your recommendation, I'm assuming that your proposal would best represent your community's interest.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

I believe it does, Mr. Gill.

But as I pointed out in my comments earlier, the housing stock on the east and west sides of the Credit River, which I'm suggesting should be in the same electoral district, was built between the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s. I have pictures here. The median price is around $670,000. Obiously, because of the types of houses involved, there are the same kinds of families there. They shop, go to school, and worship in similar places, which are distributed pretty equally on both sides of the Credit River.

There are many points of crossing of the Credit River—it's not the Mississippi. There are actually nice bicycle and walking paths along the Credit River, which everyone uses with their families and their pets.

The new housing stock farther east of the boundary is much more modern. It was built in the early 2000s right up to the present. It consists primarily of very large condominium buildings, which have an average price of around $209,000. The people there are generally not families with children, but smaller family units.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Butt.

[Brad Butt, Conservative, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

The one very positive thing I've heard about the proposed new boundaries for Mississauga—Streetsville is that Old Meadowvale Village—that piece at the far northeast corner of the new proposed riding—has been in a different riding, but at the local level there's a a lot of interaction between Old Meadowvale Village and the old village of Streetsville, which is presently in my riding.

I've actually heard a lot of very favourable comments about the fact that those two areas will now be represented by one federal member of Parliament and, if the province decides to go the same route, by one provincial member of Parliament. I mention this because there are often a lot of similar events, similar issues and discussions on heritage preservation of properties and so on there.

So that was actually a very positive recommendation of the commission, to bring Old Meadowvale Village into the Mississauga—Streetsville riding. We've had a lot of positive feedback about that.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Mr. Lizon.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Oh, sorry.

Monsieur Lizon.

[Wladyslaw Lizon, Conservative, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

[Inaudible--Editor] the comments of my honourable colleague on the agreement. The changes I'm proposing to the commission will affect two ridings, the newly created riding of Mississauga Centre and the current riding of Mississauga—Brampton South.

I personally spoke with the sitting member for Mississauga—Brampton South, Ms. Adams, and she's in full agreement with the proposed changes.

Also, from a practical point of view, Mr. Chair, it's very easy for residents to remember when it's a very straightforward border—it's one street, and you live east of that street, in this case it's Hurontario—that they are part of the riding. If you live south of the street.... But with all these borders going down different streets, it's confusing. People who live on one side of the street are part of the riding; on the other side of the street, they are not.

Therefore, from a practical point of view, I think it makes perfect sense.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you.

I have no one else on my list of questioners, so we thank you.

We will be going in camera, but before we do that I'd like to thank our witnesses for coming today and being as cooperative as they were.

Since this is our last meeting on Ontario, and our last meeting before we go in camera to finish the reports, I'd also certainly like to thank our two people from Elections Canada, Madame Boisvert and Monsieur Montpetit. Thank you for all of your help during this process. I know we've been cranky from time to time, so thank you for putting up with us. We have been happy to have you with us.

We will go in camera and will suspend for a minute while we do.

Thank you.

[Proceedings continue in camera]