Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 9th, 2013

[A voice]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Okay.

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

But we don't know what our colleague from Thunder Bay thinks about that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Okay. I'll let the committee decide as we write the report. I'll quit trying to sum it up.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[An hon. member]

Welcome to our world.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Well, I can give you some comments with respect to Mr. Hyer.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

We have finished our time.

We are going to finish now, and thank you for your participation today. It was very enlightening in some areas that I hadn't heard about in a long time. We thank you for coming.

We'll suspend for a minute while we change panels. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I will call this meeting back to order. We will commence a further portion of our study of the changes to the electoral boundaries in Ontario.

We have another great panel with us now. We'll give each of you five minutes to state your points, and then we'll ask you very hard questions.

Have you decided amongst you who might go first?

Mr. Dechert, you've been appointed. You're first.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning, colleagues.

I very much appreciate your providing this opportunity for me to make a presentation on the proposed boundaries for the new riding of Mississauga—Erin Mills.

I want to point out a typographical error in my letter to the committee dated March 22. In the fourth paragraph, it says, “While I appreciate the diligent work of the Commission, in my view the proposed western boundary...”. It should read “eastern boundary” of the proposed riding, instead.

With that change, I'd also like to point out that the presentation I'm about to make to you is also supported by all other members of Parliament from Mississauga.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

We love to hear that. You may leave now.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Go ahead.

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

Okay.

The current eastern boundary of the riding of Mississauga—Erindale, which I've had the privilege to represent since 2008, is Mavis Road, which is a major artery in the central part of Mississauga. The riding of Mississauga—Erindale is one of the largest ridings in Canada by population. I believe the statistic I heard most recently was it's about the fifth largest by population. So obviously it needs to be reduced in size, although I'm very sad to lose the opportunity to continue to represent certain of those constituents, going forward. They've all been just a pleasure to represent in the House of Commons.

The commission, in its first iteration, proposed boundaries for the new riding of Mississauga—Erin Mills. It's a slight change to the name, and that is probably to indicate that there was a historical community of Erindale Village, which is now largely but not completely deleted from the riding of Mississauga—Erin Mills. The first boundary was to be Mississauga Road, which is obviously a very important artery in the city of Mississauga. However there is a small portion of that between Mississauga Road and the Credit River, which was left out in the first iteration. The commission in its wisdom chose to move the eastern boundary a bit further east, not bringing in too many more residents but a few more, and made it actually the Credit River. So that added perhaps 2,000 or 3,000 people, I believe.

My submission would be to move the eastern boundary just a bit further east on an argument primarily of community interest, which would then keep residents who go to school, go to their places of worship, shop, and socialize together in the same electoral district. Most of the houses on either side of the Credit River in Mississauga were built at the same time primarily by the same developers and are currently fair market valued in the same value range.

My suggestion would be to make the eastern boundary proceed east along Burnhamthorpe Road to the intersection of Erindale Station Road and then south to Dundas Street, which is the current and future southern boundary of the riding.

Is that legible to everyone on the maps, or shall I come up and point them out? I'd be happy to go to the screen.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

There is a pointer there somewhere. Point it out.

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

Okay. Never having been a university professor, I'm not all that adept.

The current boundary is here, Mavis Road. The first suggestion was here, Mississauga Road. The revised proposed boundary is the Credit River, this meandering line here, and my suggestion would be to proceed along Burnhamthorpe Road—it's essentially here to here—to Erindale Station Road. These houses here are very similar to these houses here. As I will tell you in my presentation, there are churches on either side of the Credit River that service both communities; and there are schools on either side of the boundary that service both communities; post offices, shopping malls, etc.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

You're getting close to the end of your time.

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

Sorry, let me speed up then.

The current suggestion by the electoral commission puts the new riding of Mississauga—Erin Mills at 10.34% over the provincial quota. My suggestion, the proposal I'm making today, would put it at 18.97% over the provincial quota, which is certainly within the range of quotas at which other electoral districts in the province have been determined.

Let me just quickly tell you the schools that are on either side. There's Erindale Secondary School, which is on the west side of the Credit River but services students coming from the neighbourhoods on the east side of the river. There's The Woodlands School, which is on the east side of the Credit River and draws students from the west side of the Credit River. There is St. Peter's Anglican Church, which is on the west bank of the Credit River and draws largely from the historical communities that are quite old—40 or 50 or more years old—on the east side of the river. Loyola Catholic Church, which is on the west side of the Credit River, again draws in people from the east side of the river. The Dunwin Gurdwara, the temple of the Sikh faith, is on the west side but draws people from both sides, and the Erindale Bible Chapel and the Erindale United Church are on the east side of the river but again draw residents from both sides of the river.

I could tell you about the beautiful shopping malls, the new Target store, Mr. Chair, and the wonderful and very helpful and service-oriented Canada Post office, but perhaps I can bring that out in my questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

You didn't tell them about the Giant Tiger.

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

Oh yes, and there's a Giant Tiger store. Thank you for your attention.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you.

Mr. Lizon, would you like to go next? Five minutes, please.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

As I indicated in my letter, I would like to make a submission with regard to the western border of the riding that's being proposed.

In the first proposal, the first round, the commission proposed that the western border would go along Hurontario from the current border, the Queensway, all the way to Eglinton, and eastward to Etobicoke Creek.

This part would be unchanged.

The current proposal is that the western border goes from Queensway north along Mavis to Central Parkway. Then it goes along Central Parkway east, and then north to the 403, and then along the 403 to Eglinton, and continues up.

I strongly believe, Mr. Chair, that the first proposal, after the first round, the commission got right. I think it was the right approach, and that is my submission.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

To the computer people, can we put the proposal up here?

Go ahead, Mr. Lizon.

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

Hurontario is the main road in Mississauga, and actually geographically divides Mississauga into eastern or western parts, which is reflected in all the addresses. All the streets that run east-west, east of Hurontario, would have “east” in their address.

The commission's report makes reference to the village of Cooksville being unified under the report stage proposal. However, I can tell you, Mr. Chair, that due to the development at the main intersection of Dundas and Hurontario, this village does not exist anymore. It doesn't exist in the form that others do in Mississauga—Streetsville, Port Credit, or Clarkson. Years ago, of course, Mississauga contained several villages that were separate entities, but Mississauga grew. When I moved there, the population was about 320,000, Now we are close to 800,000. There's not much land left for development.

Therefore, it makes more sense for us to use Hurontario, which has historically been a dividing line in Mississauga, as the border. Furthermore, although there will be condos in both ridings in Mississauga, Mississauga East has many long-term development neighbourhoods built in the 1950s and 1960s, which are unique to the city and represent a community far different from the many condo buildings that will be constructed.

Also, if we look back to before the last redistribution, the western border was Hurontario.

Mr. Chair, I propose that the new riding be named Mississauga East instead of Mississauga East—Cooksville. It makes perfect sense. I would like to add that all the current sitting members in Mississauga agree with my submission.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Butt, would you like to go next?