First of all, it's pronounced “St. Croy”, although this riding was briefly referred to as, originally.... Just for a little history lesson, Saint Croix Island is the place where Champlain spent his first winter, but now, in the local dialect, it is referred to as “St. Croy”. It would tug on my ears to hear this riding referred to as “St. Croix” in the House of Commons, so that is another danger.
I know that could happen, because briefly this riding was referred to as St. Croix—Belleisle, but every time the Speaker recognized former member Greg Thompson, he asked for the member from St. Croix—Belleisle. I always wondered who this member from Quebec was until Greg stood up, of course. That is why Greg promptly reversed the name when he was a member of Parliament to get it back to New Brunswick Southwest.
Let me address what I'll call a bit of confusion about what actually makes up New Brunswick Southwest. In the local media, when these maps were released, the media really just referred to the area between Saint John and St. Croix as forming New Brunswick Southwest. It was a bit infuriating for me, knowing that the riding includes much more geography than that, but I also noticed that reporters kept referring to only Charlotte County and Saint John as being part of the new riding, which is false.
I do worry that the name being proposed inaccurately describes what is this large rural riding, whereas this part of the province is referred to either by its current federal riding name, New Brunswick Southwest, or even informally as southwest New Brunswick. “Sou'west New Brunswick” is what you heard in the docks, so again, this name is accurate from a cultural point of view and a geographical point of view. “New Brunswick Southwest” also accurately includes all of the voters, all of the communities and all of the municipalities that currently make up and will make up the new riding after April 2024.
Thank you for your questions, Mr. Perkins.