Okay.
There are 10 municipalities in my riding today. One of them is the Halifax Regional Municipality, which has a very small share of the population in a big geography. All other nine municipalities have registered their objections, both with the process and with the outcome.
The Town of Westville, to address Mr. Perkins' comments, described the process as “fatally flawed” and said that it did not give a proper opportunity for their input. In fact, the room booked was too small to accommodate the people who showed up. There was a signal sent to folks who did not submit anything in writing that they initially wouldn't be given the opportunity to speak. Municipal representatives have indicated to me that they didn't have the opportunity and, had they shown up, they didn't think they were going to be let into the room. It was not about how far away they had drive.
The message at home is, if you think Arisaig and Ingonish belong in the same riding, you're crazy, particularly when that breakdown was not put to people initially at the time of the commission. There was no consultation held in the new proposed Pictou—Eastern Shore—Preston riding, which is inappropriately named, in any event, and people did not feel they had input. It was not because it was too far to drive, but because of the rules that were laid out, signalling to them that they would be excluded.