Thanks very much, Madam Chair.
I want to address three topics. First, I'd like to spend a few moments to provide a counterpoint to what my colleague has laid out for the committee in terms of blended urban and rural seats.
I want to flag that in Saskatchewan this has been a matter of debate in the last three electoral boundary processes. I would note that in the 2013 process, Saskatchewan was the only province that had a dissenting report from the boundaries commission, precisely because many voices felt that the move away from the blended urban-rural ridings into urban-only ridings actually wasn't reflective of the nature of the province.
In the case of Regina—Qu'Appelle, on the last rural-urban blended riding in the province, I just want to talk about those linkages between communities, which are so important.
In terms of the changes Mr. Steinley has just laid out, I want to signal my support for his proposal.
If you look at the two maps I've distributed, the first page is the proposal that the commission has tabled with the House of Commons. The back page is as they exist right now.
If you look at the bottom left-hand corner of my riding of Regina—Qu'Appelle, right around Saskatchewan Drive and Elphinstone Street, the commissioner is proposing to put that into Regina—Lewvan. Just a few blocks to the west is a major north-south road called Lewvan Drive. That really is a community divider. It's three lanes in each direction. It's a high-traffic road. All the community and neighbourhood associations are split by that road. There is no spillover from one to another.
In that southwestern corner of my riding is an area of Regina called North Central Regina. It is very uniform in that area. The construction of homes was all around the same era, and there are very similar demographics from one street to the next in terms of who lives there. Just across the street in the Lewvan riding, it's a completely different neighbourhood. It's a completely different demographic and a completely different price point in terms of the homes you would see.
It really doesn't make sense to take that little corner part of North Central out of Regina—Qu'Appelle. North Central is bigger than the area they're putting in, so they're dividing North Central up and splitting it between my riding and Warren's riding.
As Warren mentioned, this community has been in the same riding for well over 30 years. It's very cohesive, too. There are several schools in the area that co-operate with each other and support each other. There are indigenous organizations that provide a lot of outreach and services in that area. If you walked around the area, it would never be obvious that you were moving from one community to another, but under the proposal, in fact you would be moving from Regina—Qu'Appelle into Regina—Lewvan, whereas when the divider is the Lewvan, it's very clear. If you cross Lewvan Drive on Dewdney, it's very obvious that you're leaving one neighbourhood and moving into another neighbourhood.
In terms of voters being in the riding that they have historically been in for many years, it doesn't make sense to give Regina—Qu'Appelle more of Regina—Lewvan in the north and then to offset set that by giving Regina—Lewvan some of Regina—Qu'Appelle in the south. It would make far more sense to leave that corner of North Central in Regina—Qu'Appelle and move fewer voters from Regina—Lewvan to Regina—Qu'Appelle. That would cause the least amount of disruption.
The proposal that the commission has made has the effect of more people being moved from one riding to the other. I can't emphasize enough the fact that they would, under this proposal, really divide a very distinct community in Regina into two different ridings, when there is a much more natural divider just a few blocks to the west.
If I can draw your attention to the second set of maps in the rural area, this is the proposal for Regina—Qu'Appelle's rural component. As you can see on the first page, the communities of Wynyard and Ituna have been excluded from Regina—Qu'Appelle.
When we were at the boundary commission hearings, all the submissions were aimed at including Wynyard and Ituna in the same riding as Fort Qu'Appelle. Fort Qu'Appelle really acts as a hub in the rural part of my riding. It is the largest centre outside of Regina itself, and it has everything—grocery stores, doctors' offices and things like that.
I'll wrap up there. If members want to have me dive a bit more into the rural component, I'd appreciate the opportunity to do that.