Thank you, Madam Chair.
The rationale for the proposal I'm making—I think Mr. Warkentin and I are making the same recommendation—is that there was not a lot of objection to the original proposal. It seemed to make sense.
The ridings are called “Peace River” and “Grande Prairie” and, typically, folks who live in the particular ridings would like to be associated with the respective name. Grande Prairie is a distinct community, and Peace River is more of a geographical area in the Peace River basin. We call it “the Peace country”. It would be nice to keep folks who are associated with Grande Prairie in the Grande Prairie riding.
For example, I live about a four-hour drive from Grande Prairie. If I were going to Bezanson, DeBolt, Crooked Creek, Sexsmith, Beaverlodge, Wembley or La Glace—all or any of those communities—I would just say, “I'm going to Grande Prairie on the weekend,” even if I were not going to the actual city of Grande Prairie but to that general region.
Now, if you were going to High Level, for example, you'd say, “I'm going to High Level.” Folks from High Level have to pass through the town of Peace River. They live on the banks of the Peace River. They have an association with the Peace River that would keep it respective; it is about the name in that respect.
The other thing is just around the folks who are still struggling to adjust. People vote in the same place for a long time. I get a lot of complaints like, “Hey, I've always voted here, so why do I have to vote there now?” That continues to be a challenge. When we mess around with the boundaries, people end up having to vote in new places, and that causes confusion.
I would suggest that we keep the boundaries the same, as much as possible. The first proposal did that fairly well. It's a logical thing to just say that the rest of Mackenzie County goes in. The logic of it is very good, and keeping folks who live near the city of Grande Prairie in the Grande Prairie riding makes a lot of sense.
There was not a lot of opposition to the first proposal. The challenge is that there isn't an ability for our communities to voice their opinion except through this forum, and they're not as engaged on it now. When I've been going through the communities and saying, hey, this is the new proposal, folks are like, “No, that's a little bit odd.” The mayor of Mackenzie County has said that the first proposal makes more sense than the second proposal. I don't believe that he spoke at all, one way or the other, on the first proposal, but I showed him the maps. I'm in the process of getting documentation to support that, but that can be provided for sure.
On the demographic consequences, given that it's the first proposal, I think the demographic consequences are fine. There's no domino effect. It's just the two big ridings in northern Alberta that are changing. I have talked to colleagues in the area, and that seems to be fine.