Thank you very much, Chair.
Hello colleagues.
It is a bit odd to be here with you testifying before a parliamentary committee. This is a first for me. I hope I do a good job.
I have some important things to put on the table because we were quite surprised, in the bad sense of the word, by the final report on the electoral redistribution in Montreal.
You might think that Montreal is a big city, but in fact it is a collection of neighbourhoods that each have their own identity, their own life, their own history. The electoral redistribution that we have just seen seems artificial and could somewhat disrupt the organic aspect of the neighbourhoods' life, people's identity. It brings in artificial boundaries that will cause a lot of confusion.
Today I will focus on two examples: Plateau Mont‑Royal, Petit Laurier, and Saint‑Henri—Sainte‑Anne.
Taking part of Plateau Mont‑Royal and adding it to the riding of Outremont, when part of Old Montreal is being added to Laurier—Sainte‑Marie, creates something artificial that people will not be able to identify with. This also breaks up the Saint‑Henri neighbourhood. It is not true that the people of Saint‑Henri will feel like they belong to Westmount. That is unrealistic.
The people in my office and I have talked with people from the offices of other elected members at the federal, provincial and municipal levels. Everyone shares the same concerns. In a single day, Plateau‑Mont‑Royal received 200 signatures from citizens who are against the new redistribution. What is more, all the elected members from the Sud-Ouest borough also signed a letter very clearly and officially opposing the new redistribution.
We believe that this will break up neighbourhood life, challenge people's identity and cause a great deal of confusion. I think we are able to respect the demographic evolution of the Island of Montreal by maintaining the current boundaries and number of ridings and avoid this type of artificial mosaic. We were really surprised because this truly did not correspond to what people were saying during the public consultations. I think we should maintain the status quo.
Before concluding, I would like to note that I approve the proposal of my colleague from Hochelaga, which seeks to change the name of the riding because a part of Rosemont is in Hochelaga. This also causes confusion. I think a name change would clarify things.