Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain to the committee why I believe the municipalities of Weedon, Lingwick and Scotstown should remain in the riding of Compton–Stanstead. We're talking here about 3,767 inhabitants. The RCM, the three municipalities involved, and Luc Berthold, the member of Parliament for Lac Mégantic–l’Érable, all support my position.
What I'm asking for is based on the importance of aligning the boundaries of the ridings as closely as possible with those of Quebec's other administrative boundaries. My argument will focus in particular on RCMs, the regional county municipalities, but it is equally applicable to neighbourhoods, municipalities and administrative regions. It rests on the basic underpinnings of electoral redistribution, which means giving consideration to the personality of these municipalities, avoiding unnecessary changes to existing riding boundaries, and giving due regard to each RCM's or each region's sense of belonging, communities of interest and key commercial, industrial and farming ventures.
The municipalities of Lingwick, Scotstown and Weedon have a strong sense of attachment to their RCM of Haut Saint-François. RCMs are at the heart of regional economic, socio-cultural, historic and geographic vitality. RCM's are bodies that maintain the consistency and cohesion of actions by elected representatives, including initiatives under federal government programs. In the name of efficiency and cohesiveness, I recommend not duplicating services provided by teams in the ridings.
One of the considerations mentioned in the act addresses historical relations. For sevearal decades now, the people of Scotstown, Lingwick and Weedon, have primarily been using public services, including health care services, as well as businesses and cultural or sports centres in Cookshire-Eaton, East Angus and Sherbrooke.
Community and economic activity is organized around the RCM. One has only to think of the Chambre de commerce du Haut-Saint-François, the Centre local de développement du Haut-Saint-François, the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi du Haut-Saint-François and the Société d'aide au développement de la collectivité du Haut-Saint-François, the SADC. Residents of Weedon, Lingwick and Scotstown rarely go to Lac-Mégantic ou Thetford Mines for services. The same can be said for work.
The populations of Scotstown, Lingwick and Weedon are part of the collective identity, not only of the RMC of Haut-Saint-François, but also the Estrie administrative region. In this instance, the concept of a territorial whole, which is in the act, should take regional attachment, which is always very strong in Estrie into account. The Union des producteurs agricoles de l'Estrie and the Agence de mise en valeur de la forêt privée de l'Estrie are good examples of this.
For all these reasons, I recommend avoiding the splitting of RCMs, neighbourhoods, municipalities and administrative regions as much as possible when redrawing electoral boundaries. I am therefore asking that Weedon, Lingwick and Scotstown remain in the electoral district of Compton–Stanstead.
Thank you, Madam Chair.