Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning, colleagues, and thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today regarding the boundary readjustment report for British Columbia.
I am appearing before you today to raise an objection regarding concerns brought to me by the mayor of the municipal government the district of Lake Country on behalf of residents in that community with regard to the latest report on boundaries. The objection pertains to the name of the electoral district where the district of Lake Country would be included, if this report is adopted.
In the latest proposal, the district of Lake Country will be part of a new proposed constituency named Vernon-Monashee.
The mayor of the district of Lake Country, on behalf of residents, has asked that I express to the committee a proposal to add “Lake Country” to the name of this new constituency. A letter from the mayor making this request was also submitted to the committee when I filed my objections.
If this letter has not been distributed to committee members, I would be happy to table it now.
In the letter, Lake Country Mayor Blair Ireland states, “We have received many comments, letters and emails about the loss of the use of our name”, and he goes on to say that “our citizens are very passionate that we retain an identity in the future riding.”
There are several reasons why including Lake Country in the name of the new electoral district makes sense.
First, according to Statistics Canada, Lake Country is one of the fastest growing communities in British Columbia, with a five-year population growth of 22% reported in the latest census. Latest population estimates have Lake Country at over 17,000 people.
Second, the current electoral district has the name of the two largest municipalities in the name, Kelowna and Lake Country. The new electoral district only has the name of one of the two largest municipalities, Vernon.
Third, previous public drafts of these reports included Lake Country in the electoral district's name.
Lastly, fourth, by adding Lake Country to the Vernon-Monashee riding name, it would refer to three geographic areas, which would not deviate from names of other proposed constituencies in British Columbia, including many in the interior.
I hope that the committee will take this reasonable recommendation into consideration when developing their final report to the commission, and I look forward to any questions you may have.
Thank you, Madam Chair.