Madam Speaker, the issue the member for Palliser has raised is a very disturbing one because it goes right to the heart of public confidence in the democratic system.
In my riding, the proposed boundary will be changed in a very significant part of my community called North Dartmouth. It is a community of interest and has historical voting patterns that date back to Confederation, yet the proposal is to change the boundary right down the middle. I have had meetings with people and during the summer we talked about this issue and actually made presentations to the boundary commission. One of the comments made by somebody in those early days struck my heart. It was “What does it matter, because this is just the way it is and this is going to happen anyway”. I was struck by the fact that these people in my community had no confidence that this was an unbiased and fair process.
I want to ask the member for Palliser how he feels. How much damage is done when certain boundary commissions that have been struck seem to have quite a strong connection to the government? How do we redress this damage?