THUNDER BAY – On Monday, during what's set to be his last city council meeting as mayor of Thunder Bay, Bill Mauro brought up his concerns about the draft plan to restructure federal riding boundaries across the North.
“I would assume most of council is aware of what is being recommended by the federal Electoral Boundary Commission for Ontario,” he said. “It would result in a loss of one riding across Northern Ontario – from ten down to nine”
Under the draft proposal, Thunder Bay-Rainy River would be enlarged to take in the Kenora and Red Lake areas, with the remaining section of the existing Kenora riding forming part of a new, sparsely populated riding taking in remote Indigenous communities between Manitoba and Quebec.
Mauro echoed the sentiments of both Thunder Bay MPs, who signed a joint letter of concern over riding redistribution voicing concern that the westward expansion of the "already huge" Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding would make representation difficult.
“How anybody would be expected [to represent an area that large]... even if the population is slim, you're still dealing with that many municipalities, that many councils, that many school boards, that many First Nations, and the list goes on and on,” Mauro said.
“And you're having to drive a lot of that in rough and not good weather, so it really puts pressure on the member who has to represent them.”
Mauro also brought up the possibility the redistribution model could set a precedent for provincial representation.
“I would say [that] is opposite to what we did when we were in government – we created two more ridings in the far north. It's a population-based formula that they tend to sort of follow and I guess it's what they do,” he said.
“But until that formula changes this will come around every so often, so this is simply us taking a position that's saying we don't favor it, and circulating the resolution to those that make this final decision.”
Westfort Ward Coun. Kristen Oliver added it's important the City Thunder Bay ads its voice on the issue.
“Northwestern Ontario, certainly Northern Ontario, is jumping on board on this one. There are a number of associations that are very concerned about this. I think it's democracy in question,” she said.
“This is a governance structure that is so massive, we would be very underrepresented, and I think that we're seeing a lot of concern expressed, certainly through all the municipalities.”
City council voted unanimously to call on the federal election commission to maintain the current electoral representation in Northern Ontario, and resolved to send a copy of its resolution to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Electoral Boundary Commission, MPs Patty Hajdu and Marcus Powlowski, and all other Northern Ontario MPs.
