Riding Redistribution – New Proposal Follows County Lines

Jeff Green | Mar 07, 2013

Back in the fall of 2012, a proposal by the electoral commission of Canada called for significant changes to the federal and provincial ridings in Frontenac, Lanark, and Lennox and Addington County.

In this region the commission focussed on an east-west axis even though the county lines run north-south. The commission proposed two new ridings, Belleville – Lennox and Addington – South Frontenac, and Lanark-Frontenac-Hastings.

In hearings that took place in Ottawa, Kingston and Belleville, MP Scott Reid as well as representatives from Hastings, Frontenac and Lennox and Addington made disparate proposals, but their presentations were similar in that they all urged the commission to re-think the two ridings by focussing on county boundaries.

When the commission released its altered proposal last Wednesday, February 27, it was clear that they had taken those submissions to heart.

They are now proposing a riding of Lanark-Frontenac, which includes all of Lanark County and the townships of North, Central, and South Frontenac, as well as the portion of the City of Kingston that lies north of Highway 401. They also proposed a riding of Hastings – Lennox and Addington, comprising all of L&A County and all of Hastings County, plus the portion of the City of Belleville that lies north of Highway 401.

In explaining their thinking, the commissioners wrote the following:

“The submissions at the hearings made it clear that the public generally gives community of interest significantly greater weight than an impersonal numerical quota. This was particularly true in Eastern Ontario, where the counties were founded as part of the creation of Upper Canada in the late 18th century. The message from the hearings in this part of the province was clear: keep communities of interest together as much as possible, and respect county boundaries as much as possible, even if that might result in significant variances from the provincial quota.

Accordingly, the Commission has decided to revise the boundaries in its Proposal for this area with a view to keeping counties as unified as possible, taking into account other historical communities of interest and respecting the population quota as much as possible within those constraints.”

The average riding population across Canada is about 106,000. The proposed Lanark-Frontenac riding will have a population of 98,409, 7.35% below the norm, and the Hastings-Lennox and Addington riding will have a population of 99,306, 6.50% below the norm.

Although the new proposals are supported by the rural politicians, they have not met with approval within the City of Kingston.

In a report in the Whig Standard, Kingston and the Islands MP, Ted Hsu, said: “Historically, Kingston has been one riding. All the social circles, the economic circles, even environmentally with the drainage patterns. It all makes sense to have one municipality be inside one riding. The northern part of Kings­ton, really, its economic ties, the social ties, all the clubs and where people work, it’s much better connected to Kingston than it is to northern Frontenac County and Lanark County.”

Kingston City Councilor Jeff Scott, whose Countryside ward is slated to be split by the proposed change, also expressed his opposition. He described the Lanark-Frontenac riding as “boomerang shaped”, with populations concentrated at each end.

MPs will have an opportunity to comment on the proposed changes, and the independent three-member commission will submit their final, binding report later this summer.