Frontenac loves L&A – L&A loves Hastings: Hastings Plays hard to get

Jeff Green | Nov 15, 2012

Counties differ on electoral boundaries.

Residents of Frontenac, Lanark, Lennox and Addington, and Hastings counties will be seeing their federal and provincial ridings change as of the next federal election, slated for 2015.

But what those changes will look like is up in the air.

The three-member Electoral Boundary Commission, responding to the desire from Lanark County politicians and residents to reunite Lanark County into one riding, have proposed the creation of two east-west ridings. Although the new ridings would unite all of Lanark into one riding, the three counties to the west of Lanark would all be split into different ridings.

If the draft boundaries are approved, Frontenac County will be split into three ridings, and each of Hastings and Lennox and Addington counties into two.

While officials of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington and Hastings counties, as well as sitting MP Scott Reid, all reject the proposed new electoral boundaries for the region, they don’t all agree on the best alternative.

At hearings in Kingston, Belleville, and Ottawa last week, at least a half a dozen alternative proposals emerged for the consideration of the commissioners.

Frontenac County proposal

In Kingston on November 7, Frontenac County Chief Administrative Officer, Liz Savill, proposed severing Frontenac from Lanark County, and creating a riding of Lanark-Carleton to the east, which would include Lanark County and parts of rural Ottawa. She also proposed a riding including all of Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Counties and parts of north Kingston, which are now part of the Kingston and the Islands riding.

She cited the historic ties between Frontenac and Lennox and Addington counties, which had been one county until the mid-1800s.

Lennox and Addington proposal

Bill Lowery, the warden of Lennox and Addington County, presented the views of his council, which sees its future in an alliance with Hastings County. They propose a riding of Hastings, Lennox and Addington, but did not provide information about the implications this would have for other proposed ridings, leaving that up to the commissioners.

Warden Lowery's submission, coming as did on the heels of CAO Liz Savill's, amused one of the commissioners, former Ontario Municipal Board Chair Doug Coulborne.

“So, Frontenac wanted you, but you wanted Hastings,” Coulborne said to Lowery.

In questioning both proposals, the commissioners revealed a couple of their concerns. The Frontenac County proposal would impact both the City of Ottawa and the City of Kingston.

“We have already heard that the residents in west Ottawa would like to keep their riding in the City,” said commission chair Justice George Valin.

To that end, Ron Hartling, the president of the Liberal Party Riding Association for Kingston and the Islands, asked the commission whether the City of Kingston would have the opportunity to respond to the Frontenac County proposal, and George Valin said they would, “but they should do it pretty soon.”

The other concern that the commissioners mentioned concerned the population numbers of the new ridings. The average population of ridings has been set at about 106,000, and the commission is loathe to see ridings that stray too far from that figure, although they do have leave for ridings to vary as much as 25%, leaving an upper limit of almost 133,000 and a lower limit of about 80,000.

The proposal from L&A County would create a Hastings/L&A riding at the top end of that range at almost 133,000 people.

Hastings County options

Meanwhile, Hastings County has their own thoughts on the matter.

Hastings County Warden Rick Phillips and CAO Jim Pine, made a presentation to the commission hearing in Belleville on November 8.

Hastings, it turns out, is the Greta Garbo of the region; they would really like to be left alone.

Their preferred option would be a riding of Hastings/ Belleville (Belleville being the seat of Hastings County) and riding of Lanark/Frontenac/Lennox and Addington (LFL&A)

Phillips and Pine recognised, however, that the population numbers would not be ideal in this arrangement – Hastings/Belleville would be at about 92,000 and LFL&A 132,000.

Therefore, Hastings County proposed two alternatives, which both involving taking back parts of Lennox and Addington from the LFL&A riding.

Hastings County's option 2 adds Napanee to Hastings, giving Hastings/Belleville/Napanee 107,000 people and LFL&A 116,000.

Option 3 would add Napanee and Loyalist township to the Hastings/Napanee riding, which would tip the balance the other way, putting the Hastings/Belleville/South L&A riding at 123,000 and LFL&A to 100,000.

Scott Reid submissions

MPP Scott Reid made a presentation to the commission in Ottawa on November 6.

He provided two proposals, one of which is identical to option 2 from Hastings County.

Reid’s second proposal would create a riding that includes all of Frontenac and Lanark County, as well as parts of North Kingston (the former Pittsburgh and Kingston townships) and create a Hastings/L&A/Prince Edward County riding as well as a Belleville/Quinte West riding.

The commission is holding hearings across the province until November 19, and they will prevent their revised riding divisions sometime after that date. Those proposals must be submitted to parliament by November 19/2013. They will then be considered by a parliamentary committee, which will have the option of raising objections to the boundaries. The commission will then consider those objections before submitting their final report to the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada for implementation.