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NEWS MPs HAVE MIXED FEELINGS ON PROPOSED CHANGES Continued from page 3 Burlington Lakeshore, Burlington—Milton West, Georgetown—Milton East and Wellington-Halton. It represents a dramatic shift for many oft the region's rid- ings and ates, munities that have never before been put together. Notably, both Burlington and Milton are being split into separate ridings. Kyle itton, cerned Halton resident and election proposal unnecessarily breaks up communities. "They've decided this is how we mustaccommodate both growth and the rent population quota ‘and thisis how wethinkit's best to do it. And they've done haven't shifted it too much — like ton is basical- ly the same. But in places m or London, the proposal the two Oak- ville ridings will now ex- tend to a SouthWest border of Appleby Line. Tradition- was drawn ington, the Brant Hills neighborhood would FEBC illustration The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario has Proposed a new electoral map that includes a new district for Halton and the redrawing of local boundaries. now be part of the newly created Burlingto. ton West riding. That would mean, Brant Hills residents would become re- presented in the same rid- ing as roughly half of Mil- ton and a large section of rural Burlington and Mil- onthe problem that can create is the communities of Milton, Burlington and the surroun ‘al ar- eas fend to have ‘different proble and priorities. The fear i is representatives would be less able to prop- erly support their constitu- LET’S MAKE BRONTE BETTER! ents, as a result of their ds being so drastically varied. y have different i is- sues, 5 said Hi itton. i think they should hav re- presentation that reflects that instead of presentation that's split be. tween a power base in Brant Hills and then a pow- er base in Milton.” In_ establishing new boundaries, the commis- sion considers a number o of factors, including th¢ toric pattern of the’ Pound aries, geographic and commaunity i identity. it also “They've created these massive rural, urban ridings that don't seem to reflect the communities that they're drawing the boundaries for," attempts to create ridings with populationsas close to 116,000 as is feasible. Karina Gould, MP for Burlington, said what con- coms her most about the pro] is the movement of. Elizabeth Gardens to the Oakville Lakeshore riding and moving Tyandaga and Brant Hills into the new Burlington—Milton West riding and moving. "The Electoral Bound- aries Commission has one sole focus: try to make the ridings in Ontario as nu- merit vieally. proportional as possible. That goal is fine and you don't want to have ridings that are wildly dif- ferent in population size, but they kept to a strict +/-10 per cent of the target population, whereas the legislation stipulates +/-: 25 per cent for the exact reé sonas to keep communities whole. The commission failed to take into consider- ation how communities ex- ist, tive, vandaccess services aid Gould. n' who wished to speak with ~ Kyle Hutton their MP would likely need to travel to Milton to visit their office. The proposed boundary changes for the more rural riding of Wellington—Hal- ton Hills are less dramatic. The riding would become Wellington ‘Halton and rtions of Socio to org it closer to the province's desired pop- ulation for the riding. Michael Chong, the MP of Wellington—Halton Hills, said he respects the work of the commission. mission — free of partisan interference — that deter- mines new federal elector- al district boundaries ev- ery decade based on the most recent census data. This ensures each district has roughly the same num- ber of people and each vote roughly the same (weight, tpheld ing the tor kA Ln | aenzeg etayeo | 22 tion,” , "said Chon; Any changes So elector. = o al districts will not com into effect until at Teast & 8 April 2024. Anyone interested in learning more is encour- aged to visit the redistribu- tion website at www.rede- coupage- sredistribu- tion-2022.ci Ina recent column, Mil- ton MP Adam van Koever- den wrote about the pro- post changes, and en- couraged residents to have an active role in the upcom- ing decision. For those who would like to take part, a live pub- lic hearing will be held at Milton's FirstOntario Arts Centre on Oct. 12 starting at6:30 p.m. Written submis- sions may be filed with the commission until Oct. 29. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: We felt like the proposed electoral bound- ary change wasn't getting the attention it deserved so we wanted to share what local experts and officials had to say about it. YOUROPINIONS SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT INSIDEHALTON.COM TOWN COUNCIL woo"uoy}EYyapIsUt