Brief on the Redistribution of Federal Electoral Districts by Françoise Boivin, MP for Gatineau

Transcription

1 Brief on the Redistribution of Federal Electoral Districts by Françoise Boivin, MP for Gatineau Presented to The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Quebec The Honourable Jules Allard Michel Doyon Raymond Hudon Gatineau, Quebec October 31, 2012

2 1. Introduction The redistribution of federal electoral districts is necessary to ensure our democracy functions properly. To be effective, redistribution must reflect geographical characteristics what surrounds a district and what it is a part of while creating united communities of interest of about 100,000 people. The Federal Electoral Districts Redistribution website states that the provincial commissions main goal is: to set boundaries so that each electoral district contains roughly the same number of people. The commissions also take into account communities of interest or identity and an electoral district s history. Finally, they must give consideration to ensuring a manageable geographic size for districts in sparsely populated regions of the province. 1 The Commission for Quebec is currently proposing that the riding of Gatineau be divided in two new ridings called Petite-Nation and Outaouais. The new riding of Petite-Nation would contain the Limbour, Bellevue, Lac-Beauchamp and Rivière-Blanche neighbourhoods; part of the Le Versant neighbourhood; the Masson- Angers and Buckingham districts; and the municipalities of Ange-Gardien and Val-des- Monts. The neighbourhoods of Touraine, Carrefour de l'hôpital and Pointe-Gatineau would be combined with the former city of Hull to create the urban riding of Outaouais. 2. Position As the MP for Gatineau, an intrinsic part of Quebec s fourth largest city, I was astonished by this proposal, as the current riding is well within the permitted population range and forms a coherent urban entity. Following consultations with Gatineau residents this summer, I found that everyone objected to the Commission s proposal. Their objections mainly concerned the following issues: 1. The redistribution s impact on the delivery of federal services; 2. Access to their MPs; 3. Representation of their interests; 4. The new riding names; 5. The unity of the city of Gatineau, which will be eroded by an unnatural federal riding division; and 6. The excessive mix of communities and divergent urban and rural interests

3 It seems that an alternative proposal must be developed so that redistribution gives the people of Gatineau what they need and expect from a federal riding Population The federal riding of Gatineau had 116,780 inhabitants in It remains well below the legal maximum of 25% more than 100,000 people, so an immediate redistribution is unnecessary. By comparison, creating the 103,759-person riding of Outaouais and, especially, the 109,110-person riding of Petite-Nation does not seem to be a very effective move, especially since Buckingham is a growing residential area. Petite-Nation risks greatly exceeding 100,000 people in the years to come Demographics The riding of Gatineau is defined by several very specific characteristics. It is a suburban urban riding with many homes and small businesses. French is by far the dominant language. Gatineau is also home to a fair number of retirees and people approaching retirement as well as many first-time homeowners. 2 Grafting Hull onto Gatineau to form the riding of Outaouais will add a significant portion of the city s anglophone community, a large immigrant population, a substantial number of lower-income residents of Vieux-Hull, big businesses and a large number of government buildings. By mixing all of these elements, the riding would be a hodgepodge whose residents would have little in common and certainly lack a common identity. Adding Buckingham, Masson-Angers and Val-des-Monts to the residential part of Gatineau would group together people who do not often interact and who are separated by great distances. The contrast is especially striking if one compares the priorities of Vieux-Gatineau, formerly a neighbourhood of paper workers now looking to be reborn, and the far reaches of Val-des-Monts and its huge proportion of summer cottages. Again, it would be difficult to show that they have common priorities or a common identity History The amalgamation of the Gatineau area in the early 2000s was hardly smooth. About 50 kilometres separates Buckingham from Aylmer. They also have very different interests, which manifested themselves in de-amalgamation referenda in Indeed, Masson-Angers avoided de-amalgamation by a few rejected votes. 3 The City of Gatineau has since done an excellent job of creating a common sense of belonging, but some rifts remain. 2 Statistics Canada, 2011 Census Profile, 3 Radio-Canada, Plus de défusion à Masson-Angers, [in French only]. 3

4 The federal riding of Gatineau reflects these vestiges, as it is made up of the entire former city of Gatineau, before it was amalgamated with its neighbours. For 40 years, the riding of Gatineau has extended eastward from the river of the same name. In 1976, its description was as follows: GATINEAU consisting of: (a) the Towns of Buckingham, Gatineau and Thurso; (b) in the County of Labelle: the municipality of Notre-Dame-du-Laus; (c) in the County of Papineau: the township municipalities of Lochaber, Lochaber (North part) and Lochaber (West part); the united townships municipality of Mulgrave and Derry; the municipalities of Bowman, Mayo, Val-des-Bois and Val-des-Monts. It was renamed Chapleau in 1987: CHAPLEAU consisting of: (a) the towns of Buckingham, Gatineau, Masson and Thurso; (b) in the County of Labelle: the Municipality of Notre-Dame-du-Laus; (c) in the County of Papineau: the township municipalities of Lochaber and Lochaber-Partie-Ouest; the united townships municipality of Mulgrave-et-Derry; the municipalities of Ange-Gardien, Bowman, Mayo, Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette, Saint-Sixte, Val-des-Bois et [sic] Val-des- Monts. The name of the riding was changed in 1988 to Gatineau La Lièvre. In 1996, it returned to being simply Gatineau (consisting of Buckingham, Gatineau and Masson-Angers). In 2003, its boundaries became those of the former city of Gatineau. For four decades, Gatineau and Hull have been separate at the federal level. That is why the proposed riding of Outaouais has raised eyebrows redistribution During the redistribution of federal electoral districts 10 years ago, the MP for Gatineau at the time, Mark Assad, told the Commission that he opposed the inclusion of the former cities of Buckingham and Masson-Angers in the new riding of Pontiac. The Commission dismissed Assad s objection. Yet the Commission today suggests that these towns be joined with the city of Gatineau, along with Val-des-Monts. 4

5 In 2003, this arrangement was rejected because there was no community of interest and no common history and because the district would have been too large Riding name The name Gatineau has been affixed to a federal riding since 1947 (apart from a brief interruption in ). It originally referred to merchant Nicolas Gatineau Sieur Duplessis ( ), the second explorer after Champlain to explore the Ottawa Valley. He worked for the Company of 100 Associates and often used the river known as Gatineau s river for the fur trade. This name has since been given to a number of counties, villages and institutions. It is a fundamental part of our region s culture, and people want to keep it. The names the Commission has suggested, Outaouais and Petite-Nation, have no meaning for the people of Gatineau. Outaouais is a word that represents the region as a whole, not a particular urban area, while the historical and geographical area of Petite- Nation is not part of the proposed riding that would bear its name. Consequently, this aspect of the redistribution effort must be completely rethought. 3. Alternative proposal Since information on the redistribution was posted on my website and Facebook page, many residents of Gatineau have expressed their views on the subject. They were unanimous: they want to keep the riding as unchanged as possible. In view of their comments, we propose a riding called Gatineau comprising 106,424 inhabitants. The main change would be transferring the Limbour neighbourhood (the area north of La Vérandrye Boulevard from the Gatineau River to Montée Paiement) to the current riding of Pontiac, which must have a larger population. The change would also be compatible with the provincial riding of Gatineau, which extends northward along the river. The ideal population would be 101,231. With our proposed boundaries, the riding s 106,424 would put us 5.1% over that mark but within the 10% range set by the Commission and the 25% variation allowable by law. This proposal is non-partisan. It is made in the interest of the people, communities of interest and continuity. Population changes require adjustment, and we believe that this proposal meets the population criteria while respecting Gatineau s communities of interest. It is a solution that uniquely meets the Commission s objectives. 4 Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Quebec, Disposition by the Commission (2003), pp

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