FEDERAL ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES COMMISSION

FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA

2003

DISPOSITION BY THE COMMISSION

PURSUANT TO SUBSECTION 23(1) OF

THE ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES READJUSTMENT ACT

OF

OBJECTIONS FILED BY MEMBERS OF THE

HOUSE OF COMMONS WITH RESPECT

TO THE COMMISSION'S

REPORT DATED FEBRUARY 21, 2003

INTRODUCTION

Ten objections were filed with the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (the Committee) requesting adjustments to the Report of the British Columbia Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission on the province's federal electoral boundaries. The Commission closely examined each of these objections as well as the comments and recommendations made by the Subcommittee on Electoral Boundaries Readjustment (the Subcommittee) that was appointed to consider these objections.

The concerns lodged by members of Parliament were not unexpected given one of the Commission's assignments was to add two additional federal electoral districts to the province. To further complicate the Commission's task, it became apparent early in its deliberations that the number of electoral districts in the northern interior of the province would have to be reduced by one in order to achieve more equality in the population numbers of the province's electoral districts.

In summary, four of the objections concerned only the names suggested by the Commission, three involved the names as well as the electoral boundaries proposed by the Commission and three involved only the electoral boundaries. The Subcommittee made two additional suggestions concerning the electoral district names proposed by the Commission. In dealing with these complaints and the Subcommittee's report, the Commission dealt first with the objections to the electoral boundaries, followed by the objections concerning the naming of electoral districts.

BOUNDARY CHANGE OBJECTIONS

NORTH OKANAGAN–SHUSWAP

An objection was filed by Member of Parliament Darrel Stinson concerning the placement of the District Municipality of Sicamous and vicinity (Columbia-Shuswap Subdivision E) outside of the electoral district of NORTH OKANAGAN–SHUSWAP. In its efforts to obtain a larger population in the KOOTENAY–COLUMBIA electoral district, the Commission had moved the boundary westward along the Trans-Canada Highway to put the community of Sicamous in that electoral district. Unquestionably, the area of Sicamous and vicinity shares a strong community of interest with Salmon Arm and the Shuswap country, which are in the NORTH OKANAGAN–SHUSWAP electoral district. Accordingly, the Commission has agreed to restore the boundary to its previous location, even though this will result in an increased disparity in the electoral quota from –14 percent to –18 percent in the KOOTENAY–COLUMBIA electoral district. The change to the NORTH OKANAGAN–SHUSWAP electoral district will, however, result in it being only 1 percent over the electoral quota.

KAMLOOPS–THOMPSON

The Commission looked with care at the request from the Member of Parliament for Kamloops, Thompson and Highland Valleys, Betty Hinton, that Logan Lake should be included in the KAMLOOPS–THOMPSON electoral district and removed from the OKANAGAN–COQUIHALLA electoral district, and that Valemount be put back with the PRINCE GEORGE–PEACE RIVER electoral district. The Commission faced the problem that changing those boundaries would have implications for contiguous electoral districts as well as the KAMLOOPS–THOMPSON electoral district. The OKANAGAN–COQUIHALLA electoral district is already 6 percent below the electoral quota, and taking Logan Lake from the electoral district would put it at 8 percent below the electoral quota. KAMLOOPS–THOMPSON would go to 5 percent above the electoral quota. Also, moving Valemount to PRINCE GEORGE–PEACE RIVER would add more territory to the already expanded and extensive area covered by this electoral district. The Commission had already heard strong representations at its Kamloops hearing to put Aberdeen back into the electoral district, and did so. While it can be argued that Logan Lake is socially and commercially tied to Kamloops, it could be said that Merritt is similarly tied to Kamloops, and Merritt is in the OKANAGAN–COQUIHALLA electoral district. Since Logan Lake is as closely tied to Merritt as it is to Kamloops, the Commission did not accede to the requested change of the electoral boundary of KAMLOOPS–THOMPSON to include Logan Lake and exclude Valemount.

WEST VANCOUVER–SUNSHINE COAST

The Member of Parliament for West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast, John Reynolds, made three alternate proposals for changes to the boundaries of this electoral district so that Whistler and Pemberton/Lillooet would not be divided. The Commission found that only the third suggestion of moving Whistler into the new CHILLIWACK–FRASER CANYON electoral district could be considered feasible. This proposal was something that the Commission itself had struggled with for some time. In the end, the Commission, like the Subcommittee, thought that moving Whistler into the new CHILLIWACK–FRASER CANYON electoral district would stretch that new electoral district unreasonably. Undoubtedly, as the Sunshine Coast–Whistler area grows, a subsequent Commission will have to look carefully at the WEST VANCOUVER–SUNSHINE COAST electoral district given its large population.

In his testimony before the Subcommittee, Mr. Reynolds also suggested that the boundary between the WEST VANCOUVER–SUNSHINE COAST and NORTH VANCOUVER electoral districts be altered slightly to conform to the natural boundary of the Capilano River. The Commission, like the Subcommittee, agrees that this suggestion is sensible and has altered the boundary accordingly.

GREATER VANCOUVER AREA

In considering the objections filed by members of Parliament from the Lower Mainland of British Columbia and the recommendations of the Subcommittee, the Commission had to consider the domino effect of making further local changes in such a highly populated area. Given that the Commission had already bowed to strong local representations that Burrard Inlet and the Fraser River should not be crossed to make an electoral district that bridged both north and south sides (a position taken by local mayors and councils as well as members of Parliament and party groups), changes to the careful configuration of the 21 Lower Mainland electoral districts could not be made without serious disruption.

FLEETWOOD–PORT KELLS AND DELTA–RICHMOND EAST

The Subcommittee, responding to the objections of members of Parliament Gurmant Grewal and John Cummins, recommended that the Commission reconsider the boundaries of the electoral districts in Surrey, Delta and Richmond. Mr. Cummins wanted the Commission to keep the Corporation of Delta within one electoral district and Mr. Grewal wished it to keep Cloverdale together with East Surrey. The Subcommittee's recommendation required that we reconsider all seven electoral districts proposed for the area south of the Fraser River from Richmond and Delta in the west through Langley in the east.

This rapidly growing area includes one of the new electoral districts that has been added to British Columbia and the Commission was concerned with the balance across all seven electoral districts. After a careful review of the proposed alterations suggested by the Subcommittee, we have concluded that the electoral districts proposed in our final report represent the most equitable and appropriate balance across the seven electoral districts in this rapidly growing area. On this basis, we have concluded that we are not able to accede to the suggestions with respect to FLEETWOOD–PORT KELLS or DELTA–RICHMOND EAST.

In an earlier effort to redraw our original boundary proposals, we had attempted to keep the Corporation of Delta in one electoral district. We found, however, that Delta's geographical boundaries simply do not fit with the electoral quota. Our current boundaries were drawn in recognition of the population distributions of Delta and its surrounding municipalities. Undoubtedly, there is a great diversity of community interests within the Corporation of Delta itself and the residents there will be able to work with their neighbours from outside the Corporation of Delta who will share an electoral district with them.

With respect to the remaining boundaries of the Surrey electoral districts, the allocation of seats and the drawing of these boundaries was largely influenced by the representations made to the Commission by the Mayor of Surrey and the city's Planning and Development Department. We appreciated their assistance and consider the boundaries as drawn are appropriate for this region. They reflect both the representations from Surrey and representations from Fraser Valley and Langley municipal officials that we put the City of Langley and the District Municipality of Langley together into one electoral district.

BURRARD

The Honourable Hedy Fry, P.C., filed an objection to the western boundary of the electoral district of Burrard. She proposed moving this boundary from Arbutus Street to Trafalgar Street. This proposal would have a substantial effect on the structure of the contiguous electoral district causing a shift of 14,000 people into her electoral district from neighbouring Quadra. A shift of this magnitude is not, in the Commission's view, justified.

NAME CHANGE OBJECTIONS

The Subcommittee heard representations that the proposed name of Kingsway be changed to VANCOUVER KINGSWAY, that the proposed electoral district of Quadra should be renamed VANCOUVER QUADRA, and that the proposed name of Burrard should be VANCOUVER CENTRE. While the Commission believes the electoral map has overused the name Vancouver, it concedes that the members' requests and the Subcommittee's recommendations in this regard are reasonable and would restore the names as requested. As well, in response to other objections, the Commission has agreed to add Cloverdale to the White Rock–South Surrey electoral district, and rename it SOUTH SURREY–WHITE ROCK–CLOVERDALE and that the Kootenay–Boundary–Similkameen electoral district should have its name changed to SOUTHERN INTERIOR.

In looking at all the electoral district names in the Vancouver region, the Subcommittee argued that the overall pattern was somewhat inconsistent. It suggested, therefore, that the name of the electoral district of Burnaby North be made analogous to the name of the BURNABY–NEW WESTMINSTER electoral district and recommended Burnaby North be named BURNABY–DOUGLAS. Further, the Subcommittee found the Tri-Cities electoral district name was too generic and strongly recommended it be changed to PORT MOODY–WESTWOOD–PORT COQUITLAM. The Commission has accepted these recommendations of the Subcommittee. Given the two other recommendations concerning name changes were conditional on boundary changes that the Commission has not implemented, these recommendations were not accepted.

SUMMARY

In summary, the Commission accedes to the request to put Sicamous back into the NORTH OKANAGAN–SHUSWAP electoral district and to making the Capilano River the boundary between the NORTH VANCOUVER and WEST VANCOUVER–SUNSHINE COAST electoral districts, but was unable to accept the proposed electoral boundary changes to Burrard (now VANCOUVER CENTRE), DELTA–RICHMOND EAST, NEWTON–NORTH DELTA, FLEETWOOD–PORT KELLS and White Rock–South Surrey (now SOUTH SURREY–WHITE ROCK–CLOVERDALE). As well, the Commission was unable to change the electoral boundaries of KAMLOOPS–THOMPSON and the northeastern boundary of WEST VANCOUVER–SUNSHINE COAST.

With respect to the name changes, the Commission accepts the recommendations in the Forty-first Report of the Standing Committee except for those involving the FLEETWOOD–PORT KELLS and DELTA–RICHMOND EAST changes.

Dated at Vancouver, British Columbia, this 14th day of July, 2003.

Honourable Justice Robert Hutchison
Chairman

R. Kenneth Carty
Member

Lynda Erickson
Member

CERTIFIED copy of the disposition of objections to the Report of the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for British Columbia.

Christine Wiebe
Commission Secretary

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