Further Comments

Commission Member John P. Barry, Q.C.

Introduction

This section represents an alternate approach to the final report. In general, and for the most part, my colleagues and I agree on the broad picture of federal electoral boundaries in New Brunswick as outlined. We did have a difference of opinion only on the boundaries of the three southern electoral districts – St. Croix, Saint John and Fundy. In my opinion, the population patterns, communities of interest and identity, historical patterns as well as ongoing geographic and population challenges in at least one of those three electoral districts point to a long overdue and different conclusion. On this issue I could not convince my fellow commissioners.

They expressed concerns about the lack of prior public consultation to this division based on the fact that it was not included in the initial Proposals and therefore did not receive public input during the hearing phase of the electoral boundary readjustment process. However, significant change after public hearings is not without precedent, in particular, where the option proposed by others represents an obvious improvement over the Commission's Proposals.

While I obviously have the right to file a dissent, such a position would not reflect the common consensus that we were able to achieve throughout our deliberations. Lack of agreement on this issue relates primarily to the timing of its presentation as an alternative to our Proposals.

However, its insertion as additional comments is a reflection of the merit to which I attach to the option.

The following outlines the rationale and arguments in support of an alternate approach to the three federal electoral districts bordering the Bay of Fundy.

Population Trends: City of Saint John and Surrounding Areas

The electoral district of Saint John (principally the City of Saint John) continues to lose population. According to census information, the population in 1981 was 80,515. In 1996, it was 75,136. In 2001, it was 69,821. Since 1981, the City of Saint John has experienced a population decrease of 13 percent.

In that same time frame, Charlotte County to the south of Saint John has had an almost stagnant population with an approximately three percent population growth.

The area known as the Kennebecasis Valley to the east of Saint John (Rothesay, Quispamsis and Hampton) has had strong growth, having experienced a 30 percent population growth since 1981. That growth was fuelled primarily by the Town of Quispamsis, one of the fastest growing communities in the province.

Grand Bay-Westfield to the northwest of Saint John also has a growing population, having seen a 14 percent increase in population over the last two decades.

Saint John's population loss and the rise in population in the neighbouring communities of Rothesay, Quispamsis, Hampton and Grand Bay-Westfield reflect a transfer of population from the City to surrounding communities. Despite the shift to outlying areas, the City of Saint John remains the major service centre for all the communities mentioned.

Electoral District of New Brunswick Southwest

The electoral district now known as New Brunswick Southwest, has been known as the electoral district of Charlotte or Carleton–Charlotte, almost since Confederation. The name reflects the principal counties in the electoral district.

The population stagnation in Charlotte County has forced significant changes in the geographic makeup of the electoral district beginning in 1966.

The name was changed in 1966 to Carleton–Charlotte when boundary changes resulted in its becoming one of the largest geographic electoral districts in the province. Extending from its southeast border on the Bay of Fundy to the border of the former electoral district of Madawaska–Victoria, the electoral district became known as "Fish and Chips", reflecting the diverse economic community of interest (fishery and potato industry).

As well, in 1966, the electoral district included areas contiguous with the borders of the City of Saint John. Further boundary changes including suburbs of western Saint John were made to the electoral district in 1976 and 1987 in order to accommodate further population problems. That relationship with Metro Saint John continues to the present day.

By 1996, in another direction but still bordering Saint John, it had added the communities to the northwest of Saint John now known as Grand Bay-Westfield. These were transferred from Fundy–Royal to satisfy population quotient. These communities are bedroom communities to the City of Saint John. As well, at that time, more significant geographic changes were made to the electoral district and it continued to include a portion of Carleton County. At this point, a House of Commons committee also changed the name of the electoral district from Charlotte to New Brunswick Southwest.

From 1966 to the present day, electoral boundary commissions have continued to deal with electoral quota deficiencies in the electoral district. Even so, unreasonably negative population variances have occurred compared to contiguous electoral districts. Achieving reasonable electoral quotas has created an electoral district that has been a catch-all in that geographic areas were added with little rhyme or reason other than to achieve acceptable electoral quotas. Historically, short shrift has been given to other considerations as specified in the Act's sub-rules.

In addition to population challenges, the electoral district's geographic expanse, the diversity of municipalities and communities, as well as three islands within its boundaries continue to present challenges to effective representation. These challenges and more were heard once again at the current public hearings with respect to effective and equitable representation. Diverse communities of interest combined with accessibility challenges tend to dilute voter parity when compared to electoral districts where shared interests result in greater influence.

This Commission's final report makes recommendations that, as in the past, simply exchange diverse communities of interest in order to replace those areas of Carleton County being transferred to Tobique–Mactaquac. The principle of one person, one vote has been satisfied.

Electoral District of Saint John

Prior to 1966, Saint John was, in fact, a mixed urban-rural electoral district known as the electoral district of Saint John–Albert. For many years, its boundaries extended along the shores of the Bay of Fundy to the suburbs of Moncton and Westmorland County.

In 1966, it became the electoral district of Saint John–Lancaster. In 1976, it was changed to the electoral district of Saint John and continued to be known as Saint John throughout subsequent boundary readjustments in 1987 and 1996 with only minor changes.

Population reductions within the City of Saint John, resulting from population movements to the bedroom communities in the Kennebecasis Valley and to Grand Bay-Westfield over the past 30 years, have created a metropolitan area known as Greater Saint John with a population of 122,678.

While the City of Saint John and, as a result, the federal electoral district of Saint John, have lost population, it has been more than replaced by the growth of the adjacent communities to the northwest and east of the city and electoral district – communities that continue to consider the City of Saint John as their urban centre for health, education, recreation and, in most cases, employment.

Electoral District of Fundy–Royal

The electoral district of Fundy–Royal was once called Royal (in 1952), reflective of the fact that it encompassed the counties of Kings and Queens. The electoral district was changed to Fundy–Royal in 1966 when there were significant boundary changes.

The electoral district has always remained contiguous to Saint John and Charlotte County. Fundy–Royal has always had shared communities of interests with those neighbouring electoral districts, principally because New Brunswick Southwest and Fundy–Royal are adjacent to Saint John. All three electoral districts border the Bay of Fundy in southern New Brunswick.

Boundary changes were made in 1976, extending the electoral district to the southeast as far as the borders of Moncton but continuing to recognize the communities of interests with Saint John and Carleton–Charlotte. This relationship was acknowledged with the inclusion of other communities adjacent to Saint John as part of the electoral district.

This pattern continued in 1987 when Grand Bay-Westfield also became a part of the Fundy electoral district, moving in 1996 to become part of New Brunswick Southwest. The fact that this area has in fact been encompassed in all three southern New Brunswick electoral districts within the last 16 years is perhaps the best evidence of the long-shared communities of interest in the three electoral districts.

The common community of interest in the southwestern part of the Fundy–Royal electoral district has remained as it has been since Confederation with both Saint John and Charlotte County.

Service Delivery and Infrastructure: Urban-Rural in Practice Already a Reality

There is an obvious and shared community of interest in these three electoral districts with Saint John serving as the business and economic centre for an area extending from St. Stephen to Sussex. This historical homogeneity has been recognized already by the actions of both the Government of Canada and the Government of New Brunswick in the consolidation of services, which has been occurring over the past 35 years in southern New Brunswick.

The Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation (Region 2) incorporates health services in a region that runs from Sussex in the southeast in the electoral district of Fundy–Royal to St. Stephen in the southwest in the electoral district of New Brunswick Southwest.

The Federal Minister of Transportation combined the areas encompassing the three electoral districts into two districts.

The Government of Canada offices for the area of Sussex to St. Stephen are principally centred in Saint John.

The Economic Development Commission created by the provincial government to serve the area (other than Enterprise Saint John in the City of Saint John) runs from Sussex to St. Stephen.

Other examples of services or organizations that run from Sussex to St. Stephen include:

The language community of interest from Sussex to St. Stephen is significant with over 85 percent having English as their first language.

As well, people from across the region continue to support and assist the Imperial Theatre and Harbour Station, which, as regional facilities have always enjoyed strong financial support and governance representation from Hampton, Quispamsis, Rothesay and Grand Bay-Westfield. These facilities continue to serve the geographic area from Sussex to St. Stephen.

Conclusion

While I have been unable to convince my fellow Commission members of this reality, it remains my strong opinion that two new federal electoral districts should be created dividing the City of Saint John and encompassing Saint John County and Charlotte County to the west of the Saint John River and portions of Kings County and Saint John County to the east of the Saint John River. The electoral district of Fundy can easily accommodate these changes while retaining a reasonable population given its size as a rural electoral district.

I base my ideas on four conclusions that I have drawn from the public hearings and from data provided to me.

1. Urban-Rural Electoral Districts Now a National Reality

While I recognize that, historically, electoral districts were divided for the most part on an urban-rural basis in Canada, it is also clear that the pattern has already been broken in six provinces, resulting in 18 existing and 18 proposed urban-rural electoral districts at this point in time. Alberta has joined British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador. That pattern has continued to grow over the last decade.

Here in this province, the widely supported inclusion of Chipman and Minto into the Fredericton electoral district based on their already existing living and working patterns has resulted in a (mixed) electoral district, thus breaking with a long-held electoral boundary tradition. The support was not surprising given that the public is clearly interested in shared community of interests more than any other factor when consulted as to where boundary lines should fall.

2. Already a Reality

While justifiable given the economic community of interest, simply adding the Town of Rothesay to the City of Saint John does not fully respond to the realities of what has occurred in southern New Brunswick. Since 1966, the economy, the delivery of government services including health care, the judicial services, education, the common municipal partnerships, athletic activities, regional support for cultural activities and common communities of identity have been shared.

What is proposed is, in fact, what already exists in terms of living and working patterns. The community of interest, the community of identity and historical patterns of these three contiguous regions are the same. Whether the boundary line gets moved or not, the homogeneity will continue. Social, business, economic and recreational interactivity throughout the three electoral districts will continue just as they will continue to be served by the same health corporations and post-secondary institutions.

3. Manageable Sizes

The Commission is obligated to first ensure population numbers are equitable and then to consider other factors. Among those factors is the idea of manageable size if the representative is to be equally accessible in the electoral district and as compared to other electoral districts. New Brunswick Southwest's elected representatives have faced significant challenges in reaching and communicating with constituents. After each electoral boundary adjustment, it didn't improve. It just changed.

Dividing the three contiguous areas into three new federal electoral districts would create manageable geographic sizes, in particular with respect to New Brunswick Southwest. Creating three electoral districts using as much as possible the Saint John River as a boundary line for two of the electoral districts, subject to some adjustments to meet population requirements, will meet the needs of all of the citizens residing in the region from St. Stephen to Sussex.

4. Simple, Powerful Changes

The reality is that the only missing piece of the puzzle is boundary lines on a map to reflect an already existing dynamic. It is obvious that this proposal could be easily accomplished without substantially changing or altering the Commission's report.

Commissions are created after every decennial census to ensure that inequities with regard to population variances can be minimized; that other common interests such as economic, business, cultural and social factors can be factored into deliberations; and that manageable electoral districts in terms of geography are created. The proposed division would ensure all of the above, thus respecting the spirit and intent of the Act.

New Brunswick's geographic size and population shifts and fluctuations have continued to challenge boundary commissions who were even more constrained by the requirement to respect and retain the urban-rural division. As noted in our final report, that division will inevitably have to be reconsidered given the continuing migration to major urban centres in the province. The proposal outlined in this comment is inevitable in some form or another in the future. It was my belief that the time was right to solidify what is already a fact.

I would have recommended that those three electoral districts be named Saint John–St. Croix, Saint John–Kennebecasis and Fundy. The name Fundy should be retained and incorporated with respect to the rest of the electoral district while making appropriate geographic adjustments to surrounding electoral districts in order to achieve reasonable electoral quotas. This could have been achieved without significant alteration to the boundaries as outlined in this report. Nor would it have compromised the rationale for which I and my fellow commissioners were in unanimity. The population of each of these three electoral districts is 71,945, 79,086 and 63,248, respectively. See Appendix H for the map showing this option.

Commission Member George H. LeBlanc

Introduction

The completion of this report follows the submission of the Commission's initial Proposals followed by extensive public consultation on those Proposals. Our report represents a consensus reached by the Commission members after considerable deliberation and consideration of public input.

While I am able overall to support the report as the result of a consensus of the Commission, this addendum represents my additional comments with respect to the report.

Moncton–Riverview–Dieppe

The electoral district of Moncton–Riverview–Dieppe posed a significant challenge to the Commission inasmuch as the population of the electoral district exceeded the maximum electoral quota permitted under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act. The Commission's initial Proposals sought to address this issue by severing Riverview from the electoral district and attaching it to the Fundy electoral district. This proposal met the electoral quota required under the Act, but failed to give consideration to the other criteria under the Act, and in particular the community of interest, community of identity and historical pattern of the electoral district.

The municipalities of Moncton, Riverview and Dieppe share a strong community of interest and community of identity. The existing electoral district encompasses the boundaries of the three municipalities, commonly referred to as the Greater Moncton Area. The three communities have established long-standing, integrated economic and cultural ties. These are evidenced by a regional economic commission, a regional policing authority, regional solid waste management facilities, a regional airport authority, a regional pest control authority, a regional sewage commission, joint financial support for the Capitol Theatre, a regional urban transit system, a common drinking water system and common watershed management. The three communities also attempt to achieve uniformity and consensus on a number of other issues.

Many people live in Riverview or Dieppe and work in Moncton, and vice versa.

The City of Dieppe is predominantly French, the Town of Riverview is predominantly English, and the City of Moncton recently became the first officially bilingual city in Canada.

The three communities are served by two regional health facilities, predominantly by the Dr. Georges-L. Dumont Regional Hospital and the Moncton Hospital.

The severance of one municipality from the electoral district would of necessity be somewhat arbitrary, and an unpleasant choice between the three communities.

The Commission's alternatives were to exceed the 25 percent population variance permitted under the Act, to attempt to trim some areas from the three municipalities to bring the population within the allowable limit, or to divide the communities into two separate electoral districts.

A proposal was submitted by the City of Moncton to divide the area into two large urban-rural electoral districts. In general, I would have been able to support a division of the electoral district whereby the City of Moncton would have been divided roughly in half, with the City of Dieppe and the surrounding rural area forming one part of the electoral district, and the Town of Riverview and surrounding rural area forming the other.

Unfortunately, the proposal to divide the city into two electoral districts would have resulted in a lopsided division of the municipality, marginalizing the areas of Lewisville and the east end of Moncton into a large urban-rural electoral district extending as far north as Bouctouche. This was not considered desirable by the members of the Commission. Moreover, it was opposed by members of the community and vocally opposed by most other communities.

The Commission was unable to support an increase over the permissible variance of ±25 percent, which is permitted only in exceptional circumstances. The Commission was informed that there are proposed electoral districts in Canada that exceed the variance of –25 percent, but there are none where the variance is greater than +25 percent.

Therefore, the Commission arrived at a compromise solution whereby the central portion of Riverview will remain in the electoral district. In my submission, a larger portion of the Town of Riverview would have remained with the Moncton–Riverview–Dieppe electoral district. This could have been accommodated by respecting historical voting patterns on the outskirts of the municipalities, and by increasing the variance marginally. The existing division of Riverview is somewhat arbitrary and does not give proper weight to the community of interest, community of identity and historical pattern of the electoral district. It does, however, represent the only compromise that was able to find support by consensus, and is an improvement on the original proposal.

If historical population trends continue, this compromise solution will no longer be feasible. In that case, a division of the electoral district in two, or a separate electoral district for the City of Moncton may be required.

Rothesay/Saint John

The Commission's report proposes putting the Town of Rothesay in the same electoral district as the City of Saint John. In my view, this is undesirable as it severs the community of interest between the Town of Rothesay and the remainder of the Kennebecasis Valley. At the public hearings, there was unanimous opposition to the severing of Rothesay from its neighbouring communities, and strong arguments were put forward with respect to shared community of interest with those communities. For this reason, I would have preferred not to sever Rothesay from its sister communities.

An Urban-Rural Approach to Electoral Boundaries

I have read the further comments of my fellow Commissioner. Unfortunately, with great respect to my fellow Commissioner, I am not able to support his proposal. The proposal would divide one municipality in the province into two electoral districts, while the remaining municipalities would not receive similar treatment. To my mind, this would be unequal and unfair treatment. Moreover, the proposed division results in a small portion of Saint John being attached to a largely rural electoral district, which would marginalize that portion of Saint John in a largely rural electoral district. On the other hand, to suggest that this would be a second Saint John electoral district would give much greater emphasis to a relatively small urban portion of a largely rural electoral district. Also, this would greatly increase the size of the Fundy electoral district when size is already a concern.

Having said that, the concept of an urban-rural electoral district approach for parts of the province has merit and should be considered with appropriate public consultation in the future.

At this time, it appears that an urban-rural division of the electoral districts has not found acceptance as evidenced by the overwhelming opposition to such a proposal in the Moncton area. Moreover, such an approach was not contemplated in the Commission's Proposals which formed the basis of extensive public hearings and input. To move to a largely urban-rural based electoral division without public consultation would undermine confidence in the electoral boundaries readjustment process, and, in my view, be contrary to the spirit and intent of the Act. The issue of public consultation and feedback to a specific proposal is integral and essential to the process.

However, given the continuing shift of population from rural to urban areas in the Province of New Brunswick, I believe that this approach deserves further study and may form the basis of further proposals in the future which can be subject to appropriate public scrutiny, input and comment.

Conclusion

On the whole, I support the consensus reached by the Commission. Although the report does not satisfy all of the wishes and desires of those who provided input and recommendations, it is a compromise which balances, to the best of the Commission's ability, the various and competing interests of all parties while giving consideration to the requirements of the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act.

The process has been rewarding and has reinforced and reaffirmed the value of participation in our electoral system. Public feedback has been thoughtful, serious and responsible. This belies the notion that we are apathetic about our democratic system. To the contrary, this process has shown that we are passionate about our democratic electoral system. And so it should be.

The legal descriptions of the electoral districts and the resulting maps are attached to this report.

Dated at Moncton, New Brunswick, this 10th day of January, 2003.

Honourable Guy A. Richard
Chairman

John P. Barry, Q.C.
Member

George H. LeBlanc, Esq.
Member

CERTIFIED copy of the Report of the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for New Brunswick.

Rolande Godin
Commission Secretary

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