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Reasons The reality of the shift of population within Saskatchewan from rural areas and communities to the cities of Regina and Saskatoon was addressed by the previous Commission in structuring eight electoral districts that combined rural and urban populations. This type of electoral district was new to Saskatchewan and is unique in Canada. It permitted the previous Commission to achieve a high degree of voter parity by reducing the variance in population density from one electoral district to another.Current statistics show that the population shift in Saskatchewan is a continuing reality that the current Commission must also address. It has elected to follow the lead taken by the previous Commission in maintaining a high degree of voter parity among electoral districts. As a result of this ongoing population shift, the current Commission was able to provide separate electoral districts for rural and urban populations without jeopardizing voter parity. The Commission is satisfied that despite the economic links between rural and urban populations, they nevertheless have differing communities of interest that must be addressed. Issues that are important to voters in rural areas and small communities are often different from those that are important to voters in large cities. The proposals reconfigure the electoral boundaries in a manner that incorporates the two primary considerations set out in the legislation: voter parity and community of interest. The most significant change to the current boundaries is the redistribution of the eight electoral districts that combine rural and urban populations. These eight electoral districts comprise more than half of the 14 electoral districts in the province and in each of them urban voters significantly outnumber rural voters. Voting control in over half of the electoral districts in the province is accordingly held by residents of the cities of Saskatoon and Regina even though they make up less than half of the provincial population. To address this disparity, six of the eight previously mixed electoral districts are redistributed as urban electoral districts for Saskatoon and Regina. Since the population of Regina is somewhat less than that of Saskatoon, one of the three Regina electoral districts combines urban and rural populations. As a result, the six new urban electoral districts, which constitute 42 percent of Saskatchewan's seats in the House of Commons, contain 42 percent of the province's population. The remaining two electoral districts that were previously mixed are redistributed as rural electoral districts for populations in rural areas and small communities. The nature of the remaining six current electoral districts is preserved. The one northern electoral district, which is populated primarily by Aboriginal peoples, remains almost unchanged. The lower population of this electoral district is the only significant variance in voter parity, but because of increasing population in this electoral district, its variance is now less than the previous variance. The boundaries of the five current electoral districts that are primarily rural in nature, including the two that surround Prince Albert and Moose Jaw respectively, are changed and expanded significantly. The proposals maintain and slightly improve upon voter parity as established by the previous Commission while recognizing the distinct community of interests of rural and urban populations. It gives each of them effective voting control over their respective electoral districts. An inevitable consequence of the shifting population reflected in these proposals is that each rural electoral district will encompass a larger geographic territory. The names proposed by the Commission for the various electoral districts are meant to reflect an identifying physical or historical site, object or geographical feature of the electoral district. Community names were avoided because multiple communities are located in most electoral districts. The Commission is following federal guidelines which do not recommend using the former name of an electoral district if the boundaries of that electoral district are substantially altered by the redistribution. |
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