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The riding riddle
Wow. It’s a little hard to take in. Twice in less than a month a senior government body has actually listened to the good people of Uxbridge and changed its mind about something. A couple of weeks ago, it was Durham Region substantially reducing the height of a telecommunications tower adjacent to Quaker Village (although as Paul Thompson says in his letter on this page, the health concerns have not been totally allayed).
Now this week, as reported on page 13, the commission charged with redistribution of ridings prior to the next federal general election has apparently admitted that it made a mistake when it recommended splitting up the township of Uxbridge, putting the former Scott Township in one riding with Yorkists, and the rest of us with Kawarthans. The judge in charge told Uxbridge councillor Jacob Mantle that in the revised maps, all of Uxbridge will be in one riding.
What the good justice didn’t say, of course, is who else would be in that riding. And that’s just as important an issue. Nobody (certainly not the Kawarthans or Haliburtonians) seems enthusiastic about the proposed mega-riding of Uxbridge-Haliburton, which seems to go all the way up to the Arctic Circle.
At Monday’s Uxbridge Council meeting, under questioning from the Cosmos, the mayor seemed to say that she endorses the position of Durham Region Council, which has recommended to the commission that Uxbridge be rejoined with Pickering, while Scugog and Brock would be joined with Clarington. But she also said that Uxbridge Council has not adopted an official stance on the issue, other than to say that the Township should all be in the same riding. That objective has been met.
But it seems to us that putting Uxbridge with Pickering creates much the same problem that the northern half of the township would have had with its neighbours in York; too little rural landscape with too much urban. Most of Pickering has a big-city environment, and it’s reasonable to project that most of our new MP’s priorities and positions would be designed to satisfy that urban mindset. We’d be lost.
Of the various ideas that have been floated, we lean toward the concept that Mr. Mantle put forward in his presentation to the commission: a united North Durham. He suggested that the southern boundary of the riding be Highway 7, and that Uxbridge, Brock, Scugog, and the rural portions of all the other Durham municipalities be included. Let the shorebound cities have their own MPs, and let us have ours.
In such a riding, Uxbridge is much more likely to have its kind of issues paid attention to. In fact, it is also much more likely to have one of its own elected as MP. In the current by-election, none of the six candidates are from Uxbridge. We suspect that wouldn’t be very likely to change in an Uxbridge-Pickering constituency.
But in a riding of North Durham, the whole electoral process could be much more engaging for Uxbridge voters. If that riding were to be created, we suspect it would be very difficult to find a venue for the all-candidates meeting in 2015, the level of interest would be so high. Let’s hope the commission continues to listen, and gives Uxbridge some compatible electoral partners for the coming years.
July 14, 2011
