Last week the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario released a report outlining the status of their current project to revise the federal electoral boundaries across the province.
A review of these boundaries is required by the Constitution after each 10 year census to address changes in the growth and distribution of population across electoral ridings.
Operating under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, the Commission’s main objective in in redrawing the boundaries is to establish electoral districts with relatively equal populations. Boundary revisions also attempt to respect communities of interest or identity, historical patterns of previous boundaries and maintain a manageable geographic size while ensuring no district is more than 25% above or below the average electoral district population, which this year is 116,590 in Ontario. According to the Honourable Justice Lynne C. Leitch, Chair of the three-member commission, many changes were required in this iteration to “correct wide variations in voter equality that have emerged across the province over the past decade due to population change.”
What is planned for Cavan Monaghan? Our township currently sits in the south east corner of the Haliburton Kawartha Lakes Brock District (HKLB), which is part of the Central East Ontario region. The proposal on the table takes our population of just over 10,000 residents and allocates them into three different ridings.
A large swath of Cavan Monaghan running south of Highway 115 and west of County Rd 28 is swept into the Northumberland riding, which incorporates Port Hope, Cobourg, Brighton and Trent Hills. The northerly portion of the township running east of County Rd 28 and north of Highway 7 is incorporated into the new Peterborough riding which in addition to the City of Peterborough, includes Curve Lake First Nation, Douro-Dummer, Otonabee South Monaghan and Selwyn townships. The remaining area in the township lying north of Highway 115 stays in the current riding of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes Brock which also includes the City of Kawartha Lakes, Minden Hills, Algonquin and Brock.
The revised electoral map will be the subject of a series of public hearings beginning this month which will gather opinions about the proposed changes. For the Central East Ontario District, a virtual hearing on the subject is scheduled for Monday, Sept 26th at 6:30 pm. Those seeking to make a representation at that hearing must complete and submit a Public Hearing Participation form by September 25th. Written submissions can also be made by mail or email. All submissions will be published on the Commission’s website. To learn more about the process and to provide feedback, visit www.redistribution2022.ca or email ON@redecoupage-federal-redistribution.ca.
Confirmation of the revised electoral map is scheduled to occur in September 2023, and if all goes to plan, it will apply to general elections called after April 1st, 2024. KG
