Protect northern seats: NDP MPs

With the federal government poised to reintroduce a seat redistribution plan, northern NDP MPs are standing up for what they have to make sure they don't lose what is currently in place.

Sudbury and Nickel Belt MPs Glenn Thibeault and Claude Gravelle, respectively, joined their NDP counterparts from throughout the north in launching a tour to preserve the share of seats in northern Ontario. Sudbury was one of three stops planned during the tour.

Currently, northern Ontario has 10 seats in the House of Commons.

Seat redistribution planning has begun all across Canada, Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus said. The deep concern is that, even though Ontario is being promised 15 new seats, there's no guarantee the north with see any of them and, in fact, northern Ontario could stand to lose seats.

“There's potential to see a situation where Brampton and York region could have more seats than all of northern Ontario,” he said.

Gravelle will be introducing a private members bill this week to set the minimum of northern Ontario seats at 10 should Canada's riding boundaries be redrawn.

Sudbury NDP MP Glenn Thibeault, left, looks on as Nickel Belt NDP MP Claude Gravelle addresses media during the launch of a northern Ontario tour to preserve federal electoral ridings. Photo by Arron Pickard.

In 1995, northern Ontario had as many as 15 seats, and they've been declining ever since. In 2003, federal riding redistribution cost the region a seat in the House of Commons, weakening the voice of northern Ontario families, Gravelle said.

“We're afraid that ... we will see even further reductions in northern Ontario,” Gravelle said. “I have stood up in the House, along with my colleagues from northern Ontario, to debate this bill, and blatantly asked the Conservatives if they had any intentions of reducing the seats here, and they absolutely refused to answer, which leads me to believe they will be reducing the number of seats.”

The formula used for deciding the number of seats is based upon the population in Ontario, which isn't “fair,” because the majority of the population in the province is in the south, Gravelle said.

“We want to keep the ridings in the north, not by population, but by geographic area.”

Worst case scenario, all of a sudden there are less MPs to go around for constituents, Thibeault said.

“People need to be able to access their Members of Parliament,” he said. “Northern Ontario is resource-based, and we need to ensure we are fighting for all the things that are important for northern Ontario families. This is about ensuring northern Ontario is represented, and the 10 seats we have now are pretty much the bare minimum we can go to.

Anything else will make it completely unfeasible. We can make due with what we have here.”

The reason for the tour is to “put the Conservative government on notice, and to set off the alarms for mayors of northern Ontario that we have to stick together, stand up and fight for the north,” Angus said.

“Our ridings are already too large, and we think northern Ontario's voice is already far too diluted in the House of Commons,” he said. “If we allow this to happen, northern Ontario is going to get kicked in the teeth. We're really concerned the Conservatives are going to try to rig the ridings in their favour, they have a majority, and we have no reason to believe they are going to play fair.”

The Timmins-James Bay riding is about the same size as Great Britain, which begs the question, “how are people going to be able to access MP Charlie Angus within that riding if it gets bigger,” Thibeault said.

Concerned residents are encouraged to visit Thibeault's office to voice their opinions, or to write letters in support of protecting northern Ontario’s federal riding boundaries.

Posted by Arron Pickard