People from as far away as Sault Ste. Marie travelled to Timmins to speak to the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission, which is proposing to reduce the number of federal ridings in northern Ontario.
Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus said he was pleased to see how many people attended.
“I’m feeling very confident by the determination and solidarity across party lines, across municipal lines, right across from here to the Manitoba border," Angus said.
"We’re speaking with one voice."
The commission listened to presentations from more than a dozen people. The majority of them said losing a member of parliament would result in constituents -- especially Franco-Ontarians and Indigenous people -- having less of a voice in the House of Commons.
“Given the fact that our culture, our economy, the vast distances, our geography are fundamentally different, we’re not asking for anything special here," Angus said.
"We have the right to proper representation in Parliament and this proposal will really seriously impact the voice of northern Ontario."
The commission said recent census data indicates there are fewer people living in northern Ontario and is proposing to change riding boundaries, creating a geographically large riding in the northern portion of the province.
That reasoning does not sit well with Gayle Broad, an Algoma University professor emerita who said there is research currently underway by a Laurentian University professor to examine how the 2021 census was conducted.
“It’s really dangerous to be changing boundaries based on numbers that may not really reflect what you think they’re reflecting," said Broad.
The commission said its job is to listen and not to debate with presenters.
“We will take back what we hear at the public hearings and ... the written submissions that we receive of which there were about 950," said Karen Bird, co-commissioner with the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission.
"Then we will work through those to come up with our final report, which is due to Elections Canada by the middle of December."
Presenters also said fewer ridings would mean less funding for things like the summer job program for students and that it would be even more difficult to attract young politicians and women to run in such large ridings.
