Last week the Electoral Boundaries Commission released its preliminary report. For the residents of St. Paul and the surrounding area, there is much to be concerned about.
While I generally try and support a more nuanced and thoughtful discourse, residents should be, frankly, outraged. The Commission decided, for starters, that it is perfectly ok that one of the new constituencies – Bonnyville-Cold Lake, in which the northern part of St. Paul County and Goodfish and Saddle Lake will now reside in – will be 7 percent higher in population than the desired number. The new Fort Saskatchewan-St. Paul riding will be 10 percent higher than the recommended constituency size. The rural constituencies are now larger in population than the urbans. After years of concern over the over-sized vote of rural Albertans (since their ridings had a lower population than the urban ones, it was often suggested that rural votes were “worth more” than urban ones) they have decided not to make things more equal, but to simply reverse the problem. It seems they have decided power in Alberta is zero-sum. They assume that our communities will shrink, and not grow. This ignores many things. For starters, the growing populations of our aboriginal communities, but as well as the rising lake residents who, while their primary residences may not be in the riding, spend much of their time in our communities, and as such are as part of it as anyone else (not to mention they use our services and roads).
Secondly, the commission has absolutely no regard to the connections between communities. It is undoubtedly true that the residents of Saddle Lake and Goodfish rely on St. Paul as its centre for services, including health care and education, and yet they are now separated. St. Paul will now be included in the Fort Saskatchewan riding – these larger urban centres are not the same and do not belong in the same riding.
There are many problematic aspects of this interim report from the commission, and the above mentioned are only the ones that immediately come to mind after an initial reading of the report. These are also very practical concerns, but there are larger issues as well. To be short and sweet, the disregard for rural people taints this report. They say in their opinion that no longer should rural and urban ridings be treated differently, and that we should all be treated alike. While equality is an admirable goal, geographical reality does not spell this out. Issues are different, the people are different, the distances and physical barriers different. St. Paul residents are not concerned about mass public transit, while this obsession is evident in the cities.
For these reasons, for this blatant attack on rural interests, and more importantly the people of the rural areas that we love, the PC constituency association will be reaching out to any and all partners who desire to help us to talk to the Commission as they finalize their report, as well as the government, before any final decisions are made. This is a non-partisan issue, and we ask our Wildrose, Liberal, NDP, and Alberta Party neighbours to join us in standing up for the citizens of this area. Municipal leaders as well, and our partners in our aboriginal communities, are key if we are to present a united front.
All politics are local. This is a maxim touted by campaigners as a way to win. But its more important than that. It means that the reason people should get involved is to help our neighbours, friends, and family. When these relationships are separated due to ignorance and more importantly the blatant disregard for rural voices, we must stand up for ourselves.
Mathew Preston, BA MSS
VP Communications
Lac La Biche, St. Paul, Two Hills PCAA Constituency Association
