NORTHERN ONTARIO MUST NOT LOSE SEATS: NDP
MP Bruce Hyer, Thunder Bay-Superior North
North must preserve its weight in Parliament during new redistribution, NDP MPs say
THUNDER BAY, ON – Northern Ontario’s six New Democrat MPs calling on the region’s Conservative representatives to stand with them in defending fair representation for the region. They are introducing a Private Member’s Bill guaranteeing Northern Ontario its current number of seats if the riding boundaries are redrawn.
“Many ridings in Northern Ontario are already bigger than some European countries,” said John Rafferty (Thunder Bay-Rainy River). “We don’t need to make it any harder for constituents to get to their MP’s offices, or to weaken their voice. We’re looking for the region’s Conservatives to support our NDP bill, introduced by my colleague Claude Gravelle, to ensure Northern Ontario doesn’t lose any more seats.”
Under the government’s redistribution legislation, Ontario will go from 106 to 121 seats in the House of Commons, while B.C. and Alberta get 5 additional seats each and Quebec 3. It is expected that many of Ontario’s new seats will go to Toronto’s fast-growing 905 region. The MPs argue that although the North dropped from 11 to 10 seats in the 2004 redistribution, the average population of Ontario ridings will be lower this time because of the 15 new seats added to the province.
“Today, New Democrats are drawing a line in the sand,” said Bruce Hyer (Thunder Bay-Superior North) this Monday. “We will fight, tooth and nail, any attempt to weaken Northern Ontario’s voice. Our region is unique for many reasons including culture, history, economy, and geography. The people of Northern Ontario will not accept any loss of representation, especially considering Ontario as a whole is gaining 15 seats. The people of Northern Ontario deserve to be heard, and I am asking our region’s Conservatives to join us and stand up to defend Northern Ontario’s representation in the House of Commons.”
The Northern Ontario New Democrat MPs; Rafferty, Hyer, Carol Hughes (Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing), Claude Gravelle (Nickel Belt), Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay), and Glenn Thibeault (Sudbury) held a press conference at 1:30pm at City Hall in Thunder Bay Monday speaking about the issue..
