Image: BC Govt. / Flickr / File

By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: New boundary plans are insane

Oct 10, 2022 | 12:02 PM

THERE’S A REPORT being considered by the B.C. government that would increase the number of ridings and switch up some boundaries, including the ones in our two Kamloops ridings.

Under the proposed plan, a new riding called Kamloops Centre would cover most of the City while a second riding, called Kamloops-North Shuswap, would cover an area including Westsyde and Rayleigh, Chase and Pritchard. There would be branches up the North Shuswap and several other little areas that make no sense whatsoever.

The Committee looking at redistribution is looking at trying to keep the population of each riding relatively the same, but while it may work in the Lower Mainland and other large centers of population, it doesn’t work in more rural areas.

Take our area, for example. Both of the new ridings have roughly the same number of people. But Kamloops Centre only covers 114 square kilometres while Kamloops–North Shuswap covers almost 7,000.

So one MLA can cover his riding in 15 minutes, the other might take a few hours. How is that fair?

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It’s a complicated process, to be sure. I understand that the most seats should be where the people are. But we also have to ensure that the rural voter has a say too.

Access to your MLA is just as important as the number in each riding. The new proposal for redistribution doesn’t accomplish that.

I don’t have a big solution to the problem- I only know that the current proposal isn’t it. We need to go back to the drawing board on this one.

Any great thoughts? Let the government know. You may have the key to the puzzle. It’s clear the present committee members don’t.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.