Image: Proposed Kamloops Centre riding map / Electoral Boundaries Commission

By Mel Rothenburger

Armchair Mayor

ROTHENBURGER: Little to complain about in redrawing of Kamloops riding boundaries

Apr 5, 2023 | 4:12 AM

WHEN THE FEDERAL electoral boundaries commission released its proposal for realigning the Kamloops ridings, we were astonished — it didn’t make sense.

Well, the B.C. Electoral Boundaries Commission has now released its own final report and — while it has its quirks — it makes a lot more sense than the federal plan did.

Basically, we still have a Kamloops-North Thompson riding but instead of Kamloops-South Thompson, we’ll have a riding called Kamloops Central.

To be sure, some of the changes are radical. Kamloops Central becomes an island wedged between Cariboo-Chilcotin on the west and by Kamloops-North riding to the east.

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The two Kamloops ridings illustrate the challenge faced by boundaries commissions in balancing population with physical size. While Kamloops Central will cover only 114 square kilometres, Kamloops-North Thompson will 17,000 square kilometres, second in size in the Interior only to Fraser-Nicola.

But the two Kamloops ridings (or electoral districts) will have almost identical populations with roughly 60,500.

The commission listened to what it was being told between a preliminary report a few months ago and the final report released this week. Originally, it had planned to move Barriere, Clearwater and Wells Gray Provincial Park into the Cariboo riding until it learned that those places rely on Kamloops for services and access them down the North Thompson corridor.

There will, of course, be disappointment in some areas that were excluded from one riding and included in another. Redrawing electoral boundaries is no picnic, and sometimes commissions get it wrong.

This time, the commission was working with an average population per riding of just under 58,000. Given the wide disparity of how that population is distributed, as well as the vast and varied geographical areas in B.C., making everyone happy is impossible.

In addition to working with current statistics, commissioners had to use their crystal ball to project growth into the future.

The result this time is certainly imperfect but, by and large, the commission got it right.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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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.