Proposed Federal Riding Boundaries in the Interior

The 2012 Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission has issued their report with the proposed changed boundaries.   The quotient for BC is 104,763 people per riding.  Notice that almost the ridings on the list are above that number?   The Interior was royally screwed in this report.

These are the populations of the proposed ridings:

1. South Okanagan-West Kootenay - 114,676
2. North Okanagan-Shuswap - 112,399
3. Kelowna Lake Country - 111,577
4. Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo - 111,231
5. Kootenay-Columbia - 109,058
6. Cariboo-Prince George - 108,840
7. Central Okanagan-Coquihalla - 107,929
8. Prince George-Peace River - 107,382
9. Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon - 102,619
10. Skeena-Bulkley Valley - 89,998

The total population of these ten ridings is 1,075,709, an average slightly above the provincial average.  The total population of Saskatchewan is 1,033,381 but they get 14 MPs.   

This is not an increase in seats for the interior, but Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon is more interior now than before.   Eight of the ridings are above average in size, the top four largest are all in the Thompson-Okanagan

Eight of the ridings make sense to me:

• Kootenay-Columbia is largely the same though does gain Nelson and area that was within in British Columbia Southern Interior.
• South Okanagan-West Kootenay is a fairly significant chance from what was BC Southern Interior.   The riding loses Nelson and the Similkameen west of Keremeos but gains Penticton.    This riding will end up being Penticton centric.
• Kelowna-Lake Country is only changed with the loss of downtown Kelowna to North Okanagan-Coquihalla.
• North Okanagan-Shuswap (formerly Okanagan-Shuswap)  the areas of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District that were in Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo as well as the area in the TNRD around chase and Okanagan Indian Band IR#1 to Central Okanagan-Coquihalla.
• Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo remains largely the change though loses 100 Mile House, Valemount and everything south of the city limits of Kamloops.
• Prince George-Peace River gains Valemount and is rejigged in Prince George itself.
• Skeena-Bulkley Valley and Cariboo-Prince George are not really changed.

The last two do not make sense:

Central Okanagan-Coquihalla is changed from Okanagan-Coquihalla through the loss of Penticton area but would gain the western Similkameen, all of downtown Kelowna and everything south of the city limits of Kamloops.  This is a dogs breakfast riding in my view.  The population is mainly in the Kelowna are but includes areas in a host of other local jurisdictions.   Some of the smaller locations in this riding have been in a fundamentally different riding in each of the last three redistributions.

Chilliwack-Hope extends from the eastern Fraser Valley all the way to 100 Mile House.  On what planet could anyone thing 100 Mile House and Chilliwack should be in the same riding? It also includes Pemberton.   It is the bits left over between the south coast and the interior all through into one riding.   This riding makes no sense on any level and is an exercise in population balancing and nothing else.

Hearing Dates:

• Prince George, Coast Inn of the North Monday, September 17, 2012 2:00 p.m
• Cranbrook, Heritage Inn Hotel & Convention Centre Monday, October 1, 2012 7:00 p.m.
• Nelson, Best Western Baker Street Inn Tuesday, October 2, 2012 7:00 p.m.
• Castlegar, Fireside Inn Hotel & Conference Centre Wednesday, October 3, 2012 7:00 p.m.
• Penticton, Penticton Lakeside Resort Tuesday, October 9, 2012 7:00 p.m.
• Kelowna, Ramada Hotel & Conference Centre Wednesday, October 10, 2012 7:00 p.m.
• Kamloops, Kamloops Convention Centre Thursday, October 11, 2012 7:00 p.m.