WE suggested here in January that the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission had erred in recommending the creation of a new Burnaby-North Seymour riding.
A Conservative-dominated House of Commons committee agrees. The two communities "share few common services or exchanges," the committee concluded.
No kidding. The only link between the two areas is a bridge that's an infamous bottleneck on Canada's Only Road. The demographics of the two communities are vastly different, their health authority is different, and neither of the sitting MPs favour the creation of this Frankenriding.
Now, a group of MPs, unfamiliar with local geography, has come to the objective, non-partisan decision that another solution should be found.
Based on population numbers alone, another riding should clearly be created somewhere between Deep Cove and Powell River. But the common-sense solution appears obvious to all but the commission: redraw the lines on Mainland-Sunshine Coast map; don't add peculiar bulges to Burnaby and Vancouver Island.
Oh yes, the commission also recommended taking Powell River from John Weston's West Van-Sunshine Coast riding and adding it Vancouver Island North - notwithstanding that it was a ferry ride away. The same Commons committee sensibly recommended against that idea too.
So, if Powell River stays in the local ridings map, surely a new federal riding that incorporates elements of North Vancouver and West Vancouver is an obvious choice. Let's hope so.
