Local ridings remained unchanged after the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario concluded its work of redrawing the province’s federal electoral map.
The independent commission was created in February 2012 to set boundaries so that each electoral district contains roughly the same number of people, while also taking into account communities of interest or identity, historical patterns and geographic size in sparsely populated regions.
After considering the views of the public and objections by members of the House of Commons, the commission submitted its final report to the Chief Electoral Officer for transmission to the Speaker of the House.
A Sept. 30 press release from the commission stated the Chief Electoral Officer will use this report when drafting the representation order, which is expected to become official this fall. The new electoral map will be used at the first general election called at least seven months after that date.
In August 2012, the commission published a new electoral map that would have seen Mapleton, Minto and Wellington North, currently in the Perth-Wellington riding, join the rest of the county in a new configuration to be called Wellington-Woolwich.
The proposal would have also added the Township of Woolwich and removed the Town of Halton Hills from the local mix.
That proposal marked a change from the commission’s first draft, in July of 2012, which left the Perth-Wellington and Wellington-Halton Hill ridings status quo.
After additional public hearings in 2013, the commission reverted to the original position of leaving the local ridings unchanged.
“I applaud the commission for completing this report and for listening to the input from local residents,” said Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong.
