Western Ontario will retain its current number of rural federal seats as part of the federal riding redistribution plan.
In fall 2022, the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (WOWC) strongly advocated to the Commission to maintain the current rural seat count for the region and keep communities of interest whole.
The original proposal would have fragmented many communities, including Dawn-Euphemia, Zorra, Tillsonburg, Warwick, and Chatham-Kent.
“While the WOWC understands that the location and density of population growth required the Commission to move boundaries, the originally proposed federal electoral districts unnecessarily fragmented many of our region’s communities – and jeopardized our rural seat count in Southwestern Ontario,” stated Chair Glen McNeil, in a media release.
“We are pleased to see that the Commission considered our suggestions and kept communities whole while maintaining the rural seat count in Western Ontario.”
With this decision, municipal community organizations will continue to engage with one federal government representative, and the risk of contradictory positions by area MPs representing competing political parties is greatly reduced, WOWC officials say.
The WOWC is a not-for-profit organization representing 15 upper and single-tier municipalities in Southwestern Ontario, with a goal to enhance the prosperity and wellbeing of rural and small urban communities in the region through collective advocacy, research, analysis, and education.
For more information, visit www.wowc.ca.
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent is moving into a single riding under the new plan issued by the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario.
In a report released on Friday, February 10, 2023, the Commission switched gears from their original proposal announced in the fall of 2022.
“The Municipality of Chatham-Kent, a single tier municipality, expressed concern that it was being split from two into three districts,” the Commission reports states.
“In this final plan, the Commission has reconfigured the boundaries so that the Municipality of Chatham-Kent is within one district. Leamington and Pelee Island have also been placed in this district, as they were in the existing boundaries. This reinforces effective representation of these communities. The name of this district has been returned to the existing name of Chatham-Kent-Leamington.”
More details, here.
