Manitoulin should be its own riding both federally and provincially
To the Expositor:
After being suitably outraged by the excellent editorial from a couple of weeks ago, ‘Plans to eliminate a Northern riding must be opposed” (August 24, Page 4), I’m even more disturbed by the lack of response from its readers.
Though I was distracted from replying earlier, I consider it better to do so later than never. The Federal Electoral Districts Redistribution Commission’s ongoing intention to reduce the number of federal ridings according to population only continues to benefit more crowded urban areas. This is especially affecting our local riding which has evolved over the years from “Algoma-Manitoulin” to “Sault Ste. Marie” and “Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing” to the upcoming plan to absorb “Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing” into the “Nickel Belt,” largely including the city of Sudbury. Especially for those living on Manitoulin Island, these decisions will have very real impacts on our rural quality of life, regardless of partisan bent. Time is of the essence, to push back and hard.
Rather than just fighting for the current riding boundaries, we should demand the institution of the riding of “Manitoulin Island,” for both provincial and federal elections.
Derek Stephen McPhail
Mindemoya
