On the Boundaries Commission Report - Part 2

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Part 2 –  “The Super Ridings of the North”

This is the second in a series about the Electoral Boundaries Commission report.  See "Part 1- Arbitrary Recommendations that disenfranchise the north"

It could be called the “mother of all ridings” in British Columbia.  From end to end, this vast riding encompasses some of the most rugged terrain and treacherous climactic conditions in the world.  And the Electoral Boundaries Commission of BC, which, in its wisdom, is proposing this gigantic “super riding” wants to call it the “Northeast” (even though part of it extends over to the extreme Northwest).

This expanded riding, which extends over the entire top of the province, as well as more than half way down one side, will start 150 kilometers or so south of Tumbler Ridge in the Peace River country.  After barreling up to the Yukon border, it turns left and finally ends up at the extreme Northwest tip of the province bordering on Kluane National Park in the Yukon, a couple of hundred kilometers west of Atlin, BC. 

(Note: If you would like to look at a map of the riding go to the Electoral Boundaries Commission site at:  www.bc-ebc.ca  and click the icon titled “Proposed Boundaries.”)

The riding’s size – 274,000 km - is staggering.  Twice as big as the combined territory of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and bigger than most countries in Europe including the United Kingdom, Romania and Greece.

How did this riding come about?  Well, it is the “brainchild” of the current Electoral Boundaries Commission and its decision to cut a riding from the Northern region of BC, thus requiring the expansion of the ridings that were left.  According to the EBC, this cut was necessary because the population had declined 19,000 in the entire Northern region (which works out to be a little more than a 2,000 person dip for each of the current 8 northern ridings).

If you include the roads South of Tumbler Ridge and the access roads into the far western upper tip of the province, the drive for any new Northeast MLA, much of which would be along the Alaska Highway, would probably be around 1800 kilometers. 

That’s quite a journey!  Just for comparison sake, if the riding started in Prince George, it would extend all the way down to Eureka, California.  Or even better yet (for delicious irony), if it started in Premier Campbell’s Point Grey riding in Vancouver, it would stretch across BC, across all of Alberta, and finish up in Saskatchewan. 

This “Northeast” riding is the one the Commission has proposed if BC adopts the Single Transferable Vote system in the 2009 provincial referendum.  Just 2 MLAs would be expected to cover its vast territory.  But, interestingly enough, the size problem is even worse if the province votes to keep the existing Single Member Plurality system (SMP) - also known as “First Past the Post” - because the SMP riding is only marginally smaller than the STV one, yet there will be only one MLA.

Anyone who has driven from Dawson Creek way up to Atlin knows how grueling and potentially dangerous, such a trip is, especially in winter and especially having to cross the several high mountain ranges along the way.  Perhaps the only thing more nightmarish for the unlucky MLA who gets stuck with this riding will be to fly.  Ditching a small plane in a remote mountain pass in the middle of a blinding snowstorm would certainly be an interesting job shadowing experience for any prospective MLA.

In order to assemble this riding, the Commissioners had to add on a big chunk of the extreme northwest corner of the province, an area which includes that beautiful gem of a town, Atlin.

Now the Commission in its report makes a lot of statements about how it has striven, in its calculations, to keep “communities of interest” together in ridings.  Indeed, it points out that a previous commission made a mistake by including Mackenzie in a Peace River riding.  Mackenzie has a much closer “community of interest” connection to Prince George and area, being separated from the Peace Country by the Rocky Mountains.

So, the Commission concludes it won’t include Mackenzie with the Peace, because “the Peace is a distinct area” with its own history, geography, economy, etc. and to do so would be to impose “an artificial connection.” (p. 79). 

But what does the Commission do instead with the Peace River area?  It creates a “super riding” by “artificially connecting” the Atlin area of the province (which is currently in the Bulkley Valley – Stikine riding) with Peace River and calls this Frankenstein of a riding, “Northeast.”  This appears to directly contradict another part of the Commission’s Report where it says “there is little community interest between [Peace River] and population centers to the west”, e.g., Atlin (p. 77).

Atlin certainly is much farther away from the Peace country than Mackenzie.  Indeed, Mackenzie is only 277 kilometres from Dawson Creek and its even a shorter distance to Chetwynd.  But Atlin is 973 km away from the nearest town in the Peace Country, i.e., Fort Nelson, and you have to cross several mountain ranges, not just one.  According to the Commission, the reason why they included the Atlin area with the Peace was because they “believe the interests of the residents of Atlin would be better served” because of the better highway connection to Fort Nelson. 

None of the people Opinion250 contacted in Atlin said that they had heard about anyone in the area being consulted by the Boundaries Commission.  Indeed, George Holman, the president of the Atlin Board of Trade and the unofficial “mayor” of Atlin, thought the idea of connecting the area to the Peace country was “wrong” and that the Atlin area had  a closer connection to the settlements of the existing Bulkley Valley – Stikine riding (which is adjacent to the Alaska Panhandle).  Certainly, the history, geography and culture of Atlin are much different and distinct from that of the Peace country.

The Atlin area is also one of the traditional territories of the Tlingit people who have a similar culture to other north coast First Nations such as the Haida, Eyak and Tsmishian peoples.  This coastal culture is quite different from the First Nations of the much further inland Peace River country.  So why aren’t the Tlingit included in a riding with their coastal neighbours?  Surely there is a “community of interest” there that goes back thousands of years?  But the Commission does not answer that question.

This proposed Northeast riding is not even the biggest one of the 3 super ridings (Northeast, Northwest, and North Central) the Commission is proposing for the North if the people of BC vote to change the electoral system to STV.  That distinction lies with the proposed Northwest riding which covers a colossal 299,000 square kilometers of the Western part of the province (North Central, which includes Prince George, is about 130,000 square km). 

In any case, these 3 super ridings are an example of the contortions and acrobatics that the Commission has had to go through as a result of their decision to take away an MLA from the North.  If the Commission wanted to find a way to kill the northern support for STV, they have certainly found a way by patching together these super ridings.

If the Commission’s proposals go through, this will put supporters of electoral reform, such as the authors of this article, in a difficult situation.  On the one hand, many believe, the current SMP (First Past the Post) system needs to be discarded because it entrenches big party power at the expense of voters.  But, although STV has a lot of merits and does give more power to voters, how can it be supported it if it means we will end up with 3 huge, unwieldy “super ridings”?  In the 2009 referendum, we, as northerners, could face two bad choices.

If the political parties in the Provincial Legislature choose to adopt the Commission’s proposals, the only option might be for citizens to organize a boycott of the 2009 referendum, as well as a campaign to demand more MLAs for the region.  The northern and rural areas of this province have had enough.

Peter Ewart is a college instructor and Dawn Hemingway is a university professor.  Both live in Prince George and can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca

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