The recommended new Ladysmith-Oceanside riding doesn’t make much sense, but there probably isn’t a perfect way to split the province into 93 electoral districts that will please every voter.
The B.C. Electoral Boundaries Commission released its final report last week. In between the preliminary report last fall and the final report this spring, there were some last-minute changes. After the preliminary report sensibly suggested Nanaimo-Oceanside, Nanaimo-Gabriola and Nanaimo-Ladysmith as new ridings in the area, the final report instead went with Ladysmith-Oceanside, Nanaimo-Lantzville and Nanaimo-Gabriola.
The News Bulletin sat in on the commission’s public hearing in Nanaimo this past fall, and certainly no one at that meeting suggested a Ladysmith-Oceanside riding. The commission’s report hints that there was some desire to squeeze Nanaimo into two ridings rather than overflow the city into three ridings. They accomplished that, but as a result, Ladysmith-Oceanside’s MLA will have to drive through two Nanaimo ridings to get from one end of the electoral district to the other. Ladysmith-Oceanside can technically be drawn on a map, but it’s not really connected unless you’ve got an all-terrain vehicle and the latest Backroad Mapbook.
B.C.’s growth necessitates frequent re-examinations of electoral boundaries to ensure representation by population, so never-changing ridings isn’t the answer. If Ladysmith-Oceanside isn’t fixed now, well, there’ll be an opportunity to revisit things in eight years or so, as B.C. legislates electoral boundaries adjustments every other election.
Although the region’s ridings might become a little weirder, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to think the redrawn boundaries benefit any one political party over another. The best we can do as citizens is to vote, hold our elected officials to account, and together, make our ridings – no matter how they’re shaped – the best places they can be.
READ ALSO: ‘Funky’ changes to new and existing provincial ridings on Vancouver Island
READ MORE: Mayor says proposed Ladysmith-Oceanside riding ‘doesn’t make sense’
editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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