The process of redrawing B.C.'s electoral map has begun and Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad fears Northern B.C.'s representation in the provincial legislature will take a major hit by the time the new boundaries have been determined.
Legislation governing the three-member Electoral Boundaries Commission requires that it largely adhere to meeting an "electoral quotient" that sees the population of most ridings veer no more than 25 per cent away from the average.
A provision gives the EBC leeway to account for "special geographic considerations" related to keeping electoral areas to a manageable size as well as for "special demographic considerations, including communities of interest."
While that may seem reasonable, it amounts to a what appears to be small but, in Rustad's view, potentially significant change to the legislation invoked by the governing New Democrats last spring.
Up to that point, the EBC was also required to refrain from decreasing the number of electoral districts in each of the Cariboo-Thompson, Columbia-Kootenay and North regions, home to 17 ridings in all.
With the change, Rustad predicted the EBC will consider special circumstances for "at most just one or two ridings."
He outlined a scenario that would see the number of electoral areas in the North reduced from 10 to six by combining Peace River South and Peace River North into one riding, North Coast and Skeena into another, Stikine and Nechako Lakes into another and by folding Cariboo North into the two Prince George ridings.
The EBC can add up to six more ridings to the 87 currently in the legislature, but given how much B.C.'s population has grown, Rustad said that will make for only a marginal decline in the average per riding.
As it stands, Nechako Lakes covers nearly 74,000 square kilometres, more than twice the area of Vancouver Island, and is home to about 32,000 people, well below the average of 60,000 per riding. It's also home to six municipalities and 13 First Nations.
Videoconferencing in the form of Zoom and Microsoft Teams may help but still falls short in Rustad's opinion.
"Nothing quite replaces person-to-person," he said. "You're face-to-face, you're talking through an issue," he said and noted many communities are still on dial up.
While most communities and settlements are located along Highway 16, Rustad noted it's still a 280-kilometre drive from one end to the other and said 15-20 per cent of the riding's voters live south of Francois Lake.
The Electoral Boundaries Commission began welcoming public comments electronically and via mail this week, with public meetings outside the Lower Mainland to be announced.
Rustad said the best hope for preventing what he worries could occur is for people to make their voices heard.
"I think that's the only option we have, is to explain to the Electoral Boundary Commission why there are special circumstances that need to be looked at for the rural ridings, a need for effective representation and appeal to them to use that consideration when they are deciding on the electoral boundaries," Rustad said.
For information on making submissions, go to bcebc.ca/your-voice/
