point. Electoral boundaries commission T HELP WANTED urged to. retain northern ridings a | Pick Up the Pace Health & Fitness is By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN ABOUT a dozen people weighed in‘ on the issue of what to do with’ the province’s ~° _ electoral boundaries last week. The province’s | Elec- . toral Boundaries Commis- sion made a stop in Terrace | Nov. 16 to hear from people in the Skeena riding, what compelling reasons there are to retain the 10 northern ridings despite a declining — population base. The commission must establish an average num- -ber of constituents per riding to help ensure. that people from all areas of the province have effective rep- _ resentation. _ That average ‘is deter- mined by dividing the popu- . _ lation of the province by the - number of MLAs and with . B.C.’s population estimated “at 4.2 million, each of the province’s 79 MLAs should represent roughly 52, 000 constituents. — ; There is room to deviate from this average by 25 per ‘cent more or less than the average and in very special circumstances that devia- tions can be slightly higher. _ But in the north some- times that deviation is push-., ing the 50 to 70 per cent - range. ; os Skeena MLA _ Robin Austin, representatives of the City of Terrace, Kitimat: Council and the Regional District. of Kitimat-Stikine and Skeena-Bulkley Val- , ley MP Nathan Cullen all spoke with a unified voice . urging the commission to at the minimum retain the rid- ‘ings in the north in order to achieve effective represen- tation. Many people said a pure arithmetic calculation to de- termine ridings isn’t neces- :Sarily the best way to deter- ‘mine how large they should — be is disparate rural areas. Other factors such as natural resources which are extract- ed to the economic benefit of the whole province must also be considered. __ “If we want to talk about being properly represented it can’t just be by popula- tion it’s what you represent as well,” said Terrace’s Nancy Ross. Bruce Bidgood, an as- ‘-sociate professor of “social work at the University of Northern British Columbia, - used what he called an out- rageous analogy to make a _ “Thave a proposal — why don’t we take 20,000 people from Burnaby to vote here in Terrace in the next.elec- tion?” he asked. ' . The idea is meant to be over the top, he said, adding people in Burnaby would likely be outraged to have a northern MLA as their rep- Tesentative. “If it is considered non- sensical for southern people to be represented by people in the north, then it’s equal- ly nonsensical for northern people to be represented by those in the south,” he ar- gued. G City councillor Rich McDaniel suggested _ it’s within a few years the area will see an influx of work- ers to meed the.demand of the Prince Rupert container - port and other industrial ini- tatives in the region. Kitimatian Wolfgang Scholz, who is a member of the Citizens Assembly on — Electoral Reform, told the commission that northern- ers feel underrepresented in the legislature as it is and that is compounded by hav- ing large ridings in which it is difficult to have a face to face meeting with elected officials. “Once our members are elected we don’t see them,” he said. “The old saying there is no hope beyond Hope is still very true.” Brian Tait, a councillor on the New Aiyansh village government said part of the The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - A15 currently accepting non-perishable food ifems for the benefit of the Terrace Transition House. oa reason the population is di- | minishing is because of lack of work in the area. Young © people are moving to places such as the Lower Main- | land or Alberta to work, but he says many of the young people in his community: want to come home to live and work. . “We have people telling” us they are coring back: because they’re roots are Please help. keep our here.” he said, urging the " community strong. commissioner to at least ].person at a time. retain the status quo in the Thank you. north or perhaps consider _ adding another riding. “I don’t not want to see government making deci- sions that lessen our voices aeain,” he said. "We need I 7 | — _ Saturday“ 9am2em Health & Fitness to retain the voices as they BRIAN TAIT, a councillor with the New Aiyansh Village Government says the number 4624 GREIG AVENUE, TERRACE (250) 635-4646 now exist and increase it. of northern ridings should be retained, or increased. SARAH A. 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