As humans, we are not a fan of change in general.
So it comes as no surprise that when the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario tabled a proposal that would see the current Huron-Bruce federal riding be split up that people were against it.
That original proposal, in an effort to ensure each riding represents roughly 100,000 residents, would have seen this area put into a new riding called South Huron Shores. This proposed riding would have stretched from Saugeen Shores to Highway 402.
Looking purely at numbers, I can see how the commission’s people in a big office in the city somewhere would have come up with this proposed riding. By drawing lines on a map, the areas within those lines would have made up about 100,000 people in population.
The other reason I say the lines were drawn by someone in the city is because they clearly didn’t understand the culture and demographics of the area within those lines.
As Bruce County Warden and Brockton Mayor Chris Peabody told me last week, “Huron-Kinloss doesn’t have a lot in common with the municipalities down by (Highway) 402. It’s a totally different area.”
With that in mind, comments from leaders across Huron and Bruce counties were submitted to essentially say, “Nice map, but no thanks.”
Normally, I am for change, especially if it means there is a possibility for things to be better long-term. However, in this case I think keeping the status quo is the right call.
As Peabody said, the proposed South Huron Shores riding is made up of completely different areas.
If you look at the demographics of the Huron-Bruce riding, it is very similar from one end to the other. All of the municipalities within the riding are considered “small town” and have similar issues, and those municipalities support each other in those issues.
South Huron Shores would not have been beneficial to anyone, in my opinion.
And for once, it is nice to see the higher powers actually take the comments and feedback of rural Ontario into consideration with this decision.
Kudos to Herald-Times staff
Last week, we reported that the Herald-Times has been nominated for two Ontario Community Newspapers Association 2022 Better Newspapers Competition awards.
As I was quoted in last week’s Herald-Times, these awards are reflective of all of the work put in by the staff at Midwestern Newspapers. That’s something we should all be proud of.
For the sake of brevity, I won’t rehash all of the nominations here, but I will say this: congratulations to Pauline, Cathy, Julie, Marie, Janine, Peggy H., Peggy W., Jackie and the rest of the crew on being nominated for these awards. It’s an honour to work with such a great team, and for this team to be recognized by our industry peers.
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Mike Wilson is the editor of the Walkerton Herald-Times. Comments and feedback are welcome at mwilson@midwesternnewspapers.com.
