No offence to Richmond or Surrey, but it's time Delta cut ties on this whole federal riding thing.
For the last two decades, Delta has been split in half when it comes to Canada's electoral map, the south end attached to Richmond and the north end appended to Surrey. What makes this so crazy is that it's been happening despite the fact this municipality has essentially had the ideal population to be its own stand-alone federal constituency throughout that entire time.
An electoral boundaries commission is now at work redrawing the B.C. map, increasing the number of seats from 36 to 42 to reflect our growing population, which also provides a perfect opportunity to right a long-standing wrong.
Each riding in the country is supposed to have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 111,000 people, although the actual numbers can fluctuate by 25 per cent or more in many cases. Delta's population of 100,000 or so certainly fits within the parameters, as it has for the last quartercentury.
Unfortunately because our neighbours to the north and east haven't had populations quite so divisible, we've ended up paying the price. The good news is that Richmond has grown considerably over the last decade and now has about 200,000 residents, a total that is rising daily, while Surrey is poised to put the half-million mark in its rear-view mirror.
Richmond should get two ridings through the decennial exercise of redrawing the electoral map, while Surrey could get as many as five, leaving Delta to finally become a constituency of its own again, a situation we enjoyed for one fleeting term back in the late 1980s and early '90s when Dr. Stan Wilbee was our Tory MP.
It's not a huge deal, but each city or municipality has its own particular issues, so having the MP focused on those, and not split between two areas, has to be more effective. I realize much of what happens in Ottawa originates there, but there are many times where a community's wishes need to be championed in the capital. Sound familiar in Delta?
I'm not convinced we need another six MPs in B.C., or 30 more across the country for that matter, but given we'll be getting them in the next federal election, the least the boundaries commission can do is ensure they're representing ridings that make sense geographically.
Delta has long had the population to be its own federal constituency, so it's well past time that was reflected in Canada's electoral map.
