David Coon calls proposed change to his Fredericton South riding 'nonsensical'

Green Party Leader David Coon says the proposed newelectoral map for New Brunswick "doesn't make any sense" when it comes to what it would do to his ridingof Fredericton South.

"It just is nonsensical, that's for sure,"Coon said Monday. "And I can't imagine any of my constituents would think this is a good idea either."

Proposed changes in riding boundaries, announced earlier in the day,were made by an independent commission, whichtweaked existing constituencies to stay within arange of voters required by law for New Brunswick ridings.

The map is preliminary and will be the subject of eight public consultations in January before a final version is released within 90 days.

Coon's riding, which he's won in the last three elections, would be split into Fredericton Lincoln and Fredericton South-Silverwood, with Regent Street serving as the dividing line.

Coon not opposed to modifications

That's similar to what existed before the last redrawing of the map a decade ago.

Coon said the City of Fredericton made a good proposal to modify the ridings, so "Fredericton was well-represented by MLAs, like Moncton and Saint John are."

Coon isn't opposed to modifying boundaries in the Fredericton region, but he doesn't think splitting up Fredericton South is the answer.

He said the new proposal, if adopted, would mean some Fredericton South constituents would be grouped in with communities outside the capital city.

This means the MLA's focus would need to be split among communities, said Coon.

At present, the other ridings that take inparts of theFredericton area include Fredericton North, Fredericton West-Hanwell, Fredericton-York, Fredericton-Grand Lake, New Maryland-Sunbury, and Oromocto-Lincoln-Fredericton

Coon washoping that some things would be change this time around, he said, suggestingthe addition of Forest Hill andthe other side of Smythe Street to Fredericton South.

"But instead of making those tweaks, they went for recommending a wholesale change in Fredericton South, breaking it up into two separate ridings," he said.

Coon said he'll have to see what the map looks like once the final version is released, but as it stands now, he thinks the current proposal would result in two Green MLAs one for Fredericton South-Silverwood and one for Fredericton-Lincoln.