Northern mayors worry over riding cuts

Northern mayors are concerned their voices may be further diminished if the region loses more seats after the upcoming riding boundary review.

Premier David Alward outlined a plan that will reduce the number of MLAs in the legislative assembly in his second throne speech on Wednesday.

While the premier said he does not know how many MLAs will be coming to Fredericton after the 2014 election, he is certain it will not be 55.

Alward said he feels New Brunswick is the most heavily represented province in Canada after Prince Edward Island.

Northern New Brunswick was likely to lose seats anyway when the riding boundaries were redrawn because of a declining population. But the decision to cut the overall number of ridings means that the region could lose even more seats.

Campbellton Mayor Bruce MacIntosh said elected members will be even more distant in larger merged ridings.

"Not only population should make up the decision, but also the land mass in the north," MacIntosh said.

The riding of Campbellton-Restigouche Centre covers a fairly large swath of land so it can meet the required number of voters.

When the riding map was revised in 2005, the provinces populationof roughly 750,000 was divided by the 55 ridings to give an average number of electors of 13,263.

The commission of two judges and five members overseeing the revision were allowed todeviate by 10 per cent, so a riding could have either 14,589 or 11,937 voters.

At that time, the commission applied an "extraordinary circumstances" provision on the riding of Tantramar, which allowed it to be 19.9 per cent below the electoral quotient because of its unique geographic location.

Concern for francophones

The declining number of seats inside the legislature could also create linguistic tensions.

One northern mayor pointed out the drop in seats could come predominantly from the north, which could hurt francophones disproportionately more.

"It could be dangerous for the representation for francophones," said Kedgwick Mayor Jean-Paul Savoie.

New Brunswicks premier was asked specifically how he will ensure that language groups are not unfairly treated in this exercise.

Alward left it to the upcoming commission to draw the new boundaries, but he said he understood the importance of ensuring the electoral map was fair.

Other mayors took time to point out the new map, with fewer MLAs, may not be bad news.

Shippagan Mayor Jonathan Roch Noel was more philosophical about the looming changes, pointing out that fewer MLAs does not have to mean less power for northern communities.

"If you got one good [MLA] in your region who can bring a lot, it's better than to have one than to have five that does nothing," Noel said.