Quote:
Originally Posted by adamuptownsj
What does everyone think of the proposed boundary redistribution?
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It's a bit lazy to split Saint John in two. I think more could have been done to shift Oromocto into NB SW, or push NBSW further into Queen and King counties. Saint John is the kind of city that should absolutely maintain one seat for its city area.
On ridingbuilder it's pretty easy to come to a new 10 seat NB without having the split Saint John.
Push Madawaska--Restigouche south to include Grand Falls.
Push Madawaska--Restigouche east to include Belledune, Petit-Rocher & Pointe-Verte.
Push Acadie-Bathurst south to include Tabusintac & Neguac.
Push Miramichi--Grand Lake down to include all of Kent County.
Have Beausejour take up all of Dieppe and everything north of the TCH in Moncton.
Move all of Riverview into Fundy Royal.
Have NBSW take over Oromocto, Ketepec, Lorneville, Kingston Peninsula
Have Tobique-Mactaquac move much further south, taking in Grand Lake, Hanwell, and McAdam.
The main issue is NBSW and Fundy Royal. They're both in awkward spots at this stage in our population, so figuring out how to squeeze NBSW over a vast rural area whilst also trying to figure out how to squeeze Fundy Royal between two major cities is difficult. Beasejour becomes more compact, as does Moncton, which means the rest of the ridings have to expand geographically to accommodate. As Fredericton grows, Tobique--Grand Lake becomes more of a Fredericton-centered riding, and NBSW does as well now that it includes Oromocto. Saint John retains Rothesay and loses some of its Western edge.
I'm not overly convinced about having NBSW on the outskirts of Sussex but i'm not really sure how else to cut it. An alternative is to push Quispamsis into NBSW, and in that scenario Oromocto ends up...in either Tobique--Mactaquac or Miramichi--Grand Lake. It can get messy really quickly.
I've done other franken-riding builds where Fundy Royal includes Sackville and Beausejour maintains Kent County, but in that situation Miramichi--Grand Lake has to push all the way down to Fredericton, soaking up northern suburban Fredericton. I don't know what's worse - splitting Saint John in two or pushing Fundy Royal across the Petitcodiac.
Alternatively, i've tried splitting Fredericton along the Wolastoq, where Fredericton maintains Oromocto (and I think Hanwell too?), but I don't remember how weird the rural ridings get when North Fredericton has to be split.
There are six ridings that are pretty straightforward to draw up - it's the other four in between that need to be shifted around. With increasing suburban populations in Riverview, Oromocto, and Quispamsis it can be difficult to carve these up in a way that's efficient. I assume this may only become more difficult in the next round of redistribution, assuming the Northern ridings have to push further south again.