Proposed elimination of Don Valley East federal riding will negatively impact city, Toronto politicians say

Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie speaks during an April 17 news conference during which local politicians raised concerns about the plan to eliminate the federal riding of Don Valley East.

Losing one of Toronto’s 25 federal ridings will “dilute the city’s voice on Parliament Hill,” says Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie.

During a news conference on Monday at City Hall, the Scarborough-Rouge Park councillor said she’s worried about the impact this proposed change could have on Toronto’s representation in Ottawa.

“I am strongly opposed to any proposal that would reduce the number of ridings within our great city,” she said.

“Torontonians are underrepresented on Parliament Hill on a per capita basis and I hope that all elected officials who represent Toronto will stand up for our city and stop this change and help our city to secure the very much needed supports that it needs from other levels of government.”

Back in February, the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario tabled its final report in the House of Commons on proposed changes to the province's federal electoral map.

In the report, the three-panel commission outlined its rationale for eliminating one of Toronto’s 25 ridings as the city doesn’t meet the minimum per-riding quota of 116,590 residents. The average population per riding in Toronto comes in at 111,774.

"The commission noted that this overrepresentation in Toronto has emerged due to uneven population growth between Toronto and surrounding areas, which is expected to continue or increase in the future," it stated.

"A large share of these submissions argued that unique features of Toronto — namely its highly diverse population, its economic centrality, and its rapid growth — necessitated maintaining the current number of constituencies. In the Commission's view, these arguments apply with equal or greater weight to constituencies surrounding Toronto, which are on average faster-growing, similarly diverse, and economically dynamic. As a result, the commission concluded that the districts in Toronto be reduced by one."

In the report, the commission changed course from its original, and widely criticized, 2022 plan to eliminate Scarborough-Agincourt and is now proposing to merge Don Valley East with Don Valley North, Don Valley West (to be renamed as Don Valley South), and Scarborough Centre (to be renamed as Scarborough Centre-Don Valley East).

The commission is also proposing renaming and shifting the boundaries of several other federal ridings in Toronto.

Map of Toronto showing the proposed 24 federal ridings. (Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for the Province of Ontario)

Two dozen Toronto councillors have recently signed a joint letter that calls on the commission to reconsider its latest plan.

Spearheaded by Willowdale Coun. Lily Cheng, the letter highlights concerns that the proposed redistribution of Don Valley East would reduce the city’s representation at the federal level as well as provincially and municipally.

“At a time when the City of Toronto is facing unprecedented challenges in the middle of a housing and mental health crisis, in addition to a massive budget shortfall, we simply cannot afford to lose any seats at the Federal table,” Cheng said in the letter.

“As the fastest growing city and economic engine of Canada, Toronto should have more representation, not less. We are a world-class city and to make sure Toronto’s success continues we need to keep working with all levels of government. That starts with ensuring residents are fairly represented.”

Another notable concerns is the elimination of Victoria Park Avenue, the political boundary between ridings, which councillors say would “likely have an impact on how the City of Toronto is organized going forward.”

The letter also expresses concerns about the proposed changes being deemed final and the fact that the commission is not accepting feedback from members of the public, stakeholders, or civic officials.

At this point in the process, Members of Parliament can object to the new boundaries and recommend changes through written or in-person submissions to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, which will submit a report to the Speaker of the House of Commons for the commission.

“This cumbersome process is ostensibly designed to take the politics out of redistribution,” read the letter, which also pointed to motions passed by councillors Josh Matlow and James Pasternak asking for greater transparency and public notice to ensure adequate public input as well as formal opposition of the redistribution.

Calling the plan a “slap in the face,” Don Valley East Coun. Jon Burnside said eliminating Don Valley East will be detrimental to the many new Canadians and racialized residents that make up a significant part of the riding.

“We talk about inclusion. We talk about hearing people's voices. We talk about welcoming new Canadians and we're just changing boundaries, it would seem, without any thought to their input. And I think their input is probably the most important input,” he said, adding not consulting the people who live in Don Valley East is “detrimental to the work” the city is doing to “try to build communities.”

Local MP Michael Coteau said the proposed riding redistribution is an “unwanted change.”

“We know that this will have a negative impact on our city,” he said, pointing to concerns he also shares about less representation for Toronto in Ottawa.

He said that people in his riding were actually led to believe that their riding would be expanded, instead they’ve now been told that it is being eliminated.

“No one in Don Valley East and the other communities that were impacted, Scarborough Centre, Don Valley West, Scarborough-Guildwood, and other communities, no one has had an opportunity to weigh in on this new map,” Coteau said, noting the consultation process has failed in its goal to “strengthen democracy.”

“It was never presented. It caught everyone off guard.”

Coteau said he plans to make a recommendation to the committee to revisit the consultation process for the new federal electoral districts map.

In a statement provided to CTV News Toronto, the commission said Ontario is has heard from an “unprecedented number of Ontarians, both in person and virtually through many of public hearings and through nearly 2000 written submissions” about the proposed changes.

“The Commission took seriously its responsibility to draw an electoral map which respects population equality as much as possible with the goal of improving effective representation across the province,” it said, adding in “some cases, this public participation led to substantial changes to boundaries compared to the proposal, necessitated by a province with much more population growth in some areas than others.”

The redistribution of federal electoral districts is expected to be completed at the earliest by April 2024.

With files from CP24’s Joshua Freeman and CTV News Toronto’s Mike Walker.