What do voters in Kelowna and rural Logan Lake or Keremeos have in common?
Not much.
Other than the fact they all live in B.C., the only thing they might agree on is that proposed boundary changes on the federal electoral map stink.
The numbers might add up, but the reality doesn't.
Boundaries are regularly redrawn or new ridings added to keep representation more or less equal across the country. But lumping urban condo dwellers in Kelowna's Pandosy district in with ranchers in Logan Lake doesn't make sense.
And Keremeos is so far away, issues there are likely to be inconsequential to voters here.
Merritt, for example, has traditionally had more of an economic and social connection to Kamloops than Kelowna. And Summerland has always been closely tied to Penticton.
Yet these communities would be included in the new, super-sized Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola riding.
The proposed changes loosely follow recent boundary fiddling at the provincial level. And they are equally as dumbfounding.
The bulk of the population (and influence) in the proposed riding would run right along its eastern flank, from Summerland to downtown Kelowna. That doesn't say much for the kind representation voters in Logan Lake might receive.
With little influence at the polls and little incentive for candidates to visit, far flung communities might see their elected MP once a year or less.
The proposal needs a serious rethink before lines are redrawn.
- Managing Editor
Jon Manchester