Riding redistribution proposal would see Frontenac County split into two ridings

Jeff Green | Aug 24, 2022

The riding of Frontenac Lanark Kingston is set to disappear, if the preliminary riding redistribution proposal which was released last week is finalised after public consultations.

A new riding of Frontenac Lanark is proposed, which would expand the existing boundaries of Lanark Frontenac Kingston in three directions, to include rural Ottawa to the edge of Stitsville, Westport and Rideau Lake townships in Leeds Grenville, and also north/northwest to Greater Madawaska in Renfrew County, including Calabogie.

While all of Lanark County would be included, as well as North and Central Frontenac, the township of South Frontenac the section on the city of Kingston north of Hwy. 401 would be pulled from Lanark-Frontenac and included in new east-west riding, called Gananoque-Brockville Prescott.

A virtual public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 26 to discuss the boundary changes in Eastern Ontario, Northern Ontario and Ottawa. Members of the public can register to speak to the hearing by filling in an online form by September 25. (https://redecoupage-redistribution-2022.ca/com/on/phrg/form/index_e.aspx)

Every ten years the federal government convenes a Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission to consider making changes to federal riding boundaries with a view towards accommodating changes in population.

The commission take place a year after census data is gathered, and seek to create ridings that have population levels within a narrow range. The target for 2022 redistribution exercise is about 116,000 people per riding. In Ontario, there are plans for 122 ridings.

The process for making the changes includes the publication of a proposed redistribution map, which occurred on August 19, followed by public hearings. The new ridings will be finalised after the public hearings and will take effect the next time a federal election is called. The Province of Ontario matches its provincial ridings to federal ridings once federal changes have been incorporated.

In all likelihood the new ridings will take effect in the next federal election in 2025, if the current minority Liberal government remains in power for its full four-year mandate, and will then take effect in the next scheduled Ontario provincial election in 2026.

In 2012, the riding boundaries the resulted in the creation were changed after the public hearing. Lanark

Frontenac Kingston MP Scott Reid, who represented the riding of Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington at the time, argued at the hearing that when possible, respecting the integrity of county boundaries would make for more cohesive federal and provincial riding boundaries. A main goal of his was to ensure that Lanark County was contained in a single riding.

The resulting ridings of Lanark-Frontenac Kingston and Hastings-Lennox and Addington accomplished that goal for Lanark, Frontenac County (with the exception of Frontenac Islands which have been part of the Kingston and the Islands riding for decades) and Lennox and Addington.

The 2022 proposal would created a Frontenac Lanark riding which includes all of Lanark County, and pieces of Frontenac, Renfrew, rural Ottawa and Leeds Grenville.

The Gananoque-Brockville-Prescott riding would include parts of Frontenac, Leeds Grenville and Prescott Counties. And the new Lennox and Addington Hastings Tyendinaga extends into Peterborough County.

The proposed Eastern Ontario riding map can be viewed at https://redecoupage-redistribution-2022.ca/com/on/prop/index_e.aspx