EDITORIAL – Messed up riding boundaries guarantee confusion

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

THE NOMINATION DEADLINE has passed and the slates are set for the April 28 federal election. In Kamloops, the choices are scant.

In the new Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola riding, incumbent Conservative MP Frank Caputo is up against Miguel Godau for the NDP, Iain Currie for the Liberals, Chris Enns representing the People’s Party of Canada, and Jenna Lindley of the Green Party.

In the equally new Kamloops-Shuswap-Central Rockies riding, incumbent Conservative Mel Arnold faces Phaedra Idzan of the NDP, Ken Robertson for the Liberals, Owen Madden of the Green Party and Michael Henry of the People’s Party.

Other than Caputo and Currie in one riding, and vague familiarity with Mel Arnold in the other, the candidates are a bunch of unknowns for Kamloops residents. Caputo carries the banner for an unpopular federal leader, while Currie is a former Green Party candidate so his credentials and policies are up for discussion. As for Arnold, his record is a mystery to Kamloops voters.

So what about the rest? Godau isn’t even from around here — he lives in Castlegar. Enns lives in Clearwater, and Lindley is an enigma at this point. Only her name has been announced by the party.

In the Rockies riding, the one with the strange boundaries that carves off a chunk of Kamloops and ties it in with a vast territory east to Alberta, Arnold and Idzan live in Salmon Arm, Robertson is from Neskonlith, Madden from Grinrod and Henry from Revelstoke.

This is what you get when you create ridings that make no sense, and have a snap election that forces parties to suddenly round up candidates. You get unknowns with little or no ties to the broad riding and little sense of the issues that face that riding.

Once the election is over, the winning candidates will have to figure out how they’re supposed to properly serve the residents of their new domains. Not an easy job, but no tougher than the one electors will have trying to sort out who to vote for.

And here’s a PS for you. The Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola riding boundaries make some sense, but if you’re trying to figure out which part of Kamloops is in the strange new Rockies riding, here’s the official description:

“… that part of the City of Kamloops lying southerly of the South Thompson River and easterly of the line described as follows: commencing at intersection of the South Thompson River and Mount Paul Way; thence southerly along said way to Lorne Street; thence easterly along said street to 10th Avenue; thence southerly along said avenue to Victoria Street; thence northwesterly along said street to Lansdowne Street; thence northwesterly and westerly along said street to 6th Avenue; thence southerly along said avenue to Columbia Street; thence westerly along said street to Glenfair Drive; thence generally southerly along said drive to its end point at approximate latitude 50°39’52″N and longitude 120°19’47″W; thence southerly in a straight line to Peterson Creek at approximate latitude 50°39’43″N and longitude 120°19’47″W; thence southerly along said creek to Highway 1 (Trans-Canada Highway) at approximate latitude 50°39’43″N and longitude 120°19’47″W; thence westerly and southwesterly along said highway to Highway 5A (Princeton-Kamloops Highway); thence generally southeasterly along said highway to Running Horse Ranch Road; thence southwesterly in a straight line to the southerly limit of the City of Kamloops, that being the northwesternmost point of Thompson-Nicola Electoral Area L (Grasslands)…

Good luck.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.