Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett and Cariboo Regional District (CRD) chair Al Richmond have joined the list of those making presentations opposing proposed federal riding changes.
Barnett will address the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for British Columbia in Kamloops on Oct. 11. She express her dislike for the proposed changes that would see 100 Mile House, 108 Mile Ranch and Lac la Hache join the Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon Riding.
Barnett says she is bringing not just criticism for the idea, but also her suggestions of how the local riding changes might be prevented.
"We can all go and say the Cariboo should not be split up, that it's part of our history and our heritage and [so on], but I think you have to go with a solution."
Barnett says she understands the commission is able to deviate in assigned riding populations by 25 per cent in one direction or another, as long as the total numbers balance out across the province.
The CRD Electoral Area G (108 Mile Ranch and Lac la Hache) population is 5,000, she notes, compared to the target for federal ridings of just fewer than 105,000, and the 115,000 in the current Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Riding.
The commission is also charged with considering other reasonable aspects, she adds.
"They have to take into consideration distance, and who is our trading partner. It's Kamloops for health care, for education at the university and for business."
Barnett says she will also point to the distance to visit an MP in Chilliwack being prohibitive for affected South Cariboo residents.
Richmond presented the CRD's views on the riding changes to the commission at a Sept. 17 public hearing held in Prince George.
The CRD also sent a detailed letter to the commission, he notes.
"We just clearly said that in our area's community of interest alone, by no way could you construe it [extending] as far as Chilliwack."
In a discussion regarding the mountain pine beetle epidemic, Richmond adds someone in Kamloops or Prince George would better understand the issues as compared to someone from Chilliwack.
"When folks from the Fraser Valley come up here, they ask us why our trees are dying."
The commission did not openly question or disagree with his comments, Richmond says, which he witnessed happening with another presenter.
"They asked a couple of questions, but certainly most of the questions were leading me to believe they were supportive of what we were suggesting.
"I found the commissioners very attentive during my presentation. They took great interest in the map I showed them, taking in the ‘Gracie's finger,’ as I call it, extension into the Cariboo."
He explains "Gracie's finger" was the label applied to an unusual "appendage" in a Vancouver riding boundary change in 1982 when a scandal surrounding then-political candidate Grace McCarthy resulted from suspicion of interference ensuring her success at the polls.
Among numerous other issues he brought forward, Richmond noted two federal representatives for the South Cariboo would require taxpayer dollars for both MPs to visit to the region, and potentially for two local constituency offices.
While he has no idea what their decision may be, Richmond says he is "optimistic" they heard what the CRD had to say, and he believes the commission has the tools to deal with it.
"I got the impression they did understand what we were there to present."