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Thanks, Madam Chair, and good morning, colleagues.

I truly appreciate this opportunity to come to PROC. I want to thank the committee members for their hard work on reviewing boundary readjustment reports. Meeting 58 tells me all I need to know.

It is a testament to the strength of our democracy that we have these open processes to create electoral district boundaries that, as best as possible, maintain population equality while taking into account important social and geographic factors. The process to date has been orderly—

I'm going too fast. I told the translators I would be slower.

I will speak more slowly, Madam Chair.

Friends, I want to thank the non-partisan Alberta commission for its work and for efforts made following the public hearing process to respect some of the traditional geographic boundaries in Edmonton. One of those is 97 Street. We worked hard with colleagues to make sure 97 Street would be the boundary for the riding of Edmonton Centre, reflecting years of history.

With the utmost respect to the commission, I would like to share my concern that the proposed northern boundary of the redrawn constituency fails to account for the historical pattern for boundaries of ridings in the city of Edmonton, and the particular community of identity contained in north Edmonton in particular.

Yellowhead Highway 16 and the rail yards that run alongside it represent one of the most definitive geographic boundaries within the city. Through it, residents and products flow across, into and out of our city. Indeed, I'm proud to say that our government is currently partnering with the provincial and city governments to turn Yellowhead into a full freeway. It's a massive and long-awaited project that is going to benefit residents and bring more Canadians and visitors to our city.

While freeways like the Yellowhead are really important to connect people, they have the understandable effect of geographically separating neighbourhoods physically and psychologically, so it is little surprise that this boundary has been the northern boundary for almost 40 years, for everything from municipal to provincial ridings and boundaries. It is a clear boundary distinction between north and central communities.

Significantly, it is the border of 18 neighbourhood community leagues that run along the freeway. I believe this most strongly represents institutional recognition of this as an appropriate boundary.

Despite this, under the proposal there are three distinct communities north of the highway that have been separated from other north Edmonton communities and put into Edmonton Centre. This would put these neighbourhoods in a federal riding that is separate from their public school division and their provincial and municipal representation, and separate from the unique character that makes up north Edmonton. Respecting the community of identity contained in an electoral district cannot permit separating these communities from similar north Edmonton communities in this way.

Furthermore, this proposal fails to take into account the nature of this freeway as a major geographic feature of Edmonton. Therefore, I would propose that the northern border of Edmonton Centre remain the Yellowhead Highway.

I recognize that this correction may impact the population of the proposed Edmonton Centre electoral district. To respect the commission's median population quota, I would propose that the communities of Parkview and Laurier Heights be returned to Edmonton Centre. These neighbourhoods are well connected with the communities on the southwest border of the new riding. They share community leagues, schools and hockey rinks, and they would be well served by remaining in the riding they have been in since 2004.

So, dear colleagues, I am proposing that the Yellowhead Highway remain the northern border of Edmonton Centre and that, on the population issue, the communities of Parkview and Laurier Heights be returned to Edmonton Centre.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate Mr. Cooper's questions. I'll take them in reverse order.

Anirniq is a great example. Councillor Rutherford is my councillor. If you take a look at Anirniq, the piece of that riding that actually straddles Yellowhead is an industrial area with very few residents living in it. It's an industrial area that actually preceded the Yellowhead coming through the city.

I think what we're working on, Mr. Cooper, is the fundamental principle of communities of identity. I'll check the record, but if I misspoke, it wasn't that Edmonton Centre has been the way it's been for 40 years; it's that many political boundaries have respected Yellowhead as a northern or southern boundary for 40 years, including a number of the provincial MLA boundaries and a number of the city wards.

Mr. Cooper knows the riding well, Madam Chair, because his riding is just north of it.

You can even look at school boards. We are contending that if we want to keep communities of interest together, we respect that northern border of Edmonton Centre. If there is any issue with population, because we understand that the commission has to be within 5% either way of 115,000—

Go ahead.

Just to give colleagues a little context about community leagues, they were founded around the same time the city was founded, in about 1904. In the city of Edmonton we have 160 registered associations that call themselves community leagues. They're all volunteer-run, with about $100 million plus in assets, with community gardens and what have you.

In my riding of Edmonton Centre, there are 26 community leagues. If you take a look along the Yellowhead freeway, there are 18 community leagues, the entire length of the Yellowhead freeway, that use it as the north to south boundary. Nine community leagues south and nine community leagues north are using the Yellowhead as the boundary.

How did community leagues grow? They grew around their actual neighbourhood. The community leagues themselves are saying that this is a man-made geographic border. If you look at the maps we sent and that I know you all have, it literally is like a man-made river that runs through the city. It's a river of traffic. It's a river of goods. I know what it's like when I travel east or west in that riding. You actually have to make a conscious decision as to which road you're going to take to get through the tracks. You're not turning on every street corner to get through the tracks, because otherwise the trains wouldn't run. It is a geographic barrier.

If you look at postal codes, Ms. Sahota, they use the Yellowhead as north and south boundaries for postal codes. For businesspeople, if you look at the Kingsway business improvement association, which is in my riding on the north side of Edmonton Centre, the Yellowhead is the natural border there. It is a natural border. It's a community border. You don't see kids crossing that highway to go to school. It doesn't make any sense. There would be not a safety issue but just a community of identity issue.

In that sense, it's our contention that from a community identity perspective and a community of interest perspective, as Mr. Chahal said, the northern boundary should be maintained as Yellowhead.

I don't have the exact figures for the three communities, but I can tell you that the balance of these three community leagues or neighbourhoods is equivalent to Laurier Heights and Parkview. That would make it possible to keep communities with the same interests together.

In the good old days in Alberta, going back to 1904 or 1905, people identified with a certain neighbourhood. Mine, which is Inglewood, but also Westmount and Garneau, are different communities that adopted a name to identify themselves. The people said they wanted to have their own community identity. So they took over the funding for these leagues. Over the years, they created community leagues and managed facilities and community halls. Some community leagues have lovely facilities with community gardens and so on.

In my own riding, there are 26 community leagues, and there are 160 in the whole city.

That is a question you would have to ask the commissioners. According to the City of Edmonton's figures, the Blatchford project represents potential demographic growth of 30,000 people. If the calculation turns out to be accurate, that could mean moving the border of Edmonton Centre to 142nd Street Northwest, and maybe farther, taking in even more of the riding.

In view of that, it is obvious that the area of Edmonton Centre will be reduced. We are not there yet, since the houses and residential buildings are in the process of being built, but in ten or 20 years it will have a major impact on Edmonton Centre.

That's a good question, and thank you for your work on this committee. I know you do a lot of good work on this committee.

What I'll say about Parkview, Crestwood and Laurier Heights is that there's a particular development that's happened in that part of Edmonton. It's the south part of the riding, which follows the river. Some of that is population growth. Some of these community leagues are in the wealthier areas. There's fierce identity within community leagues.

Each of them, over time, was able to raise enough money to create their own community league. For example, in Parkview, our government was able to provide some money to upgrade a 50-year-old rink, which is shared by three different schools. They actually have kids coming in from different parts of the leagues to use that shared rink. The curling rink that's in Crestwood, for example, is the curling rink for the whole south part of the riding.

What you've seen over time is not just a development of the community league. The city analyzed the needs in each community league. That's a contiguous part of Edmonton Centre. It has been since 2004. It would offset the 10,000 people who would be represented by adding Calder, Athlone and Kensington on the north side. That part could become part of Edmonton-North West; it would keep what has now been moved out of the riding in the riding, and you'd have a contiguous whole.

I don't have any other suggestions for Edmonton West.

Following up on what Mr. Chahal is saying, we see population growth taking place across what is now the riding of Edmonton Centre, and those areas of Edmonton West and Edmonton-North West will continue to grow. We would be within the population boundary, plus or minus 5%, of 115,000 in Edmonton Centre. We have looked at the regional map, and by adding the riding that is coming to the region, we think that all those ridings would have the growth they need to be within that, plus or minus 5%.

I support my colleagues on this panel.