The Ontario provincial government, led by Premier Kathleen Wynne, announced on Dec. 2, 2015 that big changes were coming to how Ontarians will vote in the next election. Riding high on goodwill after giving the Ontario teachers’ unions a good trouncing, Premier Wynne announced that there would be a “restructuring of Ontario ridings to better reflect the representation that Ontario voters expect from their provincial government.”
The provincial Liberal government has called the initiative the Riding Redistribution program (RRP), which they believe will target the areas of the provincial electoral system that have been out of step with the thought process of the Wynne government. Effective immediately, the number of ridings in Ontario will go from the current 107 down to 12.
Premier Wynne added that “fair representation is for fascists,” which illustrates her lack of knowledge of both the wishes of Ontario voters as well as a lack of knowledge on basic political power structures. This is not the first controversial decision made by the Wynne government, when just earlier this month the Premier announced that math would be cut from elementary school curriculums because “numbers have no place in today’s fast moving world of words and pictures.”
According to a report obtained by the Globe and Mail, 10 of the ridings would be located in the GTA, to “reflect how much we care about Toronto, and how little we regard the rest of the province.”
The final two ridings will be split as follows: one riding will account for the rest of Ontario and the other, smaller riding, will contain only Premier Wynne’s home. This final riding, which will follow the premier wherever she chooses to move, has been historically pro-Liberal and pro-Kathleen Wynne.
Diehard Liberals are praising the new riding system calling the decision “genius” and “the best political move since privatizing Hydro One.” There is no doubt that the new riding system will speed up both the electoral process and provide a clearer picture on how Ontarians feel that their province should be run. While no official numbers have been released, Premier Wynne has promised that the costs of the RRP will be “astronomical” and “exactly what Ontario voters have come to expect from their Liberal government.”
The new riding structure has not been without its detractors however, with some critics calling it “suspicious” and others saying that Wynne is “completely off her rocker and gerrymandering to the highest degree.”
The Wynne government has been quick to respond to critics by stating that the Premier Wynne has not been listening to denizens thus far and, in her own words, “it’s been working out pretty well up to this point.”