Contrary to what a Toronto journalist claims, adding two ridings in Northern Ontario does not dilute the vote of Toronto residents. That’s what Algoma Manitoulin MPP Mike Mantha says in reacting to an opinion piece from journalist Josh Dehaas. Mantha says although the reporter is correct in saying the north is getting two new ridings, he fails to mention Southern Ontario is getting 12 more ridings. Mantha says about eight of those new ridings are earmarked for the Toronto area. Mantha offers two reasons why Dehaas takes the position he does. The first is Dehaas may be uninformed about the creation of the other ridings in the Toronto region and the second is he’s applying a Southern Ontario perspective to something happening in Northern Ontario.
Mantha says Northern Ontario is more than two-thirds the size of Southern Ontario, has far fewer seats and has been under-represented for a long time. He says the 11 current MPPs who serve the north do a fantastic job of bringing northern views to the Legislature. He says the addition of the two remote ridings will give more communities a greater presence at Queen’s Park. The New Democrat adds the north’s two new ridings are also long overdue.
