Late last year the commission conducted multiple public hearings around the province. According to the Honourable John E. Hall, chair of the three-member commission, the electoral districts were greatly influenced by the submissions and presentations from the public.
“While it is not possible to satisfy everyone, the commission believes its final report provides for effective representation in all 42 electoral districts,” said Hall.
The final result of the report, which will likely not surprise many, is that Valemount will move back into the Prince George-Peace River district, just as was originally proposed. According to the report, the change was driven by the area’s contiguity to other communities along Highway 16 and the relatively high population numbers in Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo. There was no mention of consideration of the Village of Valemount’s proposal that their community instead move into the Kootenay-Columbia district. However, this may have something to do with the fact that the Kootenay-Columbia district was 16 per cent below the electoral quota and required a significantly larger expansion than what Valemount could offer. Instead Kootenay-Columbia absorbed the cities of Nelson, Castlegar and Trail, satisfying the quota.
It might be easy to assume that the commission completely ignored the requests and recommendations of the Village of Valemount, although at least one delegation presented to the commission in favour of moving into the Prince George-Peace River district. While it often seems like public hearings merely exist to give the illusion that government is doing their job, it is still vitally important that the process continue to be engaged by the public whenever possible.
As was stated by Hall, it is not possible to satisfy everyone. Yet everyone has a right to be heard, even if ultimately their recommendation or idea is not chosen.
The most glaring oversight of public opinion in recent history is quite obviously the outstanding resistance to the Glacier Discovery Walk project on the Columbia Icefields. In this case, it would appear that recommendations made in public hearings do not influence the government and that they do what they want, despite what Canadians say. In the case of the discovery walk the government should have a hard time arguing this point, but only because so many have publicly recorded their opposition. That is exactly why the process of public opinion and hearings must continue. When the government goes against public opinion they are forced to face uncomfortable questions that never go away.
In 1993, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, the party that brought us the GST, despite wide-spread public resistance, went into an election being the majority party but were completely decimated by the electorate, losing all but two seats. This event should be an important lesson for any government to never underestimate the Canadian people.
