Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Boundaries Report: Major Changes For South Shore

The Electoral Boundaries Commission is recommending that the province's four designated minority riding's merge with other constituencies to ensure electoral fairness. The biggest proposal contained in the report would divide the riding of Shelburne into two constituency's. The commission's report proposes a new riding of Argyle-Barrington - the constituency will gain the Municipality of the District of Barrington and the Town of Clark’s Harbour. The remaining portion of the Shelburne County would join Queens to form the new riding of Queens-Shelburne. The riding of Clare would expand eastward and join the remainder of Digby County. That new riding would be called Clare-Digby. Meanwhile, the riding of Lunenburg will remain the same, while Chester-St. Margaret's will see minor changes by shifting residents of Upper Tantallon to a riding closer to HRM. The riding of Lunenburg West will expand westward to gain the remainder of Lunenburg County from Queens. The commission is also recommending the addition of two riding's in the Halifax area to reflect the region's growing population. In total, it is recommencing there should be 51 members in the House of Assembly.

Argyle: Gains the Municipality of the District of Barrington and the Town of Clark’s Harbour from
the Electoral District of Shelburne. This constituency to be renamed Argyle-Barrington.

Chester-St. Margaret’s: Loses the Upper Tantallon area north of Highway 103 to Hammonds
Plains-Upper Sackville (Hammonds Plains-Lucasville).

Lunenburg: No change.

Lunenburg West: Expands westward to gain the remainder of Lunenburg County from Queens.

Queens: Loses area within Lunenburg County to Lunenburg West. Expands slightly northward to
gain the Maitland Bridge area from Digby-Annapolis, and expands west to the municipal boundary
separating the Municipality of the District of Barrington and the Municipality of the District of
Shelburne. This constituency to be renamed Queens-Shelburne.

Shelburne: Loses the Municipality of the District of Barrington and the Town of Clark’s Harbour
to Argyle (Argyle-Barrington). Gains Queens County plus the Maitland Bridge area from DigbyAnnapolis. This constituency to be renamed Queens-Shelburne.

Yarmouth: No change.