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Taking Whistler out of Sea to Sky?

Proposal before Federal Boundaries Commission that would put Whistler in same riding as Fraser Canyon
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Whistler's Mayor is incensed over a last-ditch proposal that would remove the municipality from the Sea to Sky federal riding.

The move, if it goes ahead, effectively waters down Whistler's influence at the federal level, said Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, and she is not going to take that sitting down.

"I'm just outraged by this," she said.

Since learning of the proposal to move Whistler out of the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country federal riding and into the Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon riding via email this weekend, she has been preparing to do whatever she can to prevent the move, including lobbying MP John Weston to keep Whistler in the riding.

Weston, calling from Ottawa this week, said he wants to keep Whistler in the riding, but also supports the push to include Powell River. However, having both puts the riding above the population limits.

"There's certainly no easy way to divide the riding," he said.

Moving Whistler, the very community that defines Sea to Sky Country out of that federal riding and into one in which Whistler has no connection, save a remote geographical link on its westernmost edge is ludicrous, said Wilhelm-Morden.

"We have no similarities with those communities (Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon) so... in my opinion, we would be effectively disenfranchised from the federal scene if Whistler was put into that riding," said the mayor.

She uses the recent provincial election to illustrate her point — an election where the mayor of the smallest town in the riding, Mayor Jordan Sturdy of Pemberton, won because of the closeness and connectedness of the Sea to Sky corridor.

Just imagine a Whistler or Pemberton representative trying to run in Matsqui as the federal MP she said.

"To bring in Powell River at the expense of Whistler moving to Matsqui is just ridiculous," said Wilhelm-Morden.

For his part, Sturdy shares Wilhelm-Morden's concerns and in fact made a presentation to the Federal Boundaries Commission last year with a pitch to put Pemberton back in the Sea to Sky riding.

"Everything that we do, everything we're associated with and everything that we participate in is oriented along Highway 99 to the south," said Sturdy.

"I believe that the commission understood exactly what we were talking about."

That's why in the commission's report the new West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky riding included Pemberton and removed Powell River.

"I thought it was all going to work out nicely," said Sturdy.

This new proposal, he added, doesn't reflect reality.

At the heart of this new proposal, put forward at the 11th hour by a handful of Members of Parliament, is a push to keep Powell River in the Sunshine Coast riding, creating a domino effect, which begins on Vancouver Island and ends in the Lower Mainland, affecting five proposed ridings.

Including Powell River in the Sea to Sky riding effectively makes it too big.

The way to fix that, it's been argued, is to move Whistler into another riding, linking it with Pemberton, Area C and Lillooet and the rest of the Mission-Matsqui-Frasen Canyon.

In his presentation to Parliament in March, MP Mark Strahl (Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon) made the pitch to move Whistler.

"Not only does this keep those communities of interest together (Whistler, Pemberton and Lillooet), but there is great interest in the community of Lillooet, to the west, in expanding their burgeoning tourism and wine-growing activities, and they are actively working to establish themselves more strongly as a community linked with the Whistler region in order to bring that about. Bringing them together in the same riding will also be a positive for that community."

When asked in Parliament in March during the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs if he was willing to see Whistler go, Weston said: "I don't think it's up to me to say I'm willing to see it go. I would ask whether it is in the best interests of the people we as MPs represent. We have to make some difficult decisions.

"The question is whether it is possible to keep everything that is there now. Pemberton is now outside that riding. Pemberton and Whistler wish to be together. So it is a Sophie's Choice situation."

Weston had one last request in Parliament: "I would just say that the name (West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country) has received such celebrity around the world that I would plead that it remain even if the riding boundaries change, because we'll still have part of that highway."

Weston's riding, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, is 30 times higher than the North Vancouver riding in density and size.

"We knew it was up for downsizing one way or the other," he said.

Weston also pointed to the push to keep Pemberton, which wasn't previously in the riding, and Whistler together.

Indeed, last summer Whistler council wrote to the commission requesting Pemberton be included in the Sea to Sky federal electoral district. Wilhelm-Morden said, however, that there was no push to make sure the two communities stayed together, just a request to add Pemberton to Sea to Sky.

At the request of the mayor Monday, Whistler's CAO Mike Furey called the commission to advise that: "the municipality is strongly opposed to the M.P.'s recommendation to remove the RMOW from its current federal electoral district."

Mayor Sturdy has also asked staff to look into avenues for objections to the proposal.

It is not clear where Whistler will go from here given that the commission has closed the time period for public comments.

The commission will submit its final report to the Speaker of the House of Commons this summer.

The new boundaries will be in effect for the next general election. B.C. is gaining six new electoral districts, required because of an increase in the population of the province.