Out in Left-Centre Field

Don't worry, the Quebec installment of my attempts to make it the 177 riding plan comprehensible will be completed within the next couple of weeks, as soon as university work isn't driving me insane anymore -- though, thanks to UWaterloo, I'm not sure I remember exactly what relaxation is.

Anyways, on to my real subject here ...

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"Oh, what a tangled web we weave
When first we practise to deceive!"

-- from Marmion, by Walter Scott

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Until the efforts of my colleague in the LYPC, Max Naylor, I was totally unaware of the Association of Young Canadian Conservatives' (AYCC's) recent move to position itself as a ready-made youth wing for the Conservative Party of Canada, which apparently doesn't have anything of the sort (unlike the NDP and Liberals, who do have large and integrated youth wings). Getting young people involved in politics is critical to democracy -- hence why I hang in with the CYA -- and if the Conservatives want to form a method through which youth can be involved and have an impact, I'm all for it.

Until I run the thought through my brain one more time and realize: it's the AYCC.

You know, the organization that was once part of the CYA, a breakaway conservative party under the leadership of one Immanuel Giulea. Many of its members either were part of the Conservative Youth Party of Canada (CYPC) and disgusted with its then-leader -- Nate Lewis, who has since progressed while Immanuel has gone downhill -- or they were people who Immanuel recruited out of the blue (no pun intended) who ended up doing nothing productive for the CYA and only joined its forums in order to artificially inflate their member count and promptly disappear again.

You know, the organization headed by a guy (Immanuel) who spread ageist slander in a youth assembly (of all places!) about Max, and who demanded everything of Tyler S. and his administration but gave nothing in return, and who hounded and spammed Nate on the CYA's public forums over being a resident of the Bahamas, and who made the unilateral decision to take the AYCC out of the CYA because he wanted greater prominence, etc., etc.

Well, okay, I will say this about Immanuel: he helped me develop the 177 riding plan and caught a critical error, and he helped rip the old YPC a new one by exposing the shady and manipulative dealings of Tyler Johnson & Co. So, I guess you could say it's not all bad.

But it's damn close.

Immanuel never missed a chance to grandstand and trample over everybody else in his endless quest to achieve his warped idea of what is "right". In fact, I seriously doubt that "doing what's right" is what motivated him; it's likely just attention he seeks. (Yay for Occam's Razor.) He took the AYCC out of the CYA unilaterally, and why? Because "[he couldn't] allow the AYCC to be directly connected to [the] CYA because this has proved detrimental to the future ambitions of [the] AYCC." I'm not making this up.

What future ambitions? Oh, wait, I think we just found out: to become the youth wing of a party that doesn't want a youth wing. Immanuel apparently isn't satisfied with the AYCC being just a forum for conservatives, much the same as how he wasn't satisfied with the CYA being a non-partisan vehicle for debate. No, he wants national prominence, and figured this was a no-miss opportunity: either he gains fame for founding the youth wing of the CPC, or he gains notoriety for being utterly rejected. Either way, the national media have paid at least a modicum of attention to him, which, knowing him, is about the worst possible course of action.

So where am I going with all this:, you ask? If the Conservative Party of Canada wants a youth wing, they can do far, far better than Immanuel and the AYCC. Furthermore, Tyler Sommers and the CYA can do far better than potentially having him as their representative on all things Francophone. Mr. Giulea has forever been nothing but trouble, and to ignore history is to be doomed to let it repeat itself.

The fourth in an ongoing series; the first part is an overview, while the second part covers the Maritimes and the North, and the third part covers the Prairies.

Here’s the third and arguably shortest of my regionally-focused discussions on the CYA’s new 177 riding system. As always, I strongly suggest you follow along with an interactive map of the real 308 ridings in the House of Commons, which can be found here.

My apologies for leaving you all so long without an update. Schoolwork takes a mighty big toll on one's free time to write these kinds of things ... on to the information!

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British Columbia:
Ridings in the House of Commons: 36
Ridings under the 177 riding system: 22
Minimum single ridings: 8
Maximum combined ridings: 14
New ridings: 8 single, 14 double.

British Columbia, like Alberta, allowed for a significant number of single ridings. This helped a lot, as some of the ridings are already absolutely huge. Let’s break down how they were arranged ...

For starters, Skeena—Bulkley Valley and Prince George—Peace River each cover roughly one-quarter of the province. These were no-brainers to leave alone. Sure, I will want to leave some urban ridings uncombined later, but adding any more ground to cover to these ridings is probably tantamount to torture. I originally thought to combine Cariboo—Prince George with Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, but after an error in calculations (see the Overview, link above) was resolved and effectively gave me an extra riding to work with, I left each of them as single ridings as well.

Then I moved to the southeast part of the province. Kootenay—Columbia and British Columbia Southern Interior formed a pretty cohesive whole and only rivaled Cariboo—Prince George in size, so I combined them to form “Kootenay—Interior”. Kelowna—Lake Country and Okanagan—Shuswap were the next logical combination, becoming “Kelowna—Okanagan”. This left Okanagan—Coquihalla to join with Chilliwack—Fraser Canyon, forming “Chilliwack—Okanagan”.

Moving to the Island ridings, I had originally thought that Vancouver Island North would make a good combination with one of its free neighbours, but on closer research of its awkward geography and on the recommendation of Sheldon Starrett, a CYPCer and one of the CYA’s members in B.C., I left it alone. Next, Nanaimo—Cowichan made a natural fit with Nanaimo—Alberni to form “Nanaimo—Cowichan—Alberni”. I next figured that Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca would make a better combination with Saanich—Gulf Islands (“Esquimalt—Saanich”) than with Victoria which, owing to its likely high population of youth, I left on its own.

Moving to the Vancouver area, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country was already a pretty big riding, both in area and in name, and covered a range from suburban to rural settings, so I left it on its own, albeit as “West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast”. North Vancouver and Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam struck me as pretty similar ridings, so I combined them to form “Vancouver North—Port Moody”. Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission also was large and covered a variety of suburban and rural areas, so it too was left on its own. Langley and Abbotsford made the next logical combination, becoming “Abbotsford—Langley”. (I know, so imaginative, eh?)

Now came the fun dance in Vancouver proper. First, Fleetwood—Port Kells went with South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale (“Surrey South—Fleetwood”), followed by Surrey North and Newton—North Delta (“Newton—Surrey North”). Richmond and Delta—Richmond East followed an earlier theme of reuniting municipalities (“Richmond—Delta”). Then eight ridings in Vancouver had to go down to four: Vancouver Centre and Vancouver Quadra were first (“Vancouver Centre”), followed by Vancouver South and Vancouver Kingsway (“Vancouver South”), which was in turn followed by Vancouver East and Burnaby—Douglas (“Vancouver East—Burnaby”), and finally Burnaby—New Westminster with New Westminster—Coquitlam (“Burnaby—New Westminster—Coquitlam”).

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That concludes my look into B.C.; stay tuned for the fourth and penultimate regional spotlight on Québec, before Ontario concludes this series!