As Ontario’s population grows at record pace and the province scrambles to ensure housing and other services can keep up, some political watchers believe there is one area the Ford government could leave people behind.
On Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford emphatically ruled out making changes to the province’s electoral map, declaring the current set of 124 ridings more than adequate.
Ford dismissed the idea that Ontario would match riding changes made at the federal level, a constitutionally-required move triggered by census data and population changes.
“Why change something that works? It works, so it’s all good,” Ford said of the boundary changes at an unrelated event on Thursday.
“Just because the feds want to do it, jury-rig the ridings — it’s no secret people do that, governments do that — I’m not doing it. I’m going to leave the boundaries alone and people will decide if they want to move forward with our government.”
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But political watchers …