Rafe's solution to 'fix' big ridings

The new constituency map has been fraudulently argued not just at the political level but also by the media. It is solemnly intoned that large, sparsely populated ridings are too large to be allotted seats on the same basis as urban ridings. Never mind that new rural ridings will elect MLAs with half the votes of urban ridings. These constituencies, we're told, are just too big to be serviced under the democratic principle of one person, one vote with all votes equal no matter where they're cast.

Serious about servicing citizens?

Overlooking for a moment the argument about representation in the House, let's deal with "servicing" the riding. No one, least of all I who represented what was then a very large riding, would deny that bringing service to far-flung constituencies is tough. I agree that this must be taken into account.

The answer to this problem is simple.

Virtually all constituency work is done by the staff in the constituency office. The MLA must show his face from time to time, but he or she doesn't do the work. During my time -- when the Kamloops constituency went to Blue River to the north, halfway to Merritt to the south, Monte Creek to the east, Logan Lake to the southwest and Savona to the west -- there was no way I could spend the time in these areas that I would have liked. I was in cabinet the entire time and was away a great deal. My constituency secretary and my executive assistant did the work and did it well. I agree that's a problem, but it's one with a very simple solution: simply create more constituency offices in large ridings so people only need to travel relatively short distances to their MLA's office and his or her secretary, who deals with matters between voters and the government and is in frequent contact with the MLA.