What’s in a name

Electoral Boundary Commission proposes dropping Prince Edward from federal riding name

It’s a long drive from Maynooth to Milford. Nearly 200 kilometres. It’s not much farther from the northern reaches of the riding of Prince Edward-Hastings to Ottawa than it is to the County. Many of the issues and concerns on the edge of Algonquin Park are different than those in Belleville and Prince Edward County. Yet neighbouring Quinte West has since 2003 been part of the Northumberland riding—despite the fact most folks in Belleville and the County have more and deeper connections with this community than they do with Bancroft or Maple.

So when election officials proposed new riding boundaries earlier this year they drew a line across the top of Belleville (aggravating some by splitting the city from the township of Thurlow) and gathering Quinte West and Prince Edward County into a new riding.

The proposed name of the new riding: Bay of Quinte.

This is not sitting well with many in Prince Edward County. Since Confederation—through many various configurations—the riding has always been designated with Prince Edward in the name, as in Prince Edward-Hastings and Prince Edward-Lennox. For the first 111 years after Confederation the riding was simply known as Prince Edward—though the riding’s boundaries changed over the decades.

The proposal to rename the riding Bay of Quinte, if adopted, marks a clear departure from past practice and has evoked a good deal of consternation at Shire Hall and other corners of the County.

The move is viewed as misguided by some, ignorant of past historical practice by others. Some view the move as a ham-handed way to blunt the County’s identity in favour of the broader Quinte region—Trenton and Belleville business interests seeking to glom onto benefit from the County’s strong tourism attractiveness.

“We are opposed,” said Mayor Peter Mertens. “Since Confederation Prince Edward has always been reflected in the name of this riding.”

Mertens has sent a letter to the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Ontario registering the objection of council—proposing instead to name the riding Prince Edward-Bay of Quinte.

The commission will consider objections until June 2013. In September the ridings will be established and proclaimed.