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May 2002
Electoral boundaries based on the number of voters were conceived
at a time when this country had a predominantly rural polulation.
Today, a growing majority of the population lives in urban centres.
A majority of our elected representatives champion urban concerns,
interests, and priorities. The majority of financial, fiscal, economic
and social decisions reflect this urban-centered perspective, even
as their impact extends to the natural resources of our non-urban
regions.
To continue the systematic concentration of political power within
a sector of the population that has little interest or understanding
of the needs of the countryside that sustains all of us will make
it increasingly difficult for rural populations to fulfill their
role as the primary stewards in a world where resources are recognized
to be finite and uncompromizingly interdependent.
In our 'Ship of State' electoral boundaries define and contain the weight of interests and concerns of the electorate just as the bulkheads in a ship define the nature, the quantities, and the location of cargo. Moving the bulkheads to accommodate shifting cargo will surely sink a ship.
What do you think? Email me
or join our discussions on the Highway7
forum.
Jurgen Teuwen
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