It's not exactly the fall of the Berlin Wall, but the line dividing two neighbourhoods in northwest Winnipeg is about to disappear.
Over the past decade, the neighbouring communities of Brooklands and Weston have been carved up between two different city wards, with Brooklands sitting in St. James and Weston represented by Point Douglas.
But according to the first draft of a report by Winnipeg's Ward Boundaries Commission, the two neighbourhoods should be reunited when voters go to the polls in 2010, with Weston moving into St. James to beef up the population of what's now Winnipeg's smallest ward.
The proposed move would see enough people transferred into St. James to allow the ward to satisfy civic election rules, which demand that no ward can be more than 25 per cent smaller than the average ward in Winnipeg, by population.
According to the 2006 census, St. James had only 29,230 people, while the minimum ward size in Winnipeg was 31,285. The Ward Boundaries Commission considered a variety of ways to redraw Winnipeg's electoral map, but wound up making only one recommendation for 2010 - reuniting Weston and Brooklands inside the same ward.
"At the end of the day, these are neighbourhoods that have a natural affinity for each other. Weston and Brooklands ought to be with each other," said Point Douglas Coun. Mike Pagtakhan, who will have one less neighbourhood to campaign in when he seeks a third term on council next fall.
St. James Coun. Scott Fielding, who will seek his second and final term on council -- he supports the idea of term limits -- said he too is pleased with a change that makes geographic and demographic sense.
"I think the issues Weston faces are similar to what Brooklands faces. I want to make both areas safe," Fielding said.
While the changes facing Winnipeg's electoral map are minor in 2010, the following election may see the most radical redrawing of boundaries since 1992, when the number of wards in the city was slashed from 29 to 15.
The Ward Boundaries Commission is recommending the city add two new wards to deal with population growth, much of which has taken place in St. Vital, St. Norbert and St. Boniface. The addition of two new southern wards would see the entire electoral map redrawn, no later than early 2013, based on population data from the 2011 census.
"It doesn't matter to me," joked Fielding, who has pledged to seek two and only two terms on council. "I won't be running again."
The Ward Boundary Commission's recommendations face a public hearing on Nov. 25.
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
Reunited & it feels so good
Recommendations of Winnipeg's Ward Boundaries Commission:
Move the Weston neighbourhood from Point Douglas ward into St. James ward in time for the 2010 election.
Add two new wards to Winnipeg in time for the 2014 election, increasing the total number of wards from 15 to 17.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition
