Will we, or won’t we?

When Rainy River District was ripped from Kenora last year by some brainy bureaucrats in Ottawa, and then attached to the old Thunder Bay-Atikokan riding, the big fear was whether the same thing would happen at the provincial level.
It appears the writing is on the wall.
If you recall, former premier Mike Harris, after winning election in 1995, decreed that provincial ridings would mirror their federal cousins, meaning cozy little Rainy River riding (remember it?) was stuck with Kenora to form the new Kenora-Rainy River.
Now, under that same Representation Act, provincial ridings again would have to mirror federal ones. Which means, thanks to the previously noted brainy bureaucrats in Ottawa, Rainy River District gets divorced from Kenora and married to the current Thunder Bay-Atikokan riding to form, you guessed it, Thunder Bay-Rainy River.
So, as feared, a bad decision federally is going to be exacerbated at the provincial level—leaving us once again at the mercy of those big city voters, with whom we have nothing much in common (starting with a time zone).
And there’s another problem with re-distribution in that Northern Ontario would drop from 11 seats at Queen’s Park to 10.
But wait, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is promising to be our knight in shining armour. Under his proposed Election Statute Law Amendment Act, 2004 (you know, the one that’s going to save democracy by fixing election dates to the first Thursday in October every four years), a provision would preserve the old riding associations until Dec. 31, 2006—rather than seeing them dissolved by Aug. 25, 2004 as current transition rules dictate.
This provision, the Liberals say, helps support the government’s commitment to maintain 11 ridings in Northern Ontario.
Great, right? Uh, except that there’s no mention of what will happen after Dec. 31, 2006—which is especially important since, under Premier McGuinty’s proposed act, the next provincial election would be held Oct. 4, 2007.
So will we be Kenora-Rainy River for that, or Thunder Bay-Rainy River? Will there be 11 ridings in Northern Ontario, or 10? Which is it, Mr. Premier?
Psst, a little hint: don’t bet on Kenora-Rainy River surviving.