It doesn't make a lot of sense to the people of Humboldt.
The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission has proposed boundary changes to federal ridings in Saskatchewan, moving Humboldt from the Saskatoon-Humboldt riding, into a Kindersley-Rosetown-Humboldt riding.
During a meeting of Humboldt City Council on August 27, Mayor Malcolm Eaton voiced his concerns to council about the proposed boundary change.
"It doesn't seem logical," said Eaton. "It looks like they want to (add us) there to even out numbers."
The proposed riding would cover Humboldt, stretch north of Saskatoon to include Martensville, then west to encompass Biggar, Rosetown and Kindersley.
"It is a huge geographic area," said Eaton.
Not only is it a huge area, Humboldt currently has no trade or commonalities with the west side of the province. It would also move Humboldt out of the potash belt, which was another concern Eaton had.
"It would make more sense if we were connected to the Moose Jaw riding (which includes Lanigan) or the Yorkton riding," said Eaton. "We do more business with them."
Council are not the only ones who do not understand the proposed boundary changes - MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt, Brad Trost, also has problems with it.
"To put it mildly, I'm not impressed," said Trost.
He thinks it is one of the proposed ridings that makes the least amount of sense.
"When you look at the map, Muenster is in a different riding than the RM of Wolverine, which is in a different riding than the City of Humboldt," said Trost. "That area got short-shifted and really got the shaft."
He believes there was no reason to do a major redraw of the constituencies.
"Yes, population changes, so you can make gradual adjustments," said Trost. "That's what has been done over the last 50 years in Saskatchewan."
The fact that Humboldt and Kindersley are in the same riding doesn't make sense to Trost because of the huge geographical distance between the two communities.
He explained that, as an MP, he tries to meet face-to-face with his constituents as much as possible.
"A lot of people want to see us personally," said Trost. "We don't complain about having to travel long distances, things of that nature. When people invite me to go out to Humboldt, I like to go out. When people invite me to go out to Middle Lake, I do what I can. If I'm stuck in Ottawa, it's not possible and people realize that. You get a different sort of interaction when you can meet with people."
Although you can contact the MP through e-mail or letters, he likes the personal contact with his constituents. With a large riding, like the proposed Kindersley-Rosetown-Humboldt one, an MP would have more difficulty making it out to different communities.
"You can't do it everywhere, but the more you can do it so the MP can interact with the constituents, the better it is," said Trost.
He thinks the current boundaries are good and make the most amount of sense for Humboldt.
"Saskatoon-Humboldt has worked well since (the 1960s)," said Trost. "The Saskatoon Health Region and school board both include Humboldt. Why put it with Kindersley, Martensville, Biggar? It just doesn't make sense."
Trost said he isn't the only politician who doesn't agree with the proposed riding.
"I've heard people who are generally on the opposite of politics from me who have said this riding makes no sense whatsoever," said Trost. "These are people who have liked the idea of all Saskatoon type ridings... There are other ways of geographically balancing it so it works."
Humboldt City Council intends to make a presentation to the Federal Electoral Boundaries Comission during a hearing in Saskatoon on October 5.
