Ontario should get 15 new seats in the House of Commons, including seats from two new electoral districts in Toronto, according to a commission appointed by the federal government that is looking into how to best redraw the federal electoral map in the province.
On Monday, a three-member commission released the map resulting from a study into where to add the new seats and how to change riding boundaries after the 2011 Census showed a population increase in Ontario to 12,851,821 people. That was up from 11,410,046 in 2001.
Most of that growth has come in suburban ridings.
In addition to the two new Toronto seats, Brampton is slated for two seats, Durham Region will get two, Markham two, and there will be one added to Cambridge, Hamilton, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Simcoe and York.
In Toronto, the commission has recommended that the current Scarborough-Rouge River riding in the northeast part of the city be divided into two ridings, becoming Scarborough North and Scarborough East.
The city should also get a new downtown riding, according to the commission. It recommended that the current Don Valley West riding become Mount Pleasant and Toronto North.
The commission will host public hearings across the province in October and November, which will allow members of the public to express their views on the new riding map.
Anyone who wants to make a presentation at one of the hearings has to send a written request to the commission by Oct. 1.
Toronto hearings are scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 10 a.m. at the North York Civic Centre and Thursday, Nov. 15 at Metro Hall.
Current boundaries have been in place since 2004.
More information about the new riding boundaries is avaliable on the Redistribution Federal Electoral Districts website.
