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One of the Candidates for mayor of Thunder Bay is speaking out against proposals for federal riding distribution.

The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission is proposing to include Kenora, Dryden and Ignace into the Thunder Bay-Rainy River Riding.

Ken Boshcoff is a former MP for that riding and says we need more ridings not fewer.

“In this day and age, one can say you can shorten distances through technology, but as Members of Parliament, constituents expect to see their representative physically,” says Boshcoff. “And that job is vital done that way to make sure people have a personal contact.”

Boshcoff says the distances are just too large for a single person to represent.

“There has to be an awareness and the spatial difficulties.  There is a lot of technology, but there’s nothing better than a human being able to talk to their political representative face-to-face.”

There are currently three ridings in northwestern Ontario, and the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission is proposed to reduce that to only two.

The other riding would take the rest of the Kenora Riding and stretch all the way from the Manitoba border to Quebec.