Wikipedia:WikiProject Electoral districts in Canada/Geography&History

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Alone, these sections would only be a couple sentences long and their topics could overlap. A combined History and Geography section could produced a solid paragraph or two with the list of MPs. This section could mention the following:

• creation date
• ridings that gave x% of its population to create the subject riding
• any boundary changes during its history
• towns and communities that are included
• relevant human or physical geography (ie. rural vs urban, cities vs villages)
• local issues (and how their MP dealt with it)
• list of MPs
• abolishment date and ridings that the abolishment created

This could provide a nice narrative of the riding. If this were to be created, what should the section title be?

[edit] Comments

Support - Jord 15:38, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

• I support this, I would also support just adding the information to the intro when it is only a couple of sentences. - SimonP 02:40, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

Contingent SupportSkookum1 22:16, 23 November 2005 (UTC) Following is a cut-paste of your agenda above plus my comments:

• Alone, these sections would only be a couple sentences long and their topics could overlap. A combined History and Geography section could produced a solid paragraph or two with the list of MPs. This section could mention the following:
  • creation date
  • ridings that gave x% of its population to create the subject riding
    • hard to chart that data; requires analyses of censuses and preferably boundary-commission's own notes and research and also requires access to historical poll data, i.e. per city/town/village/rural area. There's the gerrymandering issue that makes this so historical-geographical to consider, too, e.g. the infamous Gracie's Finger fiasco during the Miniwac regime, which had to do with a chunk of tres-riche Kerrisdale/Quilchena being saddled onto the Vancouver--Little Mountain riding, home to longtime Socred Grace McCarthy.Skookum1 22:16, 23 November 2005 (UTC)
      • We have this info for the 2003 Representation Order but nothing prior to that. There must be something like this in print for other orders. -maclean25
  • any boundary changes during its history
    • Elections Canada boundary writeups are surveyor-language nightmares; I had a look at Coast Chilcotin and its description is very intricate; and it's not alone.Skookum1 22:16, 23 November 2005 (UTC)
      • Totally agree. I am not in favour of legal descriptions but rather descriptive language that the layman can recognize (using features on the ground). -maclean25
  • towns and communities that are included
    • w/wo census and poll data? I've been trying to find resources on those, other than going digging around in a university library by hand.Skookum1 22:16, 23 November 2005 (UTC)
      • Prefer without. Many of the article will already be jam packed with data and tables. I took polling data to an individual city article. Took census data (from the entire riding - not just individual settlements) to the info boxes, but we're still working on that: Langley (electoral district). -maclean25
• (relevant human or physical geography (ie. rural vs urban, cities vs villages)
  • local issues (and how their MP dealt with it)
    • these are often large issues, best mentioned by way of linking them, plus the MPs position/response in text which may or may not be in the linked article.Skookum1 22:28, 23 November 2005 (UTC)
  • list of MPs
    • and which other ridings those MPs previously represented, if so; and which riding they were associated with after redistribution/revisions of boundariesSkookum1 22:28, 23 November 2005 (UTC)
      • I would prefer to see this accomplished in the list of MPs, like Kelowna—Lake Country. -maclean25
  • abolishment date and ridings that the abolishment created
    • also overlaps with provincial ridingsSkookum1 22:16, 23 November 2005 (UTC)
• This could provide a nice narrative of the riding. If this were to be created, what should the section title be?
  • "Political Geography", which is the nature of the beast and a proper academic field describing exactly what you're talking about. "Historical geography" maybe, but that would be preferred for a "region" page as opposed to an "electoral district" pageSkookum1 22:16, 23 November 2005 (UTC)
    • The gist of this proposal is to have a narrative (from start to finish) of the electoral district, as opposed to a description. I embedded some comments above into your replies. --maclean25 04:55, 24 November 2005 (UTC)