Redraw of electoral boundaries would present challenging timeline: Elections Alberta

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government isn't guilty of gerrymandering as it sets out to redraw the provincial electoral map.

Alberta’s elections agency says a government decision to take a second run at redrawing provincial ridings will be a challenge as the clock ticks toward an October 2027 vote.

A spokesperson for Elections Alberta, Robyn Bell, said in an email that the agency needs at least 1 1/2 years, if not two years, to recalibrate its systems and election plans with new ridings.

But Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservatives have thrown a wrench into that plan.

Smith told the house this week they will soon introduce a motion to revisit recently proposed boundary changes, with a fall deadline to get the work done.

The new review will be overseen by a UCP-majority committee of MLAs and would leave Elections Alberta with about one year before the next election, if its deadline is met.

“Reducing the preparation time will most certainly impact the cost of implementation, as (is) the case with most large-scale projects,” Bell said.

Once it receives the riding maps, the agency needs to update its computer systems, internal election management software and public-facing websites, while also planning for new polling stations and returning offices.

Further, it needs to produce new forms, maps and other documentation, and then educate the public on everything that’s changed, Bell said.

On Friday, the Premier promised Elections Alberta will have all the resources it needs to make sure it “can run a full and fair general election,” though she didn’t address concerns over the timeline.

Riding redraw

Alberta’s electoral boundaries have become a source of controversy this week.

Earlier this year, an independent commission‘s majority proposed to dissolve two rural ridings and add seats in Edmonton and Calgary to match the province’s shifting population.

A note lamented the difficult task, citing the limitations imposed by the number of legislature seats.

On Friday, Smith claimed she hadn’t completely denied the report — only made the job easier for the next group.

“It’s all under the guidance of what was written in the addendum,” she told media. “So we’re looking forward to seeing how the new commission that’s appointed by the independent committee will take the addendum and adjust the majority report’s maps to make that work.”

Smith didn’t explain what — if any — other recommendations she’ll be using from the extensive original report.

Political watchers are suspicious.

“They are throwing out the entire commission and bringing in a whole new process with new people, in hopes for a different result,” Mount Royal University Professor Duane Bratt said.

“This is really about extenuating rural representation and hindering and diluting urban representation. And urban Alberta is where the population growth is occurring.”

Bratt joined the opposition Alberta NDP this week in calling the move gerrymandering.

That’s a term for redrawing voting boundaries in order to favour one political party.

“This is pretty unprecedented,” Pollster Janet Brown told CTV News. “Normally, these decisions are made quite quietly and voters don’t even realize how they’re affected by boundaries until the election rolls around.”

She points out hybrid ridings — those voted in by both urban and rural Albertans — historically strongly favour the UCP.

“This process should be based on information about population distribution,” she said.

“When you hand it over to some MLAs, then you have to worry if politics enters into their decision-making.”

Vocal criticism

Smith denies accusations she’s taking a roundabout way of designing riding maps to rig the 2027 election in the UCP’s favour.

Alberta NDP Justice Critic Irfan Sabir said in a statement Friday that the concerns raised by Elections Alberta show what Smith’s government is willing to do to stay in power.

“Of course the UCP government didn’t consider the time and resources it would take to implement their rigged boundaries map,” Sabir said.

“Election integrity matters, but not for the UCP. This is who they are.”

-With files from The Canadian Press