Some rural municipalities are speaking out against proposed changes to Alberta’s electoral boundaries, saying they will weaken the voice of rural communities and voters.
“I think the main concern is the fact that as we see fewer rural ridings, we see our ridings getting so much larger,” said Al Kemmere, President of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC).
He is speaking out as the association has released its response to changes to riding boundaries proposed by the Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission in May.
According to a report issued by the commission, the proposed boundaries are meant to address population sizes. As a result, many rural voters will see their ridings grow in size to accommodate growing populations in Alberta’s urban centres.
In a six-page response to the commission, the AAMDC wants it to consider geographical size of ridings, to avoid fracturing municipalities into multiple electoral districts and protect common community interests.
Kemmere said larger ridings mean longer travel times for residents and legislators.
“As the ridings transition from two hours to two-and-a-half hours from corner to corner, now many of them are four, four-and-a-half to five hours corner to corner for travel time,” he said. “It limits the opportunities of MLAs to be in touch.”
Kemmere said some urban ridings are small enough that an MLA can cross it in a matter of minutes, allowing them to connect with voters easier than their rural counterparts who may have to drive hours to cross their riding.
“That is a virtual impossibility in these large rural ridings, you don’t have that access to multiple MLAs within a reasonable distance,” he said.
Kemmere said he acknowledges that urban areas have concerns about not being fairly represented according to their population under the existing boundaries. However, he said fairness can’t just be measured in population, and accessibility needs to be taken into account.
The proposed changes will see ridings boundaries shift in the Foothills, including moving the Town of High River from the Highwood constituency to Livingstone-Macleod.
Other changes will see Heritage Pointe and the Davisburg plain area as far south as Mazeppa included in the Chestermere constituency; moving Turner Valley, Black Diamond, Millarville and Priddis into Highwood from Livingstone-Macleod; and replacing Little Bow (which includes Blackie) with Drumheller-Strathmore north of Arrowwood and Taber-Vulcan in the south, which stretches from the Vulcan area to the southeast corner of the province.
MD of Foothills Mayor Larry Spilak said council believes High River and Okotoks should remain in the same riding.
“They’re so intertwined in business and commerce that it only makes sense,” he said.
Ultimately, Spilak said the changes will diminish the voice of rural Alberta in the provincial legislature.
“By changing it like this it just spreads it out so thinly,” he said.
A commissioner with the electoral boundaries commission said they are bound by legislation requiring that each Albertans’ vote has the same power as any other.
“Representation by population is the basis that voting in all of Canada and Alberta is based on,” said Laurie Livingstone. “That’s the basis, is looking at population and creating, as much as possible, equality between the ridings.”
According to the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act, a constituency cannot be more than 25 per cent higher than the average population.
The average is determined by dividing the province’s total population by the 87 ridings in Alberta. At present, the provincial average population is 46,697, while the population of Highwood sits around 55,000, she said.
Livingstone said other factors that come into play include population density and creating geographic boundaries that make sense, such as major roads or rivers.
Under Alberta’s current population distribution, she said rural Alberta is only losing approximately one-half of a riding, while the city of Calgary is roughly half a riding short of what it should have.
Okotoks Mayor Bill Robertson said Okotoks council has discussed the commission’s recommendations and is not taking an official position on the boundaries report.
“We realize that because of the tremendous growth of the Calgary region – with Okotoks being part of that – they certainly need to rejig boundaries every so often of the constituencies to get equitable population distribution,” he said.
On a personal note, Robertson said he doesn’t see much impact on Okotoks from the changes. He said he doesn’t see much difference between having Okotoks in the same riding as High River, compared to the town being in the same riding as Black Diamond and Turner Valley.
“We have a lot in common with High River and I certainly supported being with High River before, but we also have a lot in common with Turner Valley, Black Diamond,” he said.
The commission will lead another round of public consultations between July 17 and 24. The commission is required to submit its final report to the legislature no later than Oct. 31.
