South may lose one provincial riding

City ridings would remain unchanged under proposal

Southern Albertans will lose one MLA if recommendations from the Electoral Boundaries Commission become law. The Little Bow constituency would be divided between adjacent ridings in an attempt to bring the number of voters in each Alberta riding closer to parity. So would two more constituencies, one centred on Rocky Mountain House and the other in the Vegreville-Cold Lake area east of Edmonton.

The commission’s interim report, released this week, follows months of public hearings and consultations, generating nearly 750 submissions and comments from across the province. If approved in the legislature, its new or realigned constituencies would be in place for the 2019 provincial election.

But first, another round of hearings will provide opportunities to offer comments or criticisms.

“Our interim report strikes a balance between population numbers and public interest,” said the commission’s chair, Justice Myra Bielby, as she tabled the recommendations. “The feedback was invaluable, and informed many of our recommendations.”

The number of constituencies would remain at 87. During the last electoral redistribution, two seats were added in Calgary and one in Edmonton.

Lethbridge East and West would remain unchanged, according to maps that form part of the commission’s report. Reflecting population growth, both Calgary and Edmonton would each be given an additional riding.

South and east of Lethbridge, a renamed Cardston-Kainai constituency would include Coaldale, Stirling, Raymond, Magrath and communities west of Cardston to the Waterton Lakes National Park Boundary.

Residents of the Kainai Nation, Coalhurst, Nobleford and Picture Butte would also be included.

To its east, the new Taber-Vulcan riding would stretch east to the Saskatchewan border, west to Barons and Carmangay and north to Milo and Brant.

The Livingstone-Macleod constituency would remain largely unchanged, except for the addition of voters in High River and Waterton. (Detailed maps are available online at

In the years since the last redistribution was completed, Bielby pointed out the province’s population has grown from 3.7 million (in 2010) to last year’s total of 4.25 million.

Without redistribution, she said, a vote cast in Jasper would have three times the impact of one cast today in CalgarySouth East.

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