City floats ‘provocative’ options for redraw of ward boundaries

City clerk Laura Kennedy says two options for changing Calgary’s municipal wards are “deliberately provocative” to gauge what residents want to see.

The city is looking at tweaking the way ward boundaries are set up to make Calgarians get equitable representation. Currently, Ward 12 in the southeast is the largest in the city, with more than 110,000 residents represented by Coun. Shane Keating. Coun. Jyoti Gondek’s Ward 3 has nearly 40,000 fewer people.

The city hosted the first in a series of open houses to ask for feedback on ward boundaries Monday.

Calgarians who want to give feedback can do so in person or online.

This city is suggesting two scenarios for changing city wards: one that includes significant changes for wards 7, 9, 11 and 12, and one with some less drastic changes for city neighbourhoods.

Kennedy said the bigger changes do more to equalize the population across wards quickly.

“Of these two, what is really Calgarians’ priority? Do they want to equalize the population or do they want to maintain closer to the status quo? That’s what I’m trying to understand,” she said.

The city’s ward boundaries were last redrawn in 2017, following a fraught process that saw city council dismiss some of the recommendations made by an independent commission.

Kennedy said her final recommendation on boundary changes, which she hopes to bring to council in June or July, could look different from either of the two possibilities currently up for consideration.

“It does impact who represents you or how you are represented,” she said. “I’m going to listen to Calgarians. I am here to do what they want when they look for representation levels.”

The new ward system is set to be implemented in 2021, ahead of that year’s municipal election.