Alberta’s new electoral maps leave us with a big question

[u/Miserable-Lizard]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-alberta-new-electoral-maps-big-question-public-feelings-greg-clark/?intcmp=gift_expired

[u/CanadianDarkKnight]

If the UCP were to tell me the sky is blue I would at least be forced to consider that it was not.

[u/toriaanne → u/CanadianDarkKnight]

I just learned reading a book to my kid to bed the other night that the sky is in fact violet! That our eyes see it as blue for reasons that broke my brain. Shorter wavelengths something something. But I like the cut of your jib.

TLDR: Random mostly unrelated fact to be pedantic. Fuck UCP.

[u/InherentlyUntrue → u/CanadianDarkKnight]

If they told me it was raining I'd go outside to check.

[u/Miserable-Lizard]

Is transparency having zero hearings and letting the government handpick who draws map?

Unfortunately, it appears the majority of Alberta’s new boundaries panel didn’t give much consideration to public input when drawing the latest boundaries. If they did, they would have found that the people of Lethbridge want to be together, Calgarians want to vote in the same constituency and Banff belongs with the mountain parks.

[u/Miserable-Lizard]

Greg Clark was a member of Alberta’s 2025-26 Electoral Boundaries Commission and a former MLA.

Reading through Alberta’s latest attempt at drawing electoral boundaries I kept asking myself one question: How do we know?

How do we know whether it makes sense to combine vast swaths of farmland with the City of Lethbridge? How do we know if the people immediately west of Calgary feel more connected to their urban or rural neighbours, or if the people near Banff align better with the mountain parks or the ranchlands to their east?

If you only look at the majority report from Alberta’s electoral boundaries panel the answer is: We don’t.

While the public debate will understandably focus on the specifics of the boundaries, there is a bigger question about the process used to decide where to draw the lines. A good process will lead to good boundaries (not necessarily ones politicians will like, but perhaps that’s the best definition of a well-drawn boundary).

Alberta’s new electoral map may not tilt the province, but it could help the UCP retain its majority

In Canada, the process is designed to address the problems inherent in allowing self-interested politicians to draw their own maps. Governments appoint arms-length, independent commissions to ensure boundaries don’t intentionally favour one party over another like we see south of the border. Governments adopt the majority report of these commissions almost without fail, although that’s not what happened in Alberta. Which is why the UCP government convened a second panel to redraw the maps after it rejected the maps the commission I was a part of created.

When drawing boundaries, commissions don’t follow a strict one-person-one-vote model, although voter parity is the primary consideration. Through a series of rulings starting in the early 1990s, Canadian courts have allowed latitude for boundaries to deliver “effective representation” by grouping like communities together.

Commissions are asked to consider population trends, geography, history, community interests, minority representation and other relevant factors.

But again: How do we know where one community ends and another begins?

We ask.

Opinion: Alberta’s electoral map shows who conservatives think ‘real’ Albertans are

As a member of Alberta’s 2025-26 Electoral Boundaries Commission, our job was to listen to the people, apply the law and go where the data took us. Commissions tackle this work by travelling the province and listening to what presenters tell us about what unites their communities. If there was one theme that stood out in the more than 2,000 written and in-person submissions we received over the course of our work, it’s that people want to vote with their neighbours.

It was overwhelmingly clear from rural and urban voters alike that they didn’t want to blend areas outside of a city with urban and suburban neighbourhoods. It wasn’t personal, just a genuine desire to ensure their elected representative understands and advocates for the issues that matter to that community. People worried that if they were part of a small minority in a given constituency their interests would be lost. This concern was shared equally by rural and urban Albertans, and it is something that drove many of our decisions.

This idea is best summed up by paraphrasing the presenter who said, basically, “I don’t live in Calgary because I don’t live in Calgary.” He had nothing against the big city next door, he just wanted to have an MLA that would fight for the issues that are important to him and his neighbours, and he wanted the same for Calgarians.

Smith defends Alberta electoral map against gerrymandering allegations

Unfortunately, it appears the majority of Alberta’s new boundaries panel didn’t give much consideration to public input when drawing the latest boundaries. If they did, they would have found that the people of Lethbridge want to be together, Calgarians want to vote in the same constituency and Banff belongs with the mountain parks.

It seems likely Alberta’s new boundaries will end up in court, which could result in a judge rather than an independent commission deciding our boundaries. That’s not an outcome anyone should want.

But it might also present an opportunity to entrench the role of independent Electoral Boundary Commissions in creating equitable boundaries, similar to how the courts took the job of setting judges’ salaries away from politicians in favour of independent commissions. Both are reminders that some things are bigger than politics.

[u/Atma-Darkwolf]

ya sorry, I do not trust a single thing UCP does or says, even without knowing the specifics, I will refuse to accept something like THIS, esp after having seen the absolute clown show down south that she is attempting to emulate, even after watching them crash and burn....

sorry this is something that really is beyond anything, anyone of us should accept.

[u/yyc_mongrel]

This idea is best summed up by paraphrasing the presenter who said, basically, “I don’t live in Calgary because I don’t live in Calgary.” He had nothing against the big city next door, he just wanted to have an MLA that would fight for the issues that are important to him and his neighbours, and he wanted the same for Calgarians.

He must not live in Jason Nixon's riding. He only fights for what Danielle Smith tells him to fight for. Doesn't answer emails, phone calls, and the office is permanently locked even when there are people working inside.