{"id":957676,"date":"2026-11-04T06:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T06:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/957676\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T06:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T06:16:11","slug":"smith-defends-alberta-electoral-map-against-gerrymandering-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/957676\/","title":{"rendered":"Smith defends Alberta electoral map against gerrymandering allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The new electoral map is expected to be debated on Wednesday afternoon in the Alberta Legislature.DAPHNE LEMELIN\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith<\/a> is rejecting allegations that an independent panel has torqued the province\u2019s electoral map to favour her United Conservative Party, saying the recommended changes to redraw the boundaries are reasonable and would give voters better representation.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Ms. Smith said she also endorses changes to the electoral map in southern Alberta<\/a>, which have become the greatest source of contention since the province\u2019s proposed boundaries were released publicly the day before. <\/p>\n

The new map proposes eliminating one of Lethbridge\u2019s two urban ridings while creating three new districts that mix the city\u2019s suburban neighbourhoods with swaths of rural southern Alberta. <\/p>\n

The change has provoked charges of gerrymandering, the U.S.-style practice of manipulating boundaries to give one party an unfair advantage in elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Lethbridge would be very well served by having four representatives,\u201d Ms. Smith said, offering her first thoughts on the proposed map since it was published Monday.<\/p>\n

Ms. Smith added that she hopes the Alberta NDP\u2019s promised legal challenge of the map doesn\u2019t come to pass, but that her government would assemble a legal team if necessary. (Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said his party can only file a legal challenge if the government adopts the map.)<\/p>\n

New Alberta electoral map proposes vast changes to urban ridings<\/a><\/p>\n

The map is expected to be debated on Wednesday afternoon in the Alberta Legislature, where Ms. Smith\u2019s UCP holds a majority of seats. <\/p>\n

The electoral map of Alberta is redrawn every eight to 10 years through a process designed to foster compromise and limit political influence. Adopting the recommendations of independent panels, which are often passed with little public scrutiny, has been the standard for provincial legislatures and federal Parliament for decades. <\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s latest redrawing, however, has fuelled accusations of gerrymandering ever since Ms. Smith decided in April to upend the process and reject the recommended map of an earlier independent panel. She then formed a committee to set up a new panel, which delivered a fresh map on Monday.<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s system dictates that the governing party selects the chair and two panelists while the Official Opposition picks the remaining two. <\/p>\n

Of the panelists tasked with drawing the latest map, the two selected by the NDP have added to the accusations of gerrymandering, singling out the changes in Lethbridge.<\/p>\n

These two panelists \u2013 University of Alberta constitutional law professor Gerard Kennedy and former Okotoks, Alta., town councillor Brent Robinson \u2013 wrote in a separate report that they believe some of the new recommended ridings would be \u201cconstitutionally fraught\u201d and will likely face a legal challenge.<\/p>\n

The remaining three panelists, including panel chair and retired judge Brian O\u2019Ferrall, dismissed their counterparts\u2019 criticisms at several turns through the 300-plus-page report, accusing them of \u201csanctimonious passing of judgment\u201d and \u201cextreme, unjustified and unnecessary criticisms.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the report, Mr. O\u2019Ferrall also singled out political scientists, complaining that they have \u201cpreferred to stoke the flames of controversy\u201d instead of contributing \u201cto the public\u2019s understanding of the electoral boundary process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s next general election is scheduled for Oct. 18, 2027. It is unclear what electoral map would be used for that vote if the NDP launches a legal challenge. Elections Alberta has warned it may not have enough time to prepare for the election, should the new maps be adopted or a legal challenge delays the map from being implemented.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Alberta\u2019s electoral map shows who conservatives think \u2018real\u2019 Albertans are<\/a><\/p>\n

Kara Westerlund, president of Rural Municipalities of Alberta, said on Tuesday that rural leaders are concerned about hybrid ridings, noting the association\u2019s members represent 85 per cent of the province\u2019s land mass but 15 per cent of the population.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main concern is just the fact that we feel that the rural voice and our issues are going to be diluted with [hybrid ridings],\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Politicians from mid-sized cities have cautioned against sweeping hybrid ridings, pointing to the risk that city residents could be represented by people who don\u2019t live in their area or understand their needs.<\/p>\n

University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young said she believes the map is gerrymandered, most clearly underlined by the proposed changes in Lethbridge.<\/p>\n

The City of Lethbridge is currently split into two urban electoral districts, with one represented by the NDP and the other by the UCP. Both seats have been competitive since 2015, when the provincial NDP formed government for the first time.<\/p>\n

While the NDP would likely win in the city\u2019s new urban riding, the UCP would be heavily favoured to win the three new ridings that extend hundreds of kilometres beyond city boundaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this has partisan consequence. It does, to me, look like a deliberate attempt to draw lines on the map in a way that would advantage one party \u2013 the governing party \u2013 at the expense of the opposition party,\u201d Prof. Young said.<\/p>\n

She added that Alberta\u2019s boundary redrawing process may need to be revamped. Other provinces, such as British Columbia, have systems that further remove the process from political influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have essentially two failed efforts at coming together around a map says that there\u2019s something desperately wrong here,\u201d Prof. Young said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt raises the question of whether this sort of bipartisan commission approach that we\u2019ve been using works in a polarized system.\u201d<\/p>\n

With reports from The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The new electoral map is expected to be debated on Wednesday afternoon in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":957677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-957676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=957676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/957677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=957676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=957676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=957676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}