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Protecting the rural voice

Local politicians want to ensure rural communities are represented under the provincial electoral boundary system. On Jan. 23, members of the boundary review commission were in St.
Many local representatives were in attendance at the St. Paul electoral boundary commission hearing on Jan. 23 to let their thoughts known.
Many local representatives were in attendance at the St. Paul electoral boundary commission hearing on Jan. 23 to let their thoughts known.

Local politicians want to ensure rural communities are represented under the provincial electoral boundary system.

On Jan. 23, members of the boundary review commission were in St. Paul to gather feedback on potential changes to Alberta's constituencies. Since the last review, the population in the province's urban centres has increased substantially, while in the rural areas it has largely remained static or decreased. However, representatives from across the Bonnyville – Cold Lake and Lac La Biche – St. Paul – Two Hills ridings were united on the front to keep rural Alberta adequately represented.

“Although they stressed very adamantly that no decisions have been made, yet every photograph and every piece of information put up there referenced the fact that the population in this vast area – from Lac La Biche to Cold Lake to Two Hills – has all gone down relative to the rest of Alberta,” said Town of Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski, who was invited to give a presentation to the commission.

Formed in the fall of 2016, the Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission are tasked with studying the current constituencies in the province, and making proposals to the Legislative Assembly as to where changes should be made.

Under the current boundaries, Edmonton and Calgary have a combined 44 MLAs – over half of the total 87 seats. Based on the math, the ideal population per constituency is just under 49,000. However, the majority of the ridings in the larger cities are estimated to be well over that number, while many of the rurals sit below it.

“They really stressed on the aspect of fairness, so my presentation focused on the opposite. I said there are a lot of examples all over Canada where you have these concentrated constituencies. For example, Calgary has 25 and Edmonton has 19. You want this fairness in population representative of an area, and what you do is create an imbalance. You concentrate your focus on MLAs in the two cities,” said Sobolewski, referencing cities like Victoria and Vancouver, BC as examples.

“I went a little closer to home in terms of some of the massive freeway systems and the approach to the Anthony Henday, versus the trouble out here trying to get a set of lights at an intersection. That's the imbalance, the priorities tend to shift.”

The last time a boundary review took place was in 2010, to reflect the province's changing population. However, MD Coun. Mike Krywiak, who was also present at the meeting to provide his input, noted is crucial the commission look beyond the number of people in a riding.

“We need to consider other factors to have effective representation. Population size doesn't always give you that, you need to consider geography. You also have to consider community interest and identity... How big do you want your rural constituencies to be? There has to be a limit, you can't just keep expanding according to population size, because the people in a rural area want to see their MLA.”

Krywiak stressed the importance of keeping an MLA accessible to the constituents they're representing. The larger the riding, the harder it becomes for them to attend important community events and meetings. When asked by the commission why they can't connect using technology, the local councillor made it clear that for those living in small rural areas high speed internet and reliable phone service aren't always effective for communication.

“Our constituency, which is the same size as the MD of Bonnyville with Bonnyville, Cold Lake, and Glendon, we're about 19 per cent below the average population for a constituency. I told them I think even if you have up to 25 per cent below the average it's okay because of the geography and size of the rural constituencies.”

Of course, while rural politicians made the case for more representation, commission member Laurie Livingstone countered that the urban politicians will also do the same.

“We hear urban MLAs are overworked,” said Livingstone, adding that those constituents also have reason to be upset or feel unfairly represented. “That's the argument we hear from there – why should my vote count less than my cousin that lives in Peace River, or wherever?”

Commission chair, Justice Myra Bielby, posed questions to presenters on what sort of alterations would make sense if a boundary change were to happen.

“They asked me if we were to be able to absorb another part of a constituency, where could we do it, and I told them nowhere. I think our constituency is large enough, and I don't think another municipality should be divided into two constituencies,” said Krywiak. “They're looking for ideas but I hope their mind isn't already made up that they're going to decrease the number of rurals.”

Despite stressing that no decisions have been made yet, Sobolewski explained there was underlying theme of fairness and a push for every riding to have a population of 48,884. Also getting the feeling the commission is leaning towards increasing the urban constituencies, he made his thoughts known on the matter – calling it a “fallacy” should they decide to decrease rural Alberta representation.

“I said leave Edmonton and Calgary. Let them grow on a proportionate basis, leave the constituencies alone... and have a number of MLAs that can work for rural Alberta versus just a concentrated effort.”

The commission still has a number of stops left on this round of public hearings, as well as more coming up in July/August. An interim report will be available on the commission's website, www.abebc.ca, by May 31, with the final report being posted by Oct. 31.

Residents can also provide their input on the electoral boundary review by sending an online or written submission by Feb. 8.

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