Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission Issues Final Report
25 June 2010 | Electoral Boundaries
The Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (the “Commission”) submitted its final report to the speaker of the Alberta legislature on 24 March 2010.
The Commission was required by section 6.1 of the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act (Alberta) (the “Act”) to submit a report setting out the area, boundaries and names of the proposed electoral divisions and reasons for the proposed boundaries.
In Alberta, as with most Canadian jurisdictions, an independent commission, rather than legislative committees, recommend what the electoral boundaries should be. The composition of the Commission in Alberta is determined by section 2 of the Act. The Commission was chaired by a former Chief Judge of the Alberta Provincial Court. The other 4 members of the Commission were appointed by the speaker on the recommendation of the Cabinet and the official opposition.
The Commission was required by section 13 of the Act to divide Alberta into 87 electoral divisions.
In creating the boundaries, the Commission was required to follow certain criteria set out in the Act.
According to section 15(1) of the Act, the population of a proposed electoral division must not be more than 25% above nor more than 25% below the average population of all the proposed electoral divisions. There is an exception for this rule for up to 4 districts with smaller populations for large, sparsely populated regions.
In addition to the population size considerations, the Commission is required to consider the factors set out in section 15, which are as follows:
- the requirement for effective representation as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
- sparsity and density of population,
- common community interests and community organizations, including those of Indian reserves and Metis settlements,
- wherever possible, the existing community boundaries within the cities of Edmonton and Calgary,
- wherever possible, the existing municipal boundaries,
- the number of municipalities and other local authorities,
- geographical features, including existing road systems, and
- the desirability of understandable and clear boundaries.
The Report sets out the proposed electoral boundaries, and details the public consultation process the Commission went through in coming up with its recommendations.
The majority of the Commission determined that the 87 districts should be allocated so that Calgary had 25, Edmonton 19 and the rest of the province 43. One of the commissioners issued a separate report recommending one more seat for Edmonton and one less for the rest of the province.
Finally, in addition to recommending new electoral boundaries, the Commission recommended a new way in defining the electoral boundaries. Alberta has traditionally used the “metes and bounds” method of defining electoral boundaries. This method defines boundaries by written description. The Commission has recommended replacing this wordy method with maps.