Report proposes the consolidation of rural ridings in Alberta
By Kate Ayers
Staff Reporter
Farms.com
Proposed changes to Alberta’s electoral ridings could have significant implications for rural residents.
The Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (AEBC) released its final report last week for revisions to Alberta’s 87 electoral constituencies and boundaries. The commission’s recommendation is that “the province consolidate rural ridings to create three new urban ones,” according to yesterday’s Daily Herald-Tribune article.
“Effectively what they’ve done is they’ve taken three (Members of the Legislative Assembly) from rural areas, so therefore the rural is losing its voice by three MLAs,” Leanne Beaupre, Reeve at County of Grande Prairie, said in the article.
The Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC) is concerned that inadequate rural representation will lead to weakened rural communities, which play an important role in the province’s economy, according to last week’s AAMDC release.
“In alignment with previous Supreme Court decisions, the highest priority for the Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission must be ensuring Alberta’s diverse communities are effectively represented,” Al Kemmere, AAMDC president, said in the release.
“This requires a fine balancing act that must weigh different criteria such as population, community characteristics, community history, and natural geography.”
Additional ridings may be warranted due to increasing populations in Alberta’s two major cities. These new ridings should not, however, come at the expense of rural ridings, according to AAMDC.
Rural Albertans should have the opportunity to voice their issues and concerns.
“On a general basis, I think we just need to somehow keep engaging with MLAs but that is where our concern comes in. There’s going to be fewer voices to actually advocate for rural issues,” Kemmere said to Farms.com today.
“Primarily, we as an association and other agriculture-rural industry associations, need to keep advocating to the government. We just have less voices to go to (in order) to do that.
AAMDC is apprehensive of the creation of more urban-only constituencies. This approach could result in more urban-only MLAs with little knowledge or understanding of rural issues.
To balance unique rural voices with the growing urban ones, AAMDC and other rural associations have to “try to be at the table as much as we can, which I think is one of the challenges.”
In order to help accomplish this goal, “The AAMDC has recommended use of urban-rural balanced or blended constituencies so more MLAs have both rural and urban responsibilities and (understand) better the rural-urban interconnectedness and dependency so important to Alberta’s communities and regions,” the release stated.
However, AAMDC does appreciate the AEBC’s desire to align electoral boundaries with municipal boundaries where appropriate. This alignment will allow municipal and provincial leaders to effectively work together to better serve their ridings.