Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards has some qualms with an impending adjustment of his riding’s boundaries.
Every 10 years, the boundaries of Canada’s federal constituencies are adjusted to account for regional population changes. This is because Elections Canada’s guidelines call for an average per-riding population of 110,000 people, though this can vary depending on geography, population density, and other factors.
Alberta’s recent population increase means that this year’s upcoming boundary reconfigurations mean the province is getting three additional ridings. While Richards believes having three more Alberta MPs in the House of Commons will be a good thing overall, he said he is concerned with how a proposed redrawing of Alberta’s federal constituencies would impact his and other nearby ridings.
“It will have a big impact on our area,” Richards said. “I’m glad we’re getting three new seats in Alberta – that’s a good thing – but the way they’ve drawn up the boundaries, I don’t think it makes a lot of sense for our area.”
Most notably, Richards said the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission’s proposal means his riding – which extends from west of Lake Louise near the Alberta-British Columbia border to east of Airdrie – would be redrawn in a way that separates Banff and Canmore, as well as Airdrie and Cochrane, into separate ridings.
Instead, Airdrie would become part of a new riding (Airdrie-Chestermere) that includes communities to the east of Calgary. Cochrane would form a new riding alongside Canmore and Olds, and Banff would join the Yellowhead riding, which is Alberta's third-largest riding and stretches all the way to include Drayton Valley, Edson, Mayerthorpe, Jasper, and Hinton.
Richards said he feels Airdrie and Cochrane have much in common, and should be kept together in the same federal riding as a result.
“There’s a lot of cooperation going on in the two municipalities in terms of a variety of different things,” he said. “Their [chambers of commerce] work together quite closely, when you think about kids’ sports, there’s a lot of…common teams, and there’s just a whole host of things like that where they have a lot of commonalities and similarities. They’re both fast-growing communities, and both have a lot of commuters who go to Calgary.”
Richards said his ideal solution for a new federal riding would essentially be to combine the areas that currently encompass two provincial constituencies – Airdrie-East and Airdrie-Cochrane. He argued if you take these two ridings and make some minor changes on the east side, that would put the new proposed federal riding at a population of 115,000 to 120,000 people – just over the advised population, but within the five per cent variance of what Elections Canada allows for.
“It works perfectly as far as population goes and obviously it’s just a better fit for the communities,” Richards said.
The MP noted public hearings have already been held about the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission’s first draft, but that the commission was still accepting written submissions and feedback from residents until the end of October.
“Once they’ve finished that, they’ll create a second draft,” Richards said.
Bow River riding expands
Another MP whose riding would be impacted by the proposed adjustments is Bow River representative Martin Shields. The rural riding of Bow River lies to the east of Banff-Airdrie, and as currently drawn, stretches as far as Taber to the south, Kneehill County to the north, and County of Newell to the east.
Shields noted the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission’s first draft of the newly drawn boundaries would make his riding even more vast than it already is. The larger the riding is, the more challenges it presents in representing constituents.
“Obviously Airdrie and Chestermere have grown significantly in the last 10 years, so in the commission’s minds, it’s natural for them to put those two communities together,” Shields said. “Not only Chestermere, we’re talking Langdon, Conrich, Irricana, Beiseker, and Indus – a number of communities within Rocky View County.”
Taking out Chestermere from Shields’ riding means adding more than a dozen other communities to make up for it, according to the MP. Under the proposed changes, the Bow River riding would extend as south as Picture Butte, and as north as Innisfail.
“When you have 60 communities in your riding and take a few out but add another 15 to 20 more, it makes it very hard for an MP to represent such a big, broad area,” he said. “That’s my concern.”
Shields says one solution that would prevent such drastic changes would be to widen the population variance that Elections Canada allows for from five per cent plus-or-minus to 10 per cent – and even more for rural ridings.
“A supreme court ruling many years ago said they couldn’t vary more than 25 per cent. But plus-or-minus five? That’s really tight when you get into rural areas,” he said.
Echoing Richards’ comments that Cochrane and Airdrie and Banff and Canmore should stay under the same ridings, Shields also said a crucial factor that needs to be considered during boundary readjustments is “communities of interest.” What that means is ensuring nearby communities that cooperate and collaborate are kept in the same riding.
To see the proposed boundary adjustments, visit bit.ly/3Du3O5B
