Political lines will draw Cochrane and Airdrie closer together following the final recommendations for electoral boundaries.
The Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission report was presented to the Legislative Assembly Oct. 19 following a year-long task for the commission to review the existing electoral boundaries for the province’s 87 electoral constituencies.
The new boundaries are to be implemented in time for the 2019 provincial election.
The current Banff-Cochrane constituency will be separated – becoming Airdrie-Cochrane, with the western portion of the city and the surrounding rural population between that and Cochrane combined.
“The Town of Cochrane is a growing municipality so we would have preferred a revised electoral area in which the Town of Cochrane would be the largest urban centre within the electoral area as that would improve our representation at the provincial level,” explained town CAO Dave Devana, reiterating former mayor Ivan Brooker’s concerns.
Coun. Morgan Nagel added that he was relieved to see “Cochrane was not lumped in with Calgary.”
Banff-Cochrane NDP MLA Cam Westhead said he is still reviewing the proposed electoral boundaries but that he will continue to advocate for Cochrane in the legislature – even though the ridings would separate and his home of Bragg Creek would be included in the proposed Banff-Kananaskis, which would include both Tsuu T’ina and Stoney First Nations to “strengthen the Indigenous voice” and keep the common concerns shared by mountain towns together.
“The commission based their recommendations on feedback from the public with respect to population and keeping communities of similar interests together,” said Westhead.
“In particular, submissions indicated a preference for mountain communities to be kept together and suburban centres together while not putting them with Calgary.”
Constituencies must encompass a population of not less than 10 per cent nor more than 25 per cent of the provincial average of 46,697. This formula is determined by dividing the population (4,062,609 in 2016) by the 87 constituencies.
With a population increase of more than 10,000 since 2009/2010 to 56,399, the Banff-Cochrane constituency is pushing 21 per cent of the constituency average.
Visit abebc.ca for more.
