Alberta’s chief electoral officer is suggesting in a letter to legislature Speaker Ric McIver that the province’s next general election should be held with the current electoral boundaries, or be postponed.
Gordon McClure says in the letter to McIver, which was shared by the Opposition NDP, that either way, Elections Alberta will get sufficient time to execute the provincial election, currently scheduled for Oct. 18, 2027, with integrity and safeguards in place.
McClure’s recommendations come ahead of a contentious report on new electoral boundaries being released next week.
“I urge all Members to consider the time required for implementation as deliberations concerning electoral boundaries proceed,” McClure said in the letter, which was dated Friday.
“A timely and definitive resolution, together with an appropriate contingency plan should additional time be required, is essential to protecting the readiness and successful delivery of Alberta’s next Provincial General Election.”
The letter is also addressed to Alberta MLAs.
McClure said there’s already friction over the new boundaries suggested in the forthcoming report, which has been put before an all-party legislative committee and is set to be tabled in the legislature on
Monday, and those disagreements could create delays.
He said a typical provincial vote requires up to 18 months of preparations, and the agency has been stretched thin in recent months, for reasons including the referendum on separation earlier this month.
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The report was already the subject of a heated debate in the legislature this past week.
Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said, after being briefed on it, that it gerrymanders ridings in two cities in southern Alberta — Lethbridge and Calgary.
Gerrymandering is a tactic that sees voting districts designed not to reflect geography or population patterns but to concentrate or fragment voters to benefit a particular political party.
Two members on the committee behind the report said the suggested ridings draw a line between rural and urban voters.
Recent provincial elections have seen the UCP dominate in rural areas and smaller cities, while the NDP has controlled Edmonton. The two have battled for advantage in Calgary.
Nenshi said if those boundaries are redrawn after passing a legislature vote, NDP support would dilute in favour of the UCP. He said his party would challenge the ridings in court on constitutional grounds.
The Constitution protects voters’ rights to effective representation.
Nenshi also said the report suggests the panel in charge of drafting new boundaries appeared to receive instructions from the government and wasn’t independent.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith accused Nenshi of questioning the integrity of judges, including Brian O’Ferrall, a former judge and the chair of the panel responsible for the redraw.
Smith also denied accusations from the NDP that her government is pulling strings to manipulate the vote in her favour.
She told Nenshi to quit complaining and begin campaigning.
A call for a new report and panel reviewing boundaries came after a previous bipartisan boundary commission was split in its recommendations after months of public consultations.
The justice minister’s office responded on Saturday that it is reviewing McClure’s letter and will have more to say once the review is complete.
The NDP remained vocal ahead ahead of the weekend.
“For months, the Alberta NDP Caucus has been warning against UCP attempts to violate the democratic rights of Albertans and bring in election maps only meant to deliver a win for the UCP in the next election no matter what voters want,” Nenshi said in a statement Friday.
“Now Elections Alberta says they just don’t have enough time to implement the UCP’s rigged map in time for the … fixed election date — a date already extended by Danielle Smith to give herself six more months in power.”
In 2024, Smith’s government moved the fixed election date every four years from May to October, in order to avoid clashing with major natural disasters like wildfires or floods.
—With files from Lisa Johnson and Jack Farrell
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