Edmonton is getting one new provincial riding, meaning the city will have 20 MLAs at the legislature. The final report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission was released Thursday and is recommending a new riding of Edmonton-South be created.
Scroll down to read the full report.
The constituency would have Gateway Boulevard and Highway 2 running down the middle of it. During its deliberations, the commission panel took into consideration the annexation of Leduc County.
“Between the date of release of the interim report and the preparation of this final report… changes made to the annexation agreement resulted in Edmonton’s southern boundary stopping at Highway 19 rather than at the southern boundary of the Edmonton International Airport,” the report said.
“The final recommendations in relation to the constituencies of Edmonton-South and Edmonton-South West reflect this change.”
It also took into consideration the ongoing talks between Edmonton and Beaumont.
“Similarly, the majority amended its interim recommendation as to the southern boundary of the proposed Edmonton-Ellerslie constituency. As the Town of Beaumont has now annexed nine quarter-sections of land adjacent to its former northern border, the constituency of Edmonton-Ellerslie would extend to the resulting new northern boundary of the town only, excluding this annexed land.”
The commission found that Edmonton’s riding population matched almost perfectly into the average Alberta riding population of 46,803 to increase our ridings from 19 to 20. Edmonton’s population is 899,447, according to the City of Edmonton website.
The Calgary area is getting two more seats, one in the city called Calgary-North East and another on the outskirts immediately to the north and west called Airdrie-Cochrane. The average Alberta population worked out to Calgary getting 26.5 seats, so the commission decided to increase Calgary from 25 to 26 seats and add the additional one just outside the city.
The report said the three urban ridings come at the expense of rural Alberta by taking one away in the central northeast area of the province north and east of Edmonton, another from the central west area north of Red Deer and west of Edmonton, and a third in the southeast part of the province, east of Highway 2 and south of Calgary.
Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries, and Names for Alberta by Anonymous TdomnV9OD4 on Scribd
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