Red Deer to (almost) remain two constituencies with electoral boundary changes

After the UCP endorsed the final recommended changes in the Legislature on Wednesday, the province is indeed proposed to go to 91.

But it won’t be Red Deer seeing the split; that honour goes instead to Lethbridge, which under the majority report was set to remain as two ridings. Instead, it will become four, with three largely mixed in with rural ridings.

The same is happening with some constituencies on the edge of Calgary.

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A look at constituency changes across Central Alberta

According to the final report to the Legislative Assembly, issued by the Independent Advisory Panel on Electoral Boundaries, the Red Deer area will still see a variety of changes.

Red Deer-North (population: 53,798) – Remains largely the same; however, adds a portion of land north of Hwy 11A and west of the QEII, which the city annexed in recent years.

Red Deer-South (population: 59,121) – Remains largely the same; however, a portion at the southern end where Westerner Park is located will be in a different constituency called Blackfalds-Innisfail.

Blackfalds-Innisfail (population: 44,536) – Surrounds Red Deer on all sides; includes Westerner Park area on the south end of the city of Red Deer; loses land on southern end to Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, including community of Bowden; adds relatively small tracts of land on western edge.

Lacombe-Sylvan Lake (population: 54,055) – Replaces the current Lacombe-Ponoka and Innisfail-Sylvan Lake; includes entirety of Gull Lake, which was previously split down the middle north-south.

Wetaskiwin-Ponoka (population: 54,034) – Replaces the current Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin and adds Ponoka; also includes Rimbey.

Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills (population: 50,780) – Remains largely the same; however, adds a small strip of land at the northern end to include the community of Bowden, which was part of Innisfail-Sylvan Lake.

Drumheller-Stettler (population: 43,570) – Remains largely the same; however, adds a tract of land at the northern end including small communities like Forestburg and Battle Bend that are currently part of the Camrose constituency

Camrose (population: 54,653) – Loses area at south end to redrawn Drumheller-Stettler; adds land on western side to include New Sarepta and Hay Lakes.

Rocky Mountain House-Sundre (population: 31,540) – Was set to include the city of Lacombe… however, that idea was dropped; also loses Rimbey and Buck Lake; adds land on southern end closer to Banff.

Views from the mayor

Speaking with rdnewsNOW Thursday, Jefferies shared that the province — perplexingly — did not consult with the city on removing Westerner Park from Red Deer-South.

“That was a bit of a surprise to us. It begs the question: Why? And we don’t know the answer yet, but Westerner is a very important part of our city and region, and I want to make sure it’s represented in the best way,” she stated.

“It makes more sense to me, since it’s part of the city proper, that it would be within a boundary that is city-oriented, and not a separate, distinct boundary.”

On the upside, she remarked, the city will technically have three MLAs to vouch for it, and for city officials and residents to work and correspond with.

On the matter of integrity, which Jefferies questioned back in April, she said it’s understandable why there are some skeptics with respect to the UCP’s motivations.

“For me, the integrity of the process [was what] we had in place with the commission, going out and touring the province, meeting with people and considering what boundary changes made sense from a population perspective. That process has served us well,” Jefferies said.

“I question why we needed to do more study on it, but obviously the government felt that there were reasons to reconsider.”

by Josh Hall

Red Deer to (almost) remain two constituencies with electoral boundary changes

A look at constituency changes across Central Alberta

Views from the mayor

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