Alberta's new electoral map is out — and the NDP promises to fight it in court

The report of the independent advisory panel on Alberta's electoral boundaries was tabled in the legislature on Monday, Nov. 2, and released publicly the same day — turning a fight over lines on a map into a fight over the rules of the province's next election.

The legislature's Select Special Committee on Electoral Boundaries confirmed it provided the panel's report to the assembly on Nov. 2, closing the committee's mandate. The panel's report and the committee's own report are now public record, after the panel submitted its work to the committee on Oct. 22.

What the new map does

The proposed map grows the legislature from 87 seats to 91, according to reports on the released document. Two rural ridings previously proposed for removal — Lac Ste. Anne and Rocky Mountain House-Sundre — are restored, while three urban ridings in Calgary would be combined with surrounding rural communities.

In Lethbridge, the city's two voting districts would be spliced into four ridings. Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi said about 40 per cent of people in Lethbridge would no longer vote with people who live in their city, but with people in rural areas hundreds of kilometres away.

A panel divided

The five-person panel was sharply split. Its chair, retired Alberta Court of Appeal justice Brian O'Ferrall, wrote in an executive summary that the panel's proposals were worthy of the legislature's consideration on their merits. He described the minority's response as a polemic that passed judgment on the constitutionality of the panel's process and proposals beyond the panel's mandate.

The minority — University of Alberta constitutional law professor Gerard Kennedy and former Okotoks town councillor Brent Robinson, the panel's NDP-appointed members — wrote that several of the new recommended ridings would be constitutionally fraught and would likely be challenged in court. In their words, the courts are likely to become involved, and there is a real possibility the courts end up imposing a map for the next provincial election.

The NDP promises court

Speaking to reporters after the report was tabled, Nenshi said he believes the report is illegal and unconstitutional, and promised a legal challenge if Premier Danielle Smith's government passes the map. He said the NDP cannot challenge the boundaries until the legislature passes them, and warned that if the government passes what he called a Trump-style, MAGA gerrymandered map, the party would see the government in court.

The government has rejected the criticism. The dispute follows the Smith government's decision earlier this year to set aside the majority report of the bipartisan Electoral Boundaries Commission and instead create a legislature committee with a government majority and an external advisory panel to draw a new map.

The clock is still the problem

The tabling does not resolve the warning from Elections Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure wrote to all MLAs on Oct. 30 that his office typically needs 12 to 18 months to prepare for a general election, and asked the legislature to either keep the current boundaries or extend the fixed election date. Justice Minister Mickey Amery answered on Nov. 1 that the government has no intention of changing the Oct. 18, 2027 election date, and said the timetable leaves Elections Alberta approximately 320 days to prepare.

The map is expected to be approved before the fall session ends on Dec. 3, if the government adopts it. Any court challenge would follow passage — leaving Elections Alberta to plan a vote under lines that may still be litigated.