Draft changes to Alberta’s provincial ridings sees Edmonton, Calgary gain seats

The Alberta legislature is shown in Edmonton, on Thursday Oct. 31, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

A new report recommends Alberta’s two major cities get more seats in the provincial legislature in time for the 2027 election.

The report comes from a commission tasked by the province to study Alberta’s existing ridings and determine a fair way to add two additional seats, bringing Alberta’s total to 89 from 87.

The commission’s interim report, released Tuesday, recommends two new seats in Calgary and one in Edmonton. It also recommends a new seat just outside Calgary to account for sharp population growth in the suburban cities of Airdrie and Cochrane.

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It also looks to merge four rural ridings into two.

“The commission’s view is that this is an imperfect solution to an impossible problem,” the report says. “But we consider this the best way to divide Alberta into 89 electoral divisions to achieve effective representation for all Albertans.”

The report was born out of an Alberta law requiring electoral ridings to be reviewed at least every eight years.

In the report, the commission says that since it is limited to creating just two new seats overall, it needs to reduce rural seats. To do that, it recommends merging two districts in northern Alberta and another rural merger centrally.

Of the four seats proposed to merge, three are held by members of Premier Danielle Smith’s cabinet.

With the need for new seats in certain areas and merged seats in others, the commission wrote it’s looking to make changes to all but nine of Alberta’s current districts to make sure population figures are balanced.

Among the changes being proposed is to create what the commission calls “hybrid” ridings — divisions that include both urban and rural voters — in Edmonton and Calgary. One and three such ridings are being pitched in each respective city.

It’s a common practice outside of Alberta’s two major cities currently, including Smith’s riding of Brooks-Medicine Hat, which combines parts of Medicine Hat with rural demographics north of the city.

This combination wasn’t permitted in Edmonton and Calgary until Smith’s government passed legislation last year that removed the provision. Critics had said it was a move designed to dilute the voting power of urban residents, who have historically voted for non-conservative parties.

The commission acknowledged the criticism in its report, saying the ridings can be used in ways “that undermine effective representation,” but it also wrote pitting urban and rural areas against each other only leads to “polarization.”

“Having (members of the legislative assembly) who represent both a city and areas not in a city may cause MLAs to understand issues important to all aspects of Alberta society.”

The report says one of those hybrid Calgary ridings would connect the nearby town of Okotoks to a neighbourhood in south Calgary. Currently, the riding held by Agriculture Minister R.J. Sigurdson stops at the city’s boundary.

Edmonton’s proposed hybrid riding would be a new district altogether, as the commission is proposing a merger of two inner-city ridings to make room for another seat in the capital on top of the new one it’s already looking to add.

This new hybrid riding will see an area in the western part of Edmonton be connected to Enoch Cree Nation, located just outside the city limits.

The commission wrote it is “particularly intrigued” to see how this district would work out, but it notes that Enoch’s leadership didn’t ask for the change and feedback is wanted.

More public hearings will be held on the commission’s recommendations before a final report is submitted.

The commission’s work drew some criticism from a member of Smith’s cabinet Wednesday.

Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams, who represents one of the rural ridings planned for merger, said northern Alberta couldn’t afford to lose another representative.

“I understand growing, but the dismantling and deleting is something I’m opposed to,” he said.

“We are going to give feedback to the commission to make sure that that independent body hears clearly the north’s interest as a whole.”

Independent member Scott Sinclair, who was booted from the United Conservative caucus earlier this year, was also critical of the potential loss of northern representation.

Sinclair said the changes proposed for the north were “reckless and disappointing.”

He added he was also concerned that First Nations communities were being removed from his riding.

“I think that’s going to be disappointing and harmful to areas that are often ignored and underfunded,” he said.

Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi told reporters he’s a bit relieved with the report, noting when the government changed the rules ahead of the commission’s review, he thought it was an attempt to gerrymander boundaries to help the UCP’s electoral chances.

“The commission members have been quite fair in thinking about some very real constraints about population growth,” Nenshi said.

“I don’t like (hybrid ridings) on principle, but it seems the commission’s been quite judicious.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2025.