Danielle Smith defends upcoming government motion to reassess riding boundaries

EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is defending her government’s upcoming motion that, if passed, will establish a new commission to take another shot at redrawing provincial riding boundaries.

Smith says the proposal to establish a new panel, that will reassess a previous bipartisan panel’s recommendations on new boundaries, is about securing effective representation for rural Alberta.

“Back in the olden days, you had to be able to have a geographic area that was not so big that you couldn’t ride across it on a horse in a day. That was what was deemed to be effective representation,” she told her provincewide radio show on 880 CHED and QR Calgary on Saturday.

But she said many rural ridings have become too complex.

“I represent a portion of Medicine Hat, I represent Brooks, Bassano, Duchess, Rosemary, County of Newell, many small hamlets, as well as three school boards. So think of the complexity of trying to effectively represent that many interests.

“(A new panel) makes sure that Calgary and Edmonton, which were high growth areas, get their proper representation but it also ensures that rural is properly represented as well and I hope all MLAs will pass it.”

She also said a new panel made up of legislature members — a majority from Smith’s caucus — is being proposed because the bipartisan panel’s members are “exhausted” and its chair Dallas Miller, a judge, has indicated he doesn’t want to be partake in a new review.

“So we would need to have a new head of that commission and then some new appointees as well and a fresh perspective,” she said.

The bipartisan panel’s report was delivered to the legislature last month, but the document was full of internal conflict.

In it, the panel’s UCP appointees formed a minority opinion. 

They proposed creating more than a dozen rural and urban hybrid ridings and maintaining the rural seats the majority sought to nix.

Miller and the panel’s NDP appointees, who formed the majority, suggested new boundaries in the report that added seats in Edmonton and Calgary to match the province’s shifting population, condensed rural seats by two, and also recommended some rural and urban hybrid ridings, though far fewer than what the UCP panellists had suggested.

The majority of panel members said the minority’s suggestions favoured the rural-dominant UCP at the ballot box.

Miller, in his own separate recommendation, urged the government not to move forward with the minority’s maps.

If the province couldn’t accept the majority’s opinion, he suggested increasing the number of legislature seats by four, bringing the total to 91, rather than two to preserve rural representation while using the majority report as a starting point.

Smith called Miller’s suggestion to increase the seats “sound advice” on Saturday.

“It’s pretty clear what the judge has suggested the areas of dispute were. And he’s pretty clear about what he thinks would be able to be done to bridge the gap. And that’s what we want to get to … The judge has come up with a reasonable way of accommodating the minority and the majority … ,” she said.

“(The motion proposing a new panel) is going to be debated next week and members of the legislative assembly will have a chance to vote on that. They can vote it up or vote it down.”

Smith has said the motion will propose a fall deadline for the panel to map out new boundaries.

Elections Alberta has said the agency could need nearly two years after it receives new riding maps to update its computer systems, internal election management software and public-facing websites while also planning for new polling stations and returning offices as the clock ticks toward an October 2027 vote.

On Saturday, the agency posted an educational message on X regarding riding boundaries.

“Q: Does Elections Alberta set the electoral boundaries?” the post said.

“A: No. Typically, the Electoral Boundaries Commission recommends boundaries which are approved by the Legislature. Elections Alberta implements the final approved electoral boundaries.”

The Opposition NDP has said Smith’s government is proposing a new panel to allow the UCP to redraw boundaries in its favour ahead of the provincial election.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2026.

— With files from Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson