The review by the committee responsible for these revisions recommends moving Banff and Canmore into separate ridings, bringing back rural ridings, adding a new district northeast of Calgary and two more on the outskirts of Alberta’s two major cities. The independent, nonpartisan commission is tasked with reviewing riding boundaries based on the 10-year census. The Alberta panel was also tasked with recommending sites for three new routes, bringing the total number of federal sites to 37. The committee considers population growth, communities of interest and the history of the area when proposing new geographic boundaries. Alberta’s population grew from 3,645,257 in 2011 to 4,262,635 in 2021, according to Statistics Canada. The proposal would put Banff in the riding of Yellowhead with places like Jasper and Hinton and leave Canmore in a district with Cochrane and Olds. “We thought it was strange to be separated from Canmore,” said Cory DiManno, Banff’s mayor. “We like to say we’re a community of two cities.” DiManno said she sees the benefit of being attached to Jasper, the other national park town, or the possibility of having two MPs representing the Canmore and Banff area. Banff’s submission to the upcoming hearings on the proposals will include a question about Jasper, Banff and Canmore participating in the same riding.
Divisions based on population
The decision around Banff/Canmore was made based on population distribution, according to Judge Bruce McDonald, the commission’s chairman. “There was definitely some expression that Banff and Canmore have a lot in common, and maybe Banff has more in common with Canmore than Jasper, even though they’re both in national parks.” In 2021, the Conservatives won this seat (now called Banff-Airdrie) with 57 percent of the vote. “When you put Banff and Canmore in the same area, we don’t see the same kind of conservative dominance that we see in other ridings,” said Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University, explaining how shifting riding boundaries could change the dynamic. . Corrie DiManno, mayor of Banff, says her town and Canmore are like a community. (Town of Banff) The commission is also proposing three new routes: Calgary-McKnight, Airdrie-Chestermere and Spruce Grove-Leduc. The new Calgary riding will consist of pieces of the existing Skyview and Forest Lawn ridings. McDonald said the location was chosen because of the high population growth trends in that area. Skyview is a Liberal seat and Forest Lawn is Conservative. “The only area where I think there could potentially be a political impact is the addition of this new region in the northeast,” said Lisa Young, a political scientist at the University of Calgary. “Most of these [others] the Conservative vote is so strong federally that you are unlikely to see changes in results simply as a result of redistribution.” The city would have a total of 11 ridings. The commission studied giving a second new riding to Calgary, but decided against it to stay on a closer margin to a population quota of 115,000.
Open minded approach
Every electoral district in Alberta had to adjust to this round of assessments, the commission said. The committee was trying to keep the population per riding as close to 115,000 as possible – and in the proposal, no riding is more than five per cent above or below that number. The commission also recommends adjusting riding boundaries in Edmonton to better confine these areas to city limits, similar to Calgary’s existing facility. The proposal would also significantly redefine many of the boundaries in rural ridings such as Bow River, Medicine Hat and Grande Prairie. Airdrie is one of the fastest growing communities in the country and will be another new riding to be added to Calgary’s northeast suburbs. The new area in Spruce Grove will expand to include smaller communities west of Edmonton. The town of Canmore, Alta., may be split from its neighbor, Banff, in the proposed realignment of Alberta’s federal ridings. (Bryan Labby/CBC) “We’ve done our best, but we’re not perfect,” McDonald said. “We’re approaching this whole thing with a very open mind. We’re here to listen to the people of Alberta.” The recommendations will be put to public hearings across the province during September. The committee will incorporate the feedback and deliver a final report to the House of Commons by December 15.
