MLA disappointed in final EBC proposal

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

The Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission’s (EBC) final report proves a double-edged sword for the local constituency, where a proposal for new boundaries seem favourable to Strathmore but leaves Wheatland County divided.
In the final report, the commission consolidated rural ridings to create three new urban ones, resulting in the division of Wheatland County into three electoral districts.
While Chestermere-Strathmore demonstrates more of a natural pairing that previously proposed Drumheller-Strathmore, Wheatland County communities would be swallowed up by Cardston-Siksika, Chestermere-Strathmore and Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
After months of lobbying to preserve municipal boundaries and streamline redistribution to bring the population closer to the provincial average, Strathmore-Brooks MLA Derek Fildebrandt was disappointed by the U-turn in recommendation.
“Every single presenter was unanimous in the recommendation that Wheatland County should be kept intact as a single unit within a constituency, regardless of which community it’s attached to, and the NDP’s commission decided against that,” said Fildebrandt, who began gathering support to keep Strathmore-Brooks unchanged since the interim report was released five months ago.
“I think the commission simply failed to understand local circumstances in Wheatland County, or deliberately ignored them for political reasons. Anytime we see this in other areas, it’s bad for local residents. When the county wants to deal with a provincial issue, now they have to deal with three MLAs.”
The commission’s interim report suggested adjusting constituency boundaries to create Drumheller-Strathmore, which would have resulted in a population increase of 7,500 and cause overpopulation by 16 per cent in comparison to the provincial average.
Furthermore, the constituency would increase to nearly five times its size, or the equivalent of Taiwan with 36,000 square kilometres, result in 16 per cent less voter recognition and reduced time for an MLA to spend on local issues.
Since its revision, the report states that 49 of the province’s 87 electoral divisions would now have a population within five per cent of the provincial average, and 74 divisions would have a population within 10 per cent.
Yet Wheatland County Reeve Glenn Koester is baffled by the decision to pair Strathmore with Chestermere when Strathmore is growing in industry and has numerous businesses rural in nature complimenting Wheatland County.
“I was completely shocked,” he said. “I can’t see anything good coming out of it, but maybe I’m wrong. I thought it was great the way it was. I don’t know why it’s changed. I’m not happy, we all wanted to be in one riding. We sent them a letter and told them ‘yes it’s very nice, leave it alone,’ and evidently people are complaining and they split us up into three.”
Koester said once he meets with the new council on Monday they will talk about preparing another letter.
The report had been criticized by the opposition for focusing primarily on population. Therefore, Fildebrandt is concerned about the challenges facing hamlets and villages that make up small fractions of a constituency where local issues may lose representation – specifically Gleichen, where the proposed constituency of Cardston-Siksika stretches from Strathmore to Montana.
“I’m quite disappointed with the commission’s work,” Fildebrandt added. “It still has to be passed by the legislature and the legislature can amend it, but it’d be quite extraordinary, and I think inappropriate, for politicians to be specifically drawing the lines on the map. Myself and the county council were clear that they wanted to deal with a single MLA on provincial issues. The drawing of constituencies should be as apolitical as possible and not advantage one party or another. I don’t believe that’s what we saw.”
Fildebrandt asked for support from the Strathmore and Wheatland County councils prior to the final report. The county sent a letter stating their intention to stay as a whole, while Strathmore passed a motion for then Mayor Michael Ell to attend a meeting at the Electoral Boundaries Commission.
The EBC report was submitted to the speaker of the legislative assembly for consideration by MLAs on whether the report will be adopted in part or in whole. Fildebrandt noted he will oppose the boundary change in the legislature, and said if the report is adopted he will continue to do his best to represent the local constituency regardless of boundary changes.