EDMONTON — Members of Alberta's electoral boundaries review panel were appointed by the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee on Tuesday, and the Alberta NDP claim that the UCP's appointees further underscore concerns that Danielle Smith's party will use the process to rig the next election. "What I think became incredibly clear today is that the UCP intends to cheat," said MLA Kathleen Ganley, Calgary-Mountain View. "That has been clear all along from the outset of this process, but this makes it so much worse." .Each party was given the opportunity to appoint two Albertans to serve on the review panel tasked with designing recommended electoral boundary maps, which the UCP claims will be based on the initial boundary commission's majority-recommended maps but with the addition of two rural districts. The UCP appointed former Member of Parliament and current Alberta lobbyist Monte Solberg, and a senior strategist in emergency management, Darwin Durnie. The Alberta NDP countered by appointing law professor Gerard Kennedy and former Okotoks town councillor Brent Robinson. UCP representatives serving on the review committee raised no concerns over the NDP's appointees; the opposition did not return the favour. .They raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest with Solberg, who simultaneously serves on the panel and lobbies government officials, including Finance Minister Jason Nixon, whose district was erased by the initial commission's majority maps. "He's lobbying people who have a direct interest in the maps," said MLA Christina Gray, Edmonton-Mill Woods. "So, what that creates is incentives in the wrong place, incentives to essentially engage in favour trading in quid pro quo, and that's what generates the conflict of interest." Durnie was of particular concern to the NDP because he submitted maps during the commission's design process that made generous use of hybrid ridings to combine parts of Calgary with rural Alberta regions stretching to the Rocky Mountains. "It intentionally drew all these skinny long lines that make no sense, that are transparent gerrymandering in order to dilute the voices of Calgarians," said Ganley. "The point is that they don't want to respect the right of Calgarians to vote, and I think that that is egregious." .Premier Danielle Smith and the UCP have said they have initiated a second boundaries review process with the intent of following the initial reports' addendum recommendation to take the majority maps and reinsert two ridings to rural Alberta. The NDP have rejected Smith's claimed intent from the outset, and on Tuesday said the UCP's panel appointees further solidify that they have no intent to follow their word and will instead make only slight modifications to the majority maps to better represent rural Alberta. "The actions speak louder than the words," Gray said. They received further ammunition regarding the gerrymandering claims on Tuesday when the Alberta NDP proposed numerous motions they claim were intended to clarify the directive given to the review panel and ensure that their recommended maps follow Smith's claimed intent. Those motions included efforts to add a directive for the panel to meticulously follow the addendum recommendation from the initial commission, to give regular updates to the cabinet on the progress of their review, and to provide all communications received throughout the design process. .UCP committee members voted against the motions, claiming that the panel has already been given a clear mandate, the committee should not interfere with the redesign's independence process, and that the communications would be provided in the panel's final report. "Passing the motions we put forward would have made complete sense," Gray said. "The only explanation for not passing motions that enhance transparency and prevent inappropriate contact with this independent panel is to allow that to happen, and that is shameful." Through it all, both Gray and Ganley claim that the UCP's electoral boundary redesign is a threat to democracy in Alberta. "I think what we're watching is Albertans' ability to vote in a free and fair election is absolutely being put at risk," Gray said. "I know Albertans are worried about this.""As we are out at summer barbecues and talking to people, 'What is going on with the Boundary Commission?' is something that we hear constantly. Albertans care about their democracy. They care about what's happening. They want to be able to choose their government, and this risks that."
