EDMONTON — Premier Danielle Smith praised Alberta's proposed electoral maps on Tuesday; however, rural municipality leaders are offering mixed reviews on whether the redrawing fulfilled its mandate to preserve their voter representation.The electoral boundaries report, compiled by an independent panel, was tabled in the Alberta Legislative Assembly on Monday and included recommended maps based on initial designs proposed by a previous commission in April.Critics scrutinized the electoral boundaries redesign process for months, dating back to when the UCP government chose not to accept the commission's majority-recommended maps in full. Those maps would have increased representation in pro-Alberta NDP urban areas by subtracting seats in pro-UCP regions.The panel was formed in June and given a mandate based on an addendum from the commission's chair, former Justice Dallas Miller, which called for taking the commission's majority report, containing 89 electoral districts, and reinserting the two rural Alberta ridings that had been removed."I want you to know that when Judge Dallas Miller said that the only way for us to preserve those two rural seats was to add two additional seats and go up to 91, we did not want rural Alberta to be underrepresented," Smith told leaders at the Rural Municipalities of Alberta convention in Edmonton."We know it's important to have representation in Calgary and Edmonton too, but it shouldn't come at the expense of rural Alberta.".Lac Ste. Anne Reeve Jurgen Preugschas told reporters on Tuesday that the commission's report split his county between four ridings. However, after lobbying through their recently resigned MLA, Shane Getson, they are pleased with the updated proposal.Critics of the proposal argue that the panel exceeded its mandate by changing more than was "necessary."Miller said restoring the rural ridings should "have no impact on any electoral division in Airdrie or containing territory south of Airdrie’s southernmost border, with the exception of Drumheller-Stettler."The panel's recommendations make changes outside of Miller's parameters, including the creation of three hybrid ridings in northwest Calgary. However, the most drastic changes are in southern Alberta, where panellists took Lethbridge's two ridings and created three hybrid ridings and one urban district in the city.."They wiped the city of Lethbridge off the map," Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi said on Monday. "Forty percent of people in Alberta's third-largest city will no longer vote with people who live in their city. They will vote with people who live in rural areas hundreds of kilometres away.""You might ask yourself, why would you do that to Lethbridge when you wouldn't do it to Red Deer, which is exactly the same size? Well, because Lethbridge tends to vote New Democrat, and Red Deer tends to vote Conservative. It's obvious what they're attempting to do here."Smith had not finished reviewing the entire report before speaking to reporters on Tuesday, but she said the changes in Lethbridge were positive."I represent a hybrid riding, and I think Medicine Hat is well served by having two representatives," Smith said. "I think Lethbridge would be very well served by having four representatives, and that was, I think, the recommendation is to look at where hybrid ridings would make sense. They might not make sense in all circumstances, but they certainly do in some.".The controversy surrounding hybrid ridings largely centres on conflicting priorities. Both groups may want to protect property rights, but rural residents may see that as stronger firearms rights, while urban residents may care more about responsible infill or preventing illegal dumping.These divides are evident in Alberta's referendum results, where urban residents tended to oppose Smith's proposed constitutional reforms and showed limited support for the proposed immigration measures. Rural Albertans tended to support all of Smith's referendum questions.Urban voices offered ample criticism of hybrid ridings following the commission's report, as its minority members proposed a drastic increase in the use of hybrid ridings in Alberta. They expressed fears that rural voters would flood the districts and override urban voices.RMA president Kara Westerlund expressed a similar, yet opposite, fear on Tuesday when speaking about the panel's maps."Our main concern is just the fact that we feel that the rural voice and our issues are going to be diluted in with that," Westerlund told reporters. "So when you take urban and rural, you put them together, and again you go back to that population piece, it can become a concern for us.".Alberta's population growth is concentrated in Calgary and Edmonton, creating a conflict over voter representation. Boundary designers must ensure the many voices in those cities are heard while also ensuring urban power does not drown out rural Albertans.This is a larger issue for the RMA, which represents 15% of Alberta's population but 85% of its landmass.Westerlund said creating sprawling rural ridings that take more than 10 hours to drive from end to end is not effective representation either."It's tough," Westerlund said. "It's very difficult to make sure that you have fair and effective representation when you have that much span and the vast landscape that you're dealing with."
