Alberta UCP caucus endorses riding map NDP calls rigged

EDMONTON: Alberta’s governing United Conservatives voted Wednesday to endorse a redrawn provincial riding map that the Opposition NDP says is rigged to help the party win the next election, The Canadian Press reported.

Premier Danielle Smith’s caucus voted along party lines to put the new boundaries into a bill to be debated in the legislature. Justice Minister Mickey Amery has said he expects the legislation to pass by the end of the year, ahead of the election scheduled for October 2027.

The map came from a panel with a majority of members selected by the UCP. The NDP says it dilutes urban ridings in Lethbridge and Calgary by merging them with adjacent rural areas, a practice known as gerrymandering. NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said the changes are designed to help vulnerable UCP ministers keep their seats and told the house the report “strikes a knife into the heart of Alberta’s democracy.”

Smith called the allegations “ridiculous” during question period. She said that if anyone gerrymandered the maps to benefit the UCP, “they failed miserably.” The premier said that if the UCP won the popular vote by the same margins as in 2023, the NDP would gain three seats and the UCP would gain one under the proposed boundaries.

Amery defended the rural-urban hybrid ridings during debate, saying they already exist in Alberta and bring together communities that share services, employment and infrastructure, whether or not a municipal boundary runs between them. Smith’s government removed the requirement that electoral boundaries respect municipal boundaries in 2024 legislation.

The proposals would split Lethbridge into four ridings from the current two. One would be strictly urban, while three would link some neighbourhoods to large adjacent rural areas. The map also adds hybrid ridings on the west side of Calgary and expands the legislature to 91 ridings from 87, preserving two rural ridings that an earlier commission had planned to dissolve.

The process has been contentious since early this year, when the premier rejected the main recommendations of a public boundaries commission, which issued a split report. The government voted down the commission’s majority position and started over with a new advisory panel chaired by retired Alberta justice Brian O’Ferrall. The acting Alberta chief justice declined to take part in choosing the chair, calling the new process “irregular,” CP reported.

Wednesday’s vote follows the release of the map on Monday, when the NDP vowed a court fight, as we reported in Alberta riding map goes public as NDP vows court fight. The province’s separate refusal to delay the 2027 vote is covered in Alberta rejects Elections Alberta’s bid to delay 2027 vote, and our earlier look at the plan is in UCP bulls ahead with scheme to cook up a friendlier riding map.

Source: The Canadian Press, Nov. 4, 2026.

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