The UCP is determined to stay in power, even if it means drawing their own riding boundaries to guarantee it.
A couple weeks ago Alberta’s independent, non-partisan Electoral Boundaries Commission created updated riding maps. Members of the Commission heard from hundreds of Albertans, created draft maps for public review, thoughtfully considered many suggestions, and shared the final versions with the Legislature and Albertans for all to see.
One problem: The UCP doesn’t like them.
Unhappy with this balanced and transparent process that created the maps, on April 16 the provincial government decided to try again. But this time it’ll be different. This time, the UCP government has proposed a “Special Select Committee on Electoral Boundaries.”
This Select Committee would empower four UCP MLAs to draw Alberta’s electoral boundaries. Their report and its maps won’t be shared directly with the Legislature. It will explicitly exclude input from the public.
This is unprecedented and deeply disturbing.
Compare the secret way in which this Select Committee would create ridings versus how the Electoral Boundary Commission did their work.
This new Select Committee would include six members: four UCP MLAs, including the Chair, and two from the NDP opposition. This is a clear supermajority for the ruling party. In comparison, the Commission was balanced with five members: A neutral judge as Chair, two UCP appointees and two opposition appointees.
The Select Committee would work in private, “without a requirement to direct the holding of public hearings.” It would shut out Albertans from participating.
This is in sharp contrast to the work of the Commission, which reviewed hundreds and hundreds of submissions prior to the creation of their interim report, and again prior to delivery of their final report. The public was actively consulted, with many submissions quoted at length by the Commission.
Longstanding legislation for drawing Alberta electoral boundaries
Why is the UCP government afraid of citizens?
The Select Committee would engage an “independent advisory panel” that seems like the Commission, except this panel would work in private. As well, the panel would submit a report to the Select Committee – not the Legislature – on the “area, boundaries and names of the electoral divisions of Alberta.”
This is far different from how the Commission shared their reports. Both their interim and final reports were submitted to the speaker for consideration by the Alberta Legislature as a whole – in full view of the public. The Commission did not submit their work in secret to a Select Committee dominated by the ruling UCP.
The UCP doesn’t like a report and maps guided by longstanding legislation, comprised of balanced representation from both the government and the opposition, and thoroughly informed by the public of all political stripes. By Albertans.
We don’t know what this new Select Committee and its own, private advisory panel is going to cost taxpayers. We do know that presented with maps created from a fair process and with extensive public input, the UCP government wants to draw their own, at our expense. They’ll draw them while shielded from the prying eyes of Albertans and directed by their own UCP MLAs. They’re determined to gerrymander their way to power.
This is outrageous and unfair. It is un-democratic. It is un-Albertan.
Albertans need to let them know they can’t get away with it.
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Greg Miller is a multi-generation Albertan and a former independent candidate for council in Calgary. He is a frequent speaker and commentator on many local and provincial issues.
