Smith defends new electoral boundaries committee

Posted on May 7, 2026 by Ryan Dahlman

By Zoe Mason
Southern Alberta Newspapers

Premier Danielle Smith responded to questions about her government’s decision to convene a new committee to review proposed riding borders at an unrelated press conference on April 17.

Smith’s UCP government is establishing a new UCP-led committee to propose new boundaries after an electoral boundaries commission led by Justice Dallas Miller returned its report in March.

The report was characterized by unprecedented division among the committee, with a majority and a minority report producing substantially different maps.

In an addendum to the majority report, Miller said he would have preferred adding an additional two seats on top of the two new seats provided for in the commission’s mandate to contend with Alberta’s rapid population growth.

“We have to realize that this report really was three reports. There was a majority report, a minority report and a judge’s addendum trying to bridge the gap between the two. And when you look through the report, there are many references to the lament that the majority of members had about losing two rural ridings,” said Smith.

The new committee is being asked to undergo an expedited process with no public engagement and return its findings in early November.

Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi called the move undemocratic in an interview with Southern Alberta Newspapers on April 16.

“They’re saying, ‘Well, we should have given them more seats.’ But they’re using that as an excuse to throw out the year of work, the $1.5 million of taxpayer money that was spent on it, and start all over again with a rigged process where we don’t have a truly independent commission,” he said.

Smith says Nenshi is not telling the truth.

“He keeps trying to imply that we’re accepting the minority report. We’re not. We’ve rejected the minority report. We’ve accepted the majority, with the addendum from the judge.”

Smith says changes are necessary to protect rural representation. She says reducing rural ridings can lead to large electoral districts, which can threaten effective representation.

“If you understand just how difficult it is to try to represent some of these very geographically diverse ridings with multiple different municipalities, school boards – I think the issue of effective representation was on the judge was right to flag.”

Smith said her own riding includes many of those features.

“I represent a riding that has a mid-sized community, Medicine Hat, it’s got Brooks, it’s got County of Newell, which is a rural community, it’s got Duchess, it’s got Rosemary, it’s got hamlets, I’ve got three school boards,” she said.

“It’s very different than if you’re simply in a big city like Calgary or Edmonton.”

Medicine Hat was formerly represented by an urban riding, which was split into two urban-rural ridings by an electoral boundaries commission under the NDP government in 2017.

Medicine Hat city council advocated for the restoration of the urban riding to this year’s commission. Their recommendation was not adopted.