A new bill from the ruling United Conservative Party (UCP) will add two new seats to Alberta and change how electoral boundaries are considered.

Bill 31, the Law amending the statutes of justice, 2024will make changes to the Electoral Boundaries Commission Actamong other legislative texts.

Electoral Boundaries Commission Act

The law describes how the province’s ridings are created to ensure that every Albertan’s vote “has relatively the same effect.”

If passed, Bill 31 will order the Electoral Boundaries Commission to create two new ridings in Alberta – for a total of 89 – and to change what they might envision in doing so.

The law provides that constituencies generally represent more or less than 25 percent of the average population of all divisions – or about 56,192 constituencies, according to July population data.

The province said nine Alberta ridings currently contain more than 25 percent of the average.

Bill 31 would also change the considerations the commission can use for this purpose. These include:

• Population density or scarcity;
• Communities of common interest, such as municipalities, First Nations or Métis settlements.
• Geographic features and communication or transportation between regions;
• The desirability of understandable and clear limits;
• The population growth rate; And
• Any other factors that the commission considers appropriate.

Considerations for existing boundaries in Edmonton and Calgary (if possible), as well as other existing municipal boundaries (if possible), would be removed.

Justice Minister Mickey Amery said that means new ridings could combine smaller municipalities — like St. Albert — with parts of Edmonton.

“If the commission deems it appropriate to connect communities of interest despite the fact that they do not share the same municipal boundaries, for example, then that would be acceptable, because these communities of interest are interconnected in other ways,” he said. Amery explained.

“There are certainly many areas throughout the province that are very closely located and connected to their major municipal urban centers,” he said.

These considerations are not mandatory, and Amery said they are intended to give the commission more “flexibility.”

The province said changes to the law are necessary to “ensure effective representation of all Albertans in the Legislative Assembly” amid significant population growth – reported by the province at 4.4 per cent between July 2023 and 2024.

Amery said the bill is consistent with case law and contains similar language and framework to that used by British Columbia, which recently increased its number of seats.

Alberta could also have a new Electoral Boundaries Commission.

The last one was appointed in 2016, and Amery said a new one could be appointed by the province as early as this fall or as late as October 2026.

“We haven’t made any decisions on what that might consist of or who that might be,” Amery said.

“But given the work that needs to be done…it’s a matter of surveying the entire province, receiving the recommendations and observations, and then providing a report for debate in the Legislative Assembly. I think it “It’s safe to say it’s likely we’ll act sooner.” rather than later.”

Population growth was also cited by former Alberta premier Ed Stelmach in 2010, when the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act was last amended to create four new ridings.

Other changes

Bill 31 also includes amendments to the following laws:

• 
  Critical Infrastructure Defense Act
• 
  Alberta Evidence Act
• 
  Public Right to Information Act

THE Critical Infrastructure Defense Actt is responsible for sanctions related to intrusion, interference or damage to critical infrastructure.

The amendments will incorporate definitions of these infrastructures – including certain healthcare facilities – into the law, thereby allowing the existing Critical Infrastructure Defense Regulation to be repealed.

The changes made to the Alberta Evidence Act include the ability to submit written documents online without going to the courthouse or paying to take the oath in person.

The amendments would also eliminate the requirement for a person to object and justify their objection to a religious oath, making it easier to choose a non-secular oath.

THE Public Right to Information Act would be amended to give the Minister of Justice the power to require government, municipal and police agencies to provide up-to-date data.