The Alberta government wants to add two provincial electoral districts to the map for the next election to accommodate the population increase in recent years.

Amendments to the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act are part of Bill 31, An Act to amend the statutes of justice, 2024.

Electoral districts are determined by an independent electoral boundaries commission. The two new seats would bring the legislature’s total from 87 to 89.

The bill also proposes to change the factors commissioners must consider in determining new limits, adding population growth rate to the list.

But the bill removes the requirement for the divisions to stay within the municipal boundaries of Edmonton and Calgary, meaning they could have both urban and rural parts.

In the last election, the NDP won the majority of seats in Calgary and Edmonton. The UCP dominated in mid-sized cities and rural areas.

Justice Minister Mickey Amery said the change was about giving commissioners more options — not changing boundaries to benefit the United Conservative Party.

As an example, Amery cited the residents of Chestermere, who have a strong connection to the city of Calgary.

“It’s not mandatory, but it’s a permissive amendment to allow them to consider whether it would be appropriate to connect these two communities into one district that only has one representative,” Amery said. “It’s really about flexibility.”

Alberta has not increased the number of ridings since four more were added after the 2009 boundary commission report. The province’s population has increased 33 percent since then.

MP Irfan Sabir, justice critic for the opposition New Democrats, said his party plans to ensure the new seats are properly distributed.

“We hope that this will be a fair process and that the new constituencies will be allocated in the areas where we see the most population pressures and growth and they will not be used for political purposes,” he said.

Under the rules, the population of electoral districts can deviate 25 percent above or below the provincial average.

Nine ridings fall outside this boundary: Calgary-Buffalo, Calgary-Foothills, Calgary-Northeast, Calgary-Shaw, Calgary-Southeast, Edmonton-Ellerslie, Edmonton-South, Edmonton-Southwest and Airdrie- Cochrane.

Amery has until October 2026 to appoint a new electoral boundaries commission, but he plans to do so sooner rather than later.

The next provincial elections will take place in the fall of 2027.

Bill 31 not only contains changes to the boundary commission process. If passed, it will allow electronic certification of documents provided to the court and allow the Minister of Justice to require municipalities and police departments to regularly report crime data.