Alberta’s contentious new riding boundary map to be made public

Alberta’s hotly debated new electoral riding boundaries are set to be made public Monday in the legislature.

The Opposition NDP has already spoken to what it has seen in the report.

NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi says Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservatives are aiming to use their legislative majority to rig the new boundaries in order to give themselves an unfair advantage in next year’s election.

The NDP says the UCP plans to gerrymander ridings in battleground election districts in Lethbridge and Calgary.

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Alberta government plan to add electoral ridings draws criticism

Gerrymandering, which is common in the United States, sees electoral districts drawn up not for reasons of shared geography and priorities but by voting patterns in order to assist one political party.

The NDP says it will be challenging the new ridings in court, and Alberta Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure has warned he’s running out of time to have everything ready for the scheduled polling day on Oct. 18, 2027.