Alberta’s UCP government wants to take another run at redrawing provincial riding boundaries, proposing to strike a new committee of MLAs to consider increasing the number of seats in the house by four.

The motion to create the special select MLA committee, which was added to the order paper early Thursday, rejects the proposed electoral boundaries recommended by an independent commission.

If passed, a committee made up of three MLAs from the UCP and two from the NDP would be set with Brandon Lunty, the UCP MLA for Leduc-Beaumont, as chair.

The MLA committee would receive advice from an independent advisory panel that would look at how to divide Alberta into 91 electoral boundaries. Unlike the electoral boundaries commission, the MLA committee would not hold public hearings on a new map that comes out of the process. 

Lunty told reporters at the Alberta Legislature on Thursday that the panel will have access to submissions the commissioners received from the public. 

“We look forward to working with that advisory panel and going over all that information,” he said. 

The committee will submit a report to the legislature by Nov. 2. 

The next provincial election is in the fall of 2027. 

Committee chair proposes more electoral divisions

The five-member Electoral Boundaries Commission was instructed to suggest new electoral boundaries based on an 89-seat legislature, two more than the current configuration. 

The commission submitted a report last month with a majority opinion and a minority opinion. The UCP-appointed minority members deviated from the unanimity in the interim report and submitted a new set of maps and recommendations. 

The government is basing its decision to create the MLA committee on an addendum to the electoral boundaries report written by Dallas Miller, the retired judge who led the commission. 

Miller cites his concern about the constitutionality of the maps submitted by the minority members.

He recommended the legislature increase the number of electoral divisions to 91 to take the province’s 20 per cent population increase into account. 

“My majority colleagues do not agree with me on this point. That is why I am alone in making this recommendation,” Miller wrote. “This fifth recommendation is formulated for the express purpose of dissuading the Legislature from accepting the minority report.”

‘Gaslighting,’ says NDP

In Thursday’s question period, Premier Danielle Smith said the majority of the commission wanted to increase the number of seats to 91. 

Naheed Nenshi, leader of the Opposition NDP, said Smith is misrepresenting who is behind the fifth recommendation. 

“This is not a recommendation of the commission and no amount of gaslighting will fix that problem,” he said. 

“Bad, corrupt politicians carve up constituencies when they know they can’t win fair and square. It’s rigging the system in their own interest and that’s exactly what’s happening here.

Nenshi said the government is using this MLA committee to enact a gerrymander of Alberta’s electoral divisions in “slow motion” to benefit them in the next provincial election. 

He didn’t rule out the option of the NDP taking the government to court.

“Clearly there is legal action here, I think, and we will have a lot more to say about that in the days to come,” he said.

In response to a request for comment from CBC News on Thursday, Robyn Bell, a spokesperson for Elections Alberta, expressed concern about the timeline. Electoral boundary changes need to be in place at a minimum of 18 months before a general election.

“It will be very challenging to make the changes required to successfully deliver a provincial event in less than 12 months,” Bell said. 

“This requires substantial changes to our IT applications and systems including our election management system, election processes, forms, reporting websites, hiring staff, manuals, maps production, returning office and voting places locations, voting areas, financial reporting, staffing, documentation, training, and much more, and then educate the public on these changes.”

Bell added that Elections Alberta’s small staff will also be working on the aftermath of the Oct. 19 referendums, which could include a vote on whether Alberta remains a part of Canada.