4 new ridings go to Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray

Alberta should get four new provincial ridings two in Calgary, one in Edmonton and one in Fort McMurray, according to an interim report released Wednesday by the province's Electoral Boundaries Commission.

The recommendationsmean the provincial legislature would end up with 87 seats 44 split between Calgary and Edmonton.

The commission was not unanimous in its findings. Commission member and Edmonton lawyer Allyson Jeffs believes Edmonton should get twonew ridings.

"This isn't about old battles," Jeffs said. "This is about what Edmonton's growth is now and what its growth projection is which I think it's looking at another 15 per cent growth by 2018 which is when this allocation would be expected to to last."

But the report doesn't address what the Alberta Liberals cite as an over-representation of rural ridings in the legislature,the traditional base of the ruling Progressive Conservative party.

Calgary-Buffalo Liberal MLA Kent Hehr argued the process was flawed from the start, because the commission was asked to add four more ridings.

"If the committee wasn't charged with having to put in four new MLA jurisdictions, if they would have dealt with the old boundaries and would have went forward on that basis," he said. "I think it would have been easier for them to find a better balance between urban and rural seats than currently exists under this recommendation."

"We're in a time of fiscal restraint ... these guys could have gone away and drawn up an electoral map that did not need four more MLAs."

The report also recommends boundary changes to some of the existing ridings in the province.

Another series of public hearings will be held in April to get more feedback on the recommendations. The commission will release a final report in July.