Electoral boundary review may be ace-in-the-hole for NDP

The electoral map of Albertamaylook significantly different forthe next provincial election, tilting the field in favourofthe NDP, political observers say.

This week, theNDP government introduced legislation to allow for the early appointment of a new electoral boundaries commission.

By law, boundaries are redrawn after every second election, and the former government'ssnap election call last year has forcedthe province to movethe process ahead by ayear.

But rural Albertans are worried aboutwhat may come out of the commission, political pundit PaulMcLoughlintold CBC's Edmonton AM Thursday.

"In this case, there's been a lot of talk and a lot of chatter in politics about what the impact on rural Albertawill be."

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McLoughlin, publisher of the political newsletter Alberta Scan, said it would shock him if the boundary map wasn't drawn to eliminate more rural seats, seats held primarilyby Wildrose MLAs.

"One of the many groups that is trying to get the Conservatives together in one party, they were suggesting that the redrawing of the boundaries this time may result in the loss of six to 10 seats in rural Alberta," he said.

As the boundaries are redrawn to reflect Alberta's shifting population, more seats will accrue in Edmonton and Calgary, he said.

"Not to say that an independent boundaries commission would draw the boundaries to the advantage of an NDP government," he said.

"Nonetheless, that's been the history of this province for many, many years that the boundaries would be drawn to make sure that rural Alberta had a significant representation in the Progressive Conservative governments."

The previous commission warned the legislative assembly needs to seriously consider how the urban/rural split will be addressed in the future.

"The commission believes that this is a province-wide issue which will have to be addressed, probably before the next commission is appointed," wroteJudge Ernest Walter, noting thatoutlying ridings may be fewer and larger in the future.

"This raises a question about how large a division can be before it involves so many non-common interests that it is impractical for the disparate issues of the electors to be represented, and for the MLA to represent them."