Some renaming and boundary adjustments are in the works for some rural constituencies around St. Albert and Sturgeon County, according to recommendations contained in the final report of Alberta’s Electoral Boundaries Commission, issued last week.
The riding of Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert, represented by MLA and Deputy Premier Doug Horner, will lose its northeast corner, an area north and east of the Alexander Reserve and north of Township Road 552. This area will be added to the Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock electoral division.
The electoral division will also be re-named Spruce Grove-St. Albert.
Horner isn’t thrilled to be losing the communities of Alcomdale and Riviere Qui Barre, which he’s represented for nearly 10 years. “That’s not what I recommended they do,” he said. “They had to look at a lot of different things and they did they best they could.”
Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock would also gain territory at its north end, the southern “stub” of the Lesser Slave Lake electoral division.
In the spring of 2009, Alberta’s legislature voted in favour of adding four constituencies to account for Alberta’s growth. Among the commission’s goals was to define the boundaries such that the population within most divisions is within 25 per cent of the provincial average of 40,880, while adhering to municipal and natural boundaries as much as possible.
The boundaries for the Athabasca-Redwater constituency will remain the same except for some minor adjustments in the north end to reflect municipal boundaries.
However, the commission is recommending the division be renamed Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater. This is a change from the interim report it released in February, which suggested the name of Athabasca-Sturgeon.
Sturgeon County Deputy Mayor Karen Shaw is glad to see Sturgeon being added to the name but also the retention of Redwater.
“I think any time you can increase the county’s profile … unfortunately a lot of people have no clue where Sturgeon is,” she said.
The division between the St. Albert constituency and Horner’s Spruce Grove-St. Albert will remain as is, with Horner retaining St. Albert’s northwest corner, as defined by McKenney Avenue and St. Albert Trail.
Province-wide, the commission is recommending a new riding in Edmonton’s southwest, the splitting of Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo into two ridings and two new ridings in Calgary.
MLAs will debate and vote on the recommendations during the fall session.
