Now that the Electoral Boundaries Commission for Alberta has submitted its final report on proposed alterations to the map of federal ridings in the province, it’s likely the changes will be in place for the next scheduled national election in
Now that the Electoral Boundaries Commission for Alberta has submitted its final report on proposed alterations to the map of federal ridings in the province, it’s likely the changes will be in place for the next scheduled national election in 2015.
With the proposed changes redrawing the political landscape in Central Alberta, many MPs will have to make difficult decisions on where they will run, should they choose to stand for re-election, in two years.
Wild Rose MP Blake Richards, who has represented the Wild Rose electoral district, which includes Mountain View County, since 2008, faces a particularly tough choice if he decides to run again in 2015.
Since he has a farm in Olds and a home in Airdrie, Richards has said he hasn’t determined whether he would run in the proposed new riding of Red Deer-Mountain View that includes Olds or the new riding of Banff-Airdrie.
Even though the commission’s final report was submitted to the Speaker of the House of Commons last month, Richards is still on the fence about where he would run on the next federal ballot.
"The election is obviously two years away at this point so I’m just not really ready to make any announcement about what I might or might not do," he said. "No matter what decision I make it’s going to be a difficult one."
But with one of his Conservative Party colleagues, Red Deer MP Earl Dreeshen, publically announcing he intends to run in Red Deer-Mountain View in the next election, Richards’ choices may become more limited down the road.
Dreeshen was not available for comment before press time and Richards would not say whether his colleague’s plans to run in Red Deer-Mountain View are affecting his own intentions.
"He’s been a good colleague and I think we’re both going to continue to do our work on behalf of the people of our areas and when the time comes for us to make those decisions, that will be a difficult one," Richards said.
As his current constituency could be carved up into smaller districts, and because Wildrose is surrounded by ridings held by Conservative MPs who may have to face similar choices if the proposed changes come into effect, Richards may have little choice about where he runs in 2015.
For now, he said, he plans to focus on representing his current electoral district.
The main reason for the proposed boundary changes is to reflect Alberta’s growing population.
More ridings, the commission argues, would allow for better representation in Parliament.
The current Wild Rose riding has a population of more than 138,000 people and includes Airdrie and Cochrane in the south, Canmore and Banff in the west, Big Horn in the north and Olds and Didsbury in the east.
The Red Deer riding extends to Sylvan Lake and Red Deer in the north, Bowden in the south and includes Delburne in the east and Gleniffer Lake in the west.
Under the proposed boundary changes, the new Red Deer-Mountain View riding would include Olds in the north and extend southwards to include Carstairs and west to include Sundre.
Its population is 108,465 people.
Richards said he agrees with the decision to make changes to the federal riding landscape in Alberta.
"I recognize that the riding that I currently represent certainly is far exceeding the population quotient that they have set so I knew there would be some changes," he said. "With the growth we’ve seen in Alberta, there was a need for some seats to be added so we can have our fair representation and that’s certainly happened and that’s important."
Final approval on the proposed changes won’t come until September and the earliest a general election could be called where the new boundaries would take effect is April 2014.
The next federal election is planned for the fall of 2015.
