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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Justice Mickey Amery make an announcement in Edmonton in April, 2025.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
Alberta’s Justice Minister has batted away Elections Alberta’s request for the provincial government to either not approve the new electoral maps, to be released on Monday afternoon, or postpone next year’s general election to give the agency sufficient time to prepare for the 2027 vote.
The provincial government “has no intention” of shifting next year’s Oct. 18 fixed election date, Justice Minister Mickey Amery wrote in a Sunday statement.
Elections Alberta must prepare for the day “under the final electoral boundaries enacted by the Legislative Assembly,” he wrote.
Mr. Amery was responding to a letter from provincial chief electoral officer Gordon McClure, who on Friday circulated a letter to the province’s MLAs imploring them to reconsider implementing the new electoral boundaries.
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Mr. McClure said Elections Alberta’s resources are strained and pursuing a different avenue would protect “the readiness and successful delivery of Alberta’s next provincial general election.”
He added the agency would need 12 to 18 months to implement the new map with 91 ridings, up from 87.
The redrawing of the map that will set the parameters for next year’s provincial election has been the subject of intense scrutiny since the spring, when Premier Danielle Smith rejected an independent commission’s proposed boundaries.
Her government then formed a United Conservative Party-dominated committee that created a new independent panel charged with taking a second attempt at drawing the electoral map. It was chaired by retired Alberta judge Brian O’Ferrall, and included two members tapped by the NDP and two by the UCP.
That panel’s report will be published Monday afternoon when it is tabled in the legislature.
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Alberta NDP House Leader Christina Gray said the forthcoming boundaries “are not good for rural voters. They are not good for urban voters. They will not be good for you, but they are good for Danielle Smith and her quest to hang on to power.”
Ms. Gray is a member of the committee that steered the new panel’s work and has seen the map, which has been reviewed by a handful of MLAs and government staffers.
She said the NDP is reviewing Mr. Amery’s letter.
Ms. Smith has said she will withhold judgment on the map until it is publicly released.