The map above shows the proposed Lesser Slave Lake electoral division, slightly altered to add Calling Lake in the southeast corner and reducing the northern portion.

Richard Froese
South Peace News
Lesser Slave Lake riding may be saved under the review of the Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission.

An interim report indicates the commission has proposed to keep the Lesser Slave Lake riding along with the neighbouring and renamed Central Peace – Notley riding to the west.

“Our interim report strikes a balance between population numbers and public interest,” commission chair Justice Myra Bielby says in a news release May 25.

It comes as good news for local municipal leaders who feared the riding could be amalgamated or expanded as the rural population decreases.

Town of High Prairie Mayor Linda Cox and Big Lakes County Reeve Ken Matthews are delighted with the proposal by the commission.

“Our riding hasn’t changed much,” Cox says.
“I recognize it is a large riding and difficult for one MLA to cover.”

Cox adds she is pleased that MLA Danielle Larivee has made efforts to get to all parts of the riding.

“It doesn’t affect us much,” Matthews says.

When the review was announced in January, he feared the riding could become much larger and rural votes would be decreased in the legislature.

“My concern is that the rural vote will be depleted,” Matthews says.
“We have very few rural votes now.”

Based on the results of Statistics Canada’s 2016 federal census, the adjusted average population for each of Alberta’s 87 constituencies was set at 46,698, the report says.

The commission recommends retaining the two electoral divisions in the far northwest of the province that were previously granted special status, which permits their populations to fall 25-50 per cent below the provincial average electoral division popula- tion.

Figures show the proposed Lesser Slave Lake riding with a population of 27,818, [40 per cent below], and Central Peace – Notley has a population of 32,471 [30 per cent below].

The Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties submitted that existing variances between 25 per cent and 50 per cent below the provincial average could be addressed by maintaining both Dunvegan Central Peace-Notley and Lesser Slave Lake at their current size [presumably except as needed to meet the requirement that boundaries expand in the former to bring its population within the permitted maximum variance of 50 per cent below average].

Other submitters proposed that the commission should exercise its discretion to move the boundaries so that they contain populations much closer to provincial average.

Some referred to the paving of a connecting highway and enhanced telephone and electronic communication as factors making the special status of electoral divisions unneces- sary.

Citizens wishing to address the commission about the proposal may speak at a public hearing July 17 in Grande Prairie at the Sandman Hotel at 1 p.m. as one of five communities scheduled.

Speakers are required to register in advance.

Albertans are also invited to file submissions on the recommendations in the interim report until July 8.

Following public consultations, the commission will prepare its final report, which will be submitted to the Legislature by Oct. 31.

For more information, visit the website at ABebc.ca.