Legislative Assembly of Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission Public Hearings Grande Prairie Wednesday, October 7, 2009 12:02 p.m. Transcript No. 27-2-17 Legislative Assembly of Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission Judge Ernest J.M. Walter, Chairman Dr. Keith Archer Peter Dobbie, QC Brian Evans, QC Allyson Jeffs Office of the Chief Electoral Officer Acting Chief Electoral Officer Lori McKee-Jeske Participants Elroy Deimert, Alderman, and Greg Scerbak, Manager, City of Grande Prairie Nona Elliott Pat Jacobs, Councillor, and John Simpson, Director of Planning, County of Grande Prairie Kevin McLean, Grande Prairie-Smoky Liberal Constituency Association Tony Yelenik, Reeve, Municipal District of Greenview Support Staff Clerk W.J. David McNeil Clerk Assistant and Director of House Services Louise J. Kamuchik Senior Parliamentary Counsel Robert H. Reynolds, QC Shannon Dean Administrators Erin Norton Karen Sawchuk Communications Consultant Melanie Friesacher Consultant Tom Forgrave Managing Editor of Alberta Hansard Liz Sim Transcript produced by Alberta Hansard October 7, 2009 Electoral Boundaries Commission Public Hearings – Grande Prairie EB-159 12:02 p.m. Wednesday, October 7, 2009 the data has been officially released. We are also required to add the Title: Wednesday, October 7, 2009 gp population of the First Nation reserves that were not included in the [Judge Walter in the chair] census, as provided by the federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. The Chair: Good afternoon. Thank you for taking the time to come The commission is required to divide Alberta into 87 proposed out and share your views with us today. When I say that we’re electoral divisions by taking into consideration any factors it looking forward to hearing from you, I know that I’m speaking for considers appropriate, but it must and shall take into consideration the whole commission. the following: My name is Ernie Walter, and I am the chairman of the Alberta (a) the requirement for effective representation as guaranteed by Electoral Boundaries Commission. I’d like to introduce the other the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, members of the commission here today: on my far right, Dr. Keith (b) sparsity and density of population, Archer of Banff; next to him, Peter Dobbie of Vegreville; on my (c) common community interests and community organizations, including those of Indian reserves and Metis settlements, immediate left, Allyson Jeffs of Edmonton; and next to her, Brian (d) wherever possible, the existing community boundaries within Evans of Calgary. the cities of Edmonton and Calgary, Our task is that we have been directed by legislation to make (e) . the existing municipal boundaries, recommendations to the Legislative Assembly on the areas, (f) the number of municipalities and other local authorities, boundaries, and names for 87 electoral divisions based on the latest (g) geographical features, including existing road systems, and census information. In other words, our job is to determine where (h) the desirability of understandable and clear boundaries. to divide Alberta into 87 areas so each Albertan receives effective The population rule in the act states that a proposed electoral representation by a Member of the Legislative Assembly. Over the division must not be more than 25 per cent above or below the next few weeks we will seek community input through province- average population of all 87 electoral divisions. There is one wide consultation before developing our recommendations. Through exception to this. Up to four proposed electoral divisions may have public hearings such as the one here today we want to hear what you a population that is as much as 50 per cent below the average have to say about the representation you are receiving in your population of the electoral divisions in Alberta if three of the five community. following criteria are met: In carrying out this work, we have to follow the provisions of the (a) the area . exceeds 20 000 square kilometres or the total Electoral Boundaries Commission Act. It says that we are to make surveyed area of the proposed electoral division exceeds proposals to the Legislative Assembly regarding the areas, bound- 15 000 square kilometres; (b) the distance from the Legislature Building in Edmonton to the aries, and names of 87 electoral divisions. You will recognize that nearest boundary of the proposed electoral division by the this means we are mandated to propose four additional electoral most direct highway route is more than 150 kilometres; divisions in Alberta, which will come into effect at the next (c) there is no town in the proposed electoral division that has a provincial general election. We are also reviewing the law, what the population exceeding 8000 people; courts have said about electoral boundaries in the province of (d) the area of the proposed electoral division contains an Indian Alberta and in Canada, the work of previous commissions and reserve or a Metis settlement; committees that have studied the boundaries in Alberta, and the (e) the proposed electoral division has a portion of its boundary population information which is available to us. coterminous with a boundary of the Province of Alberta. A brief summary of the electoral boundaries law. As I’ve This is a very general overview of the legislation, but the Alberta mentioned, it is 87 electoral divisions that we’re mandated to Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada have also propose. We have a limited time to accomplish this task. We are provided guidance. In rulings they have agreed that under the required, after consideration of representations at these public Charter the rights of Albertans include the right to vote, the right to hearings, to submit an interim report to the Speaker of the Legisla- have the political strength or value or force of the vote an elector tive Assembly by February of 2010 that sets out the areas, bound- casts not unduly diluted, the right to effective representation, the aries, and names of the 87 proposed electoral divisions and the right to have the parity of the votes of others diluted, but not unduly, reasons for those proposed boundaries. Following publication of the in order to gain effective representation or as a matter of practical interim report a second round of public hearings will be held to necessity. These rulings as well as the Electoral Boundaries receive input on the proposed 87 boundaries. After consideration of Commission Act must guide our decisions and, ultimately, the this input the commission must submit a final report to the Speaker proposals that we make to the Legislative Assembly. of the Legislative Assembly by July of 2010. Then it is up to the 12:10 Legislative Assembly by resolution to approve or to approve with Now that I’ve explained the law that we are to be guided by, we alterations the proposals of the commission and to introduce a bill to want to receive a very important part of the input here, your views. establish new electoral divisions for Alberta in accordance with the We believe that what we hear from you, who will be affected by resolution. The law would then come into force when proclaimed, these boundary changes, is critical to recommending a new electoral before the holding of the next general election. map that will ensure fair and effective representation for all Alber- One way to ensure effective representation is by developing tans. electoral divisions with similar populations, especially where the We welcome you here today. For those of you who will not be population density is similar. The law directs us to use the popula- speaking, you can still make your views known in writing by mail, tions set out in the most recent census of Alberta as provided by fax, or e-mail. Our staff at the back of the room have our e-mail and Statistics Canada, which is the 2006 census, but if the commission other details. believes that there is population information that is more recent than With that background, I’ll call the first speaker. Each speaker will the federal census compiled by Statistics Canada, then the commis- have 10 minutes to present and then five minutes for questions and sion may use this data in conjunction with the census information. answers with the commission. The commission’s public meetings We are currently reviewing the 2009 census data which we have, are being recorded by Alberta Hansard, and the audio recordings and we will be considering that together with the 2006 census once will be posted to the commission website. Transcripts of these EB-160 Electoral Boundaries Commission Public Hearings – Grande Prairie October 7, 2009 proceedings will also be available. If you have registered as a Now, option 3 is rather unique. I said that this presented a rather presenter or choose to participate in this afternoon’s meeting, we ask unique experience for me as a returning officer as a large percentage that you identify yourself for the record prior to starting your of these voters indicated their support of our MLA Pearl Calahasen presentation. With that in mind, we will call the first speaker. but were in a different electoral district so were unable to vote for her. On the basis of this information I’m asking that these polling Ms Friesacher: Our first presenter is Nona Elliott from the Lesser districts be included in Lesser Slave Lake 63. That was, again, that Slave Lake constituency. when we were out in the area, these people wanted to vote for our MLA, but unfortunately they were not in our constituency, so they Nona Elliott did not vote. They had to vote other places. Private Citizen To me our present electoral boundaries are not voter-friendly.