EDMONTON — Conflicting recommendations on redrawing Alberta’s electoral boundaries are leading the Opposition NDP to warn that Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservatives are trying to gerrymander electoral districts to increase the power of rural votes.

The majority opinion in the Electoral Boundaries Commission’s report recommends Edmonton gain one new seat in the legislature while Calgary gains two, with the additions coming largely at the expense of less populated rural areas.

The minority opinion, put forward by the two UCP-appointed members, similarly recommends more seats in Edmonton and Calgary, though it suggests creating more than a dozen new “hybrid” ridings to bring rural and urban voters together.

The majority, which includes commission chair and Alberta judge Dallas Miller, says the minority members have put forward unreasonable and indefensible maps and questions their motivations in the report.

The law dictating the boundary change process says the legislative assembly has the power to implement the commission’s majority report either in full or with amendments.

Chief government whip Justin Wright says the UCP caucus is reviewing the recommendations and will have more to say at a later date.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2026.

Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press