An electoral boundaries proposal that was endorsed by Airdrie City Council at their July 4 meeting is finding support among our neighbours.

Cochrane's Town Council has thrown its support behind the City of Airdrie's call for electoral boundaries that will split Airdrie into two ridings, one east and one west, using the QEII as a boundary. 

Cochrane's town council is concerned the provincial electoral boundaries proposed in the interim report of the Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (AEBC) will weakened their clout in the legislature and have found an ally in the City of Airdrie.

Airdrie's proposal removes Cochrane from any of the Airdrie ridings, making the town the only major population center in a proposed Cochrane-Rocky View West riding. That riding would also include portions of Rocky View County's divisions 6 to 9 that lie north and east of Cochrane.

In her report to Cochrane's council, Stacey Loe, senior manager of Legislative and Government Services, explained Airdrie finds their east-west alternative more palatable to what is currently proposed. She also believed projected population growths would complement the proposal. If the Cochrane-Rocky View West constituency was adopted by the province, its geographical size would shrink as populations grow, particularly in the Cochrane and Bearspaw areas.

The proposed riding would have an initial population of 41,622, based upon the 2017 census numbers. It's smaller than the proposed Airdrie-Cochrane riding, estimated to have a population of 49,643 in the AEBC interim report.

What is clear is any proposal splits Airdrie and will be served by two MLAs after the next provincial election. Also, Cochrane's current MLA, Cam Westhead, of Bragg Creek, would be out of the picture for Cochrane in any of the proposals.

After considering input, the AEBC is scheduled to present its final report to the legislature this fall.

 

Read More:

City Council Gives Feed Back on Electoral Boundary Changes

 

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