EDMONTON — Alberta’s governing United Conservatives are looking to take another run at redrawing provincial riding boundaries – a move the Opposition NDP calls a cynical backdoor scheme to rig the October 2027 general election.

Premier Danielle Smith’s caucus is set to introduce a motion in the house today to revisit a recent bipartisan panel report to add more seats to reflect Alberta’s growing population.

The motion, if passed, would see a new panel of legislature members — a majority from Smith’s caucus — oversee the changes.

The report is riven with internal conflict, with UCP-appointed members urging the province to accept what the panel chair labels a dangerous and radical redrawing of boundary lines.

The chair has urged the government to reject such radical changes and recommends, if it wants to revisit the process, to do so with an eye to boosting the number of ridings to 91 from the current 87.

Smith says that’s what they’re doing, but the Opposition says it’s a decoy to allow the UCP to redraw boundaries to its benefit.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2026.

Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press