Will two ridings become four?
By Lethbridge Herald on August 15, 2025.
Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald
Former Lethbridge mayor David Carpenter is sounding the alarm on the proposed electoral boundaries change proposed for Lethbridge, saying the change is not in the best interest of the constituents.Â
Written submissions to the Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission were accepted from Apr. 17 to May 23, and subsequently, public hearings were held across the province between May 20 and June 23.Â
“When I found out about this, I thought it was a joke,” says Carpenter. “But I quickly realized it wasn’t when I noticed that elected officials like Nathan Neudorf and John Middleton-Hope have made written submissions.”
He explained that he did not find out about it until it was too late for written submissions, but he was able to take part and share his point of view in the last public hearing held on June 23.Â
“The proposal is basically to divide Lethbridge into four chunks and merge them with rural areas going from the BC border, down to the U.S. border, all the way up to the Trans-Canada highway and more than half the way to Medicine Hat,” said Carpenter.Â
He said that when he found out that this was being submitted by Lethbridge East MLA Nathan Neudorf, he could not imagine this was something that the constituents wanted.Â
“I could not imagine this was an official position of the Lethbridge constituency, because it is simply a way to only and completely eliminate the city of Lethbridge from any provincial decision-making,” said Carpenter.Â
He said that when he looked at the map of the proposed electoral boundaries (see Page A2), he realized multiple potential problems with the locations of major organizations and institutions within the city.Â
“Economic Development Lethbridge and the industrial park would basically be segregated out from the city of Lethbridge and will be part of a riding that goes all the way to the Trans-Canada Highway.”
One of Carpenter’s issues is that an MLA who’s in charge of a mostly rural area would have to deal with economic development within the city of Lethbridge.Â
“The Lethbridge Regional Hospital will be included in the area going down all the way to the U.S. border,” he points out. “And the University of Lethbridge apparently has more to do with the County of Cardston than downtown Lethbridge.”
He said in short, this is “an absolutely ridiculous proposal.”Â
Carpenter believes the only apparent reason for proposing such boundary changes is to reduce the possibility of an MLA outside of the United Conservative Party winning a seat. The majority of voters in rural areas around Lethbridge have voted UCP in the last two provincial elections.
“This is just merely an attempt to invalidate the votes of the people of Lethbridge,” said Carpenter.Â
During his presentation to the commission, he mentioned that, while the commission must honour the principle of “one person, one vote,” their recommendations must consider other elements. Chief among them is to ensure that communities with shared interests are kept together within electoral boundaries.Â
“Additionally, the danger of mixing disparate groupings of people such as both rural and urban in the same constituency will make the job of the political representative almost impossible with the result that one group or the other is not fairly represented in the legislature,” Carpenter told the commission.Â
Carpenter added during the interview with the Herald that he believes the bottom line is simple: the proposal to change the electoral boundaries is an attempt to gerrymander the district.
“And it’s very disappointing that we would have elected representatives like John Middleton-Hope and Nathan Neudorf proposing something like this to denigrate the interests of the people of the city of Lethbridge, who they are supposed to be representing.”
It should be noted that, while a former provincial UCP candidate, John Middleton-Hope made his submission as a private citizen and there is no mention anywhere in his submission about him being an active member of city council at the time the submission was sent on May 17, 2025.Â
21-20
Maybe we will get better representation in Edmonton. I cannot go to my MLA because I know my concerns will not be heard and expressed in Edmonton in the legislation . . . because their policies are part of the problem and what created most of the issues in our city when they were in power still linger and cost us!
No hope of getting a fair representation by this person who is my MLA.
It would be nice to be able to walk in to an MLA office where I could have them actually listen and act. I know this person and know that will never happen, so . . . I have to bring my concerns to another MLA who does listen, even though they are not in my riding.
Why the secrecy? Name names.
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you do so well to represent the outlook of the typical albertan that sees itself as conservative. always vote anything that represents as con, right? so, why the waste of time and money holding elections? why not just entrench a law that says we get to vote for folks, but all running are called conservatives? you know, when the ussr was around, they held regular elections. people got to vote – which checks all the boxes that well enough defines democracy for so many – but everyone running was, of course, a member of the red party. i know, i know, we don’t like commies, so we can just colour the cons as the blue party, and democracy is intact.
John Middleton-Hope ex-Chief of Police is desperate, Neudorf was told by his master to do this, the lady in Edmonton.
What bothers me is that yesterday was the first time I have even heard of this nonsensical plan. I am well read, follow teh news closely and pay attention to the goings on in politics, but never heard a word about this. It must be the best-kept secret to allow the UCP to get their wish without the pesky voters getting in the way.
Smith saw what Trump was doing down south and thought I need to follow my leader or he won’t support my separatist agenda. Of course MH and Nathan had to agree with their queen as they have no thoughts of their own.
utterly cynical and a knife in the carcass we still believe is a democracy. gerrymandering has been round for far too long, but that does not make it democratic or ethical. if ridings are ever in need of a reshape, that should be in the hands of a body that is entirely independent of any political party.