Alberta election boundary commission chides MP for email campaign

At the end of July, the commission charged with redrawing the federal electoral map for Alberta released its final report.

Some proposed changes were confirmed; others walked back.

But the document also contained a section scolding an unnamed MP for appearing to organize an email campaign after public hearings to try to influence the commission.

"This influx appeared to be the result of a calculated effort, led by a particular MP, to persuade the commission to maintain the existing electoral boundaries, thereby ensuring that the MP would maintain their stronghold," the section reads. 

"This raised the concern that an attempt was being made to interfere with the integrity of the redistribution process."

Through an access to information request, CBC News analyzed more than 200 emailed submissions sent after the last hearing on Sept. 26, 2022, to identify the "voluminous influx of emailed submissions" cited by the commission.

Of those, 161 emails were related to the Lethbridge riding, represented by Conservative MP Rachael Thomas. More than half of those were sent on Oct. 31.

Thomas's office did not respond to a request for comment.

John Courtney, a professor emeritus at the University of Saskatchewan who previously worked on a federal boundary commission, said MPs whose ridings are slated for change often oppose them with few exceptions.

An interim report is tabled in parliament, which gives MPs the opportunity to submit official objections to the commission. Thomas did not file one of the five received for Alberta.

None of the other 2022 provincial commission reports mention the possibility of organized opposition through submissions by an MP. Nova Scotia did receive hundreds of postcards in opposition through a community-based campaign.

"Having written about redistributions, I can safely say that organized public pressure on a commission has in the past been rare, at least with any sizeable number," Courtney wrote in an email, adding that he could not determine whether it had become more common.

Courtney himself was subjected to opposition through hundreds of emails, letters and postcards as well as robocalls in 2012 during the federal redistribution for Saskatchewan.

That this was conducted through email is a reflection of changing methods of communication, he said.

Shifting boundaries

At issue was a proposed reduction in geographical size that would see the northern boundary of the Lethbridge riding move south to the Oldman River. Commissions have a mandate to draw the riding boundaries so that ridings all have roughly the same population numbers.

The impetus given for the change was the growth of the city of Lethbridge, Alta., putting the population of the riding 7.5 per cent above the electoral quota.

The commission's note said many of the emails in question "praised the MP and echoed or mirrored the talking points used by that MP at a public hearing."

CBC News has not viewed or heard Thomas's submissions to the commission. 

At least nine emailed submissions reuse the exact same wording. Around 15 include Thomas's parliamentary email as a recipient.

The most repeated concern from the emailed opposition was ease of access to the elected representative, complaining of hours-long drives to meet MPs in other ridings.

The commission said it gave the email campaign submissions "no weight" but the proposed changes were ultimately dropped.

The final report reads that, at the hearings, "several presenters were quite prepared to accept the higher population figure as a suitable trade-off for more effective representation."

"After considerable deliberation, the commission accepted these presentations and submissions and has redrawn the electoral district of Lethbridge to include the entire County of Lethbridge, which includes Coalhurst, Nobleford, Barons, Picture Butte and Coaldale as well as the entire City of Lethbridge."