The United Conservative Party government has announced that it is restarting the process of redrawing Alberta's electoral boundaries. For the first time in provincial history, the independent Electoral Boundary Commission's report will be discarded, and elected officials will have an increased say in how votes are distributed.
This follows another first in provincial history — the commission produced not one, but two reports. The so-called 'minority report' was widely condemned as an exercise in U.S.-style gerrymandering. It is hard not to see the critics' point of view.
Urban vs. Rural Dynamics
Urban voters tend to lean toward the progressive end of the political spectrum. Under the first-past-the-post system, a candidate only needs a plurality of votes to win a district. Adding significant chunks of rural, conservative-leaning land would give the UCP a distributional advantage, especially in Calgary, where the 2023 election was decided by 1,600 votes in a handful of close ridings.
The Destabilizing Effects of Gerrymandering
However, gerrymandering also destabilizes political systems. In trying to entrench their position, the UCP is actively on the verge of undermining it. Independent institutions are crucial for democracy, especially when they involve enforcing rules around fairness, transparency, and representation. The problem with elected officials determining how votes are distributed or how boundaries are drawn is that they can easily manipulate the rules to undermine democratic accountability.
Democratic accountability is necessary for social stability, economic prosperity, and just about everything else we take for granted. Having a non-partisan commission, made up of experts who must present their ideas in comprehensive and publicly accessible reports, is far healthier for democracy than the alternative.
The Cycle of Tit-for-Tat
Independent institutions also stop the cycle of 'tit-for-tat' — whatever you do to your opponents is what they will do to you. When it comes to gerrymandering, it looks like this: if you gerrymander and lose an election, then all you have done is incentivize the new government to gerrymander you out of competition. The cycle continues until lasting damage is done to political institutions.
One need only look at the United States for proof. Texas Republicans started the fight, and California Democrats answered. One side tries to stamp out the other, trampling over voters, democratic norms, and the ability for the civil service to get anything done.
A Threat to All Political Perspectives
That is something progressives, liberals, conservatives, and libertarians should all shudder at. Only robust institutions can deliver quality public services, reflect public opinion, fairly enforce property rights, and ensure special interests do not capture the state. Even populists should care — charisma alone does not make policy happen, and once people realize you cannot deliver on your promises, they will punish you accordingly.
