The Alberta boundaries report has been tabled in the legislature, and as pretty much everyone expected, it’s a fairly textbook example of gerrymandering in the UCP’s favour. As expected, they are resurrecting a number or rurban/“hybrid” ridings which take a slice of urban electorate and then swamp them with outlying rural voters, in order to dilute more progressive urban votes. And they have monkeyed with the weighting, so that rural ridings have fewer voters and thus more electoral weight than urban ridings, again all in service of privileging the rural, conservative voters over urban, progressive voters in order to guarantee that the UCP will have a structural advantage moving forward.
Oh hey Alberta's latest (and highly controversial) electoral boundary report is out: www.assembly.ab.ca/docs/default…And it's got a bunch of "hybrid" ridings that blend urban and rural areas into one.For example, here's the proposed new "Calgary-North West-Bearspaw" riding:
— Robson Fletcher (@robsonfletcher.com) 2026-11-02T22:25:08.983Z
And here's "Calgary-Bow-Springbank":
— Robson Fletcher (@robsonfletcher.com) 2026-11-02T22:26:44.348Z
And here's "Calgary-West-Springbank":
— Robson Fletcher (@robsonfletcher.com) 2026-11-02T22:27:53.278Z
And here's Lethbridge, which is currently two ridings (Lethbridge East and Lethbridge West).The city is now proposed to be split into four ridings, three of which spread into surrounding areas:"Lethbridge""Lethbridge-Little Bow""Lethbridge-Taber-Warner""Lethbridge-Cardston"
— Robson Fletcher (@robsonfletcher.com) 2026-11-02T22:36:14.844Z
Alberta’s urban ridings will have average populations that are 5.8% above the provincial average. Alberta’s rural ridings will be 6.7% below the provincial average.This variance is even larger than the prior (rejected) commission report.
— Blake Shaffer 🇨🇦 (@blakeshaffer.bsky.social) 2026-11-02T23:24:23.552Z
Elections Alberta had already asked the government to push back their “fixed” election date because of this redistribution effort, and the Cabinet gave a pissy “How very dare you,” because of course they did. And we’ll see if this gets challenged in the courts, because this kind of gerrymandering is blatantly unconstitutional, but Danielle Smith is going to try, because her only interest is in holding onto power.
Mickey Amery has responded to Elections Alberta's Friday letter that said it wouldn't be possible to pull off an election with new boundaries in the time allotted…By basically saying "You'll do what we want and you'll like it".#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli
— The Breakdown AB (@thebreakdownab.bsky.social) 2026-11-01T23:06:26.858Z
Not remotely.
— Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦 (@emmettmacfarlane.com) 2026-11-03T01:09:23.065Z
Meanwhile, there was a whole other sub-drama happening at the end of the week, where Smith announced that she had kicked separatist leader Jeff Rath out of the party. Recall that at the last party convention, he fired up the audience more than Smith did, and demonstrated that he had a hold on the membership base. This also happened after Rath leaked texts from Danielle Smith about her colluding with them about the petitions for the referendum questions. It’s a little suspicious for Smith to dump the allies who got her to where she is now that they’re no longer convenient for her, but again, everything that is happening here is in service of Smith holding onto power for as long as she possibly can.
WOW!Jeff Rath posted text messages that he alleges are from Danielle Smith!These texts seem to show her coordinating with the separatists to launch their original question, though Rath claims he took them as her coordinating with @lukaszukab.bsky.social !What do you think?
— The Breakdown AB (@thebreakdownab.bsky.social) 2026-10-27T20:57:50.057Z
WOW!The Rath texts are real. Smith colluded with the separatists.Confirmed by Dani in the legislature today. And while she tried to spin them as just answering questions, she also makes it clear the texts weren't meant for Lukaszuk.#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli
— The Breakdown AB (@thebreakdownab.bsky.social) 2026-10-28T20:04:18.326Z
My Latest:
For National Magazine, I delve into Friday’s Supreme Court of Canada decision on inattention and dangerous driving, and what signals the Court might be sending.
Ukraine Dispatch:
Russian forces bombed a school used as a humanitarian distribution point in the village of Komyshuvakha in Zaporizhzhia region, killing 26. Earlier in the weekend, drone attacks forced power cuts after damage in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Evacuations were made in Oleshky and the surrounding region, while Russia used the “ceasefire” not only for propaganda, but to regroup their forces.
Noteworthy:
- The Logic obtained internal documents from the military warning about a lack of proper safety culture and practices, dating back to at least 2003.
- Eight national security and foreign affairs experts weigh in on the National Security Strategy document that was released last week.
- Anne Applebaum looks into how Americans have been bullying European governments, particularly in service of getting more far-right parties into power.
- Justin Ling points out that Carney’s ambitious foreign agenda requires major fixes at the Department of Global Affairs, which is currently beset by paralysis and malaise.
- Ling is also encouraged by the desire to create a new kind of partnership with the EU that is outside of the traditional membership structure.
- Althia Raj paints a scenario where the Liberals can win all six upcoming by-elections.
- Susan Delacourt has a lengthy sit-down with François-Philippe Champagne ahead of the budget, and the balancing act he is trying to walk in it.
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