Richard Warnica: Danielle Smith’s latest move is all about keeping her in power. It’s also bringing more American-style politics to Canada - Toronto Star

Smith appears to be engaging in American-style gerrymandering. That’s no exaggeration. She is blatantly trying to rig Alberta’s electoral map.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s attempts at gerrymandering are predicated on an insidious idea about who is a “real” Albertan, writes Richard Warnica.

Richard Warnica is a Toronto-based senior opinion writer for the Star. Reach him via email: rwarnica@thestar.ca.

Danielle Smith — not satisfied with dragging her province through an illegitimate referendum on independence — has now decided to endanger democracy itself in Alberta to serve her own venal ends.

It would almost be funny if it wasn’t so dangerous. There genuinely seems to be no bottom Smith won’t merrily dig through as she tries to become the first Alberta premier to win two consecutive majorities since Ralph Klein.

What Smith is doing is American-style gerrymandering. That’s no exaggeration. She is blatantly trying to rig Alberta’s electoral map.

Facing a difficult election against Naheed Nenshi’s Alberta NDP next year, Smith is attempting to ram through new electoral boundaries that would in some cases dilute urban representation — where the NDP is strongest — and in others create new safer seats for her United Conservative Party by drawing urban-rural chimera districts in Lethbridge and suburban Calgary.

(Look at the proposed maps if you get a chance. The new ridings around Lethbridge, Alberta’s third largest city, look like the Pig People on the Island of Dr. Moreau. They are grotesque.)

After Alberta’s referendum, Premier Danielle Smith faces calls for a leadership review as the independence movement’s leaders plot next steps.