Justice minister tells Elections Alberta the 2027 vote won’t move
Mickey Amery says Elections Alberta will have about 11 months to prepare for the Oct. 18, 2027 election under the new map, rejecting the chief electoral officer’s call to delay.
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Amery’s three-page letter to Gordon McClure, dated Nov. 1 and posted on X, responds to McClure’s Oct. 30 warning to Speaker Ric McIver and all MLAs that Elections Alberta may not have enough time to prepare for an election under new boundaries.
“Alberta’s government has no intention of changing the legislated date of the next provincial general election,” Amery wrote.
McClure had told MLAs his office typically needs 12 to 18 months to prepare for a general election, and asked them either to hold the 2027 vote on the current map or to adopt the new map and extend the fixed election date.
About 11 months to prepare
Amery wrote that the report of the independent advisory panel on electoral boundaries must be tabled in the legislature by Monday, Nov. 2, under Government Motion 37. He said the government expects MLAs to set the final boundaries through legislation before the fall sitting ends.
“That timetable will provide your office with approximately 320 days (almost 11 full months) to prepare for and administer the next provincial election on October 18, 2027,” he wrote.
He dismissed McClure’s concern that a court challenge to the new map could add uncertainty. “We see no value in considering hypothetical judicial outcomes at this time,” Amery wrote, adding that the boundaries enacted by the legislature “will constitute the law of Alberta.”
Quebec, B.C. and the referendum
Amery pointed to other provinces to argue that election offices can work on much shorter timelines. He wrote that Quebec’s final boundaries for its Oct. 5, 2026 election were published June 17, 110 days before voting day, and that Elections BC ran British Columbia’s Oct. 24 election within a 32-day campaign after the writ was issued Sept. 22.
He also noted that Alberta’s Election Act preserves the lieutenant-governor’s power to dissolve the legislature before the fixed date, which could leave Elections Alberta running a provincewide vote within a 28-day writ period. “It would be inconsistent with that legislative framework to suggest that the office cannot reasonably prepare to administer an election where it has many months of advance notice,” he wrote.
Amery used Elections Alberta’s own record against it. He wrote that the Oct. 19 referendum involved 10 questions and more than 22 million votes, and was ordered March 31 with the 10th question added May 28, leaving about 202 and 144 days before voting day. The 2023 general election involved about 1.78 million ballots, he wrote.
“It is clear that a provincial general election will involve fewer resources than the just completed Alberta referendum,” Amery wrote.
Funding and ‘accountability’
Amery also addressed funding. He wrote that the office has been allocated about $51.18 million for the 2026-27 fiscal year, and that the legislature’s Standing Committee on Legislative Offices has supported its requests for extra money tied to recall, citizen initiative and referendum laws.
“While Elections Alberta operates independently of government, that independence carries significant responsibilities and corresponding expectations of accountability,” he wrote.
The letter ends with a direct instruction. “Our expectation is straightforward. Elections Alberta must undertake the preparations necessary to administer the October 18, 2027, provincial general election under the final electoral boundaries enacted by the Legislative Assembly,” Amery wrote.
Opposition says office was denied resources
NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said in an Oct. 30 statement that the UCP “denied Elections Alberta the resources it requested” and called the new boundaries a “rigged map.” He urged the government to adopt the original independent commission’s map instead. Neither Nenshi nor Elections Alberta had posted a response to Amery’s letter as of Sunday afternoon.
In question period on Wednesday, Premier Danielle Smith told critics of the coming map to “put on your big-boy pants” and wait for the report, according to Alberta Hansard. She said the panel had renamed her riding from Brooks-Medicine Hat to Medicine Hat-Brooks.
The advisory panel’s report is due to be tabled in the legislature Monday.
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