In representing the Drumheller-Stettler Constituency, MLA-elect Nathan Horner will need some bigger shoes, because of the bigger footprint of the riding.
Prior to the election, the Electoral Boundaries Commission redistributed electoral ridings to bring them inline population wise. What this means is the Drumheller-Stettler riding encompasses 36,584 square kilometres. This is more than half the size of New Brunswick.
Horner understands the challenges of distance.
“I think it might be one of the worst ridings in Alberta for getting around,” he tells the Mail. “It has some common themes throughout, but actual travel is going to be horrendous.”
He said the MLA orientation begins on April 24, and he will be learning more about how to represent the riding, but he says they are looking at better ways to locate staff offices that will help have a presence in more communities.
“We are probably going to have to tweak the structure from what it is now, as far as physical offices or if we are going to have a travelling set up for office space, a little more flexible with a little less overhead,” he said.
While it makes travel more time consuming, it is also a reality of living in rural Alberta.
“Where we grew up it was always an hour to anything in any direction, that part hasn’t changed,” he said. “It’s part of it, but I know it is something we need to keep the Electoral Boundary Commission aware of, that we do have to be mindful of the footprint too, not just the population.”
Outgoing MLA Rick Strankman knows all too well the distances. Even before the redistribution, Drumheller-Stettler was vast.
‘It’s like Belgium,” he said.
“With the inclusion of the MD of Provost, driving from Drumheller to Provost is three hours one way,” he said.
Strankman said in his experience the legislature usually sat about 75 days a year. While this left time to work within the constituency, it is still difficult to be everywhere.
“A lot of people just don’t understand the distances. I would get frustrated when people would say I don’t show up at the counties or the towns. That is why I would have our weekly commentaries, and at the bottom of each one of those is contact information to at least try and have some communication,” he said
He is concerned that with the decline of population, ridings are going to keep growing. That is why he feels growing the population through economic development is important.
