The most egregious change is how the O’Ferrall map indulge UCP cabinet minister Nathan Neudorf’s dream of carving up Lethbridge into massive “hybrid” rural-urban ridings.
Neudorf argued in his submission to the boundaries commission in early 2025 that slicing the city into “three or four complementary ridings that create a cohesive agri-innovation corridor.” would give “producers, processors, researches, and urban businesses a unified voice in the Legislature.”
The O’Ferrall map agreed with Neudorf’s argument and its final report used similar language, though it recommended leaving a single urban riding in the city’s centre. That will result in the number of electorally competitive ridings in the southwest Alberta city dropping from two to one. The creation of the three large hybrid rural-urban ridings and appears to be designed to isolate the NDP to one riding in the region.
