Edmonton gets redrawn federal ridings for upcoming election

With the federal election campaign in full swing, Edmonton’s southeast has been split into two ridings. Political experts say that more urban ridings usually means success for left-wing parties.

Edmontonians CityNews spoke to on Wednesday said they haven’t studied up on their local federal candidates yet, but they say there’s a lot at stake in the run-up to April 28.

“With everything going on with the States, it scares me. I have never been too much on voting, but this year, I think it’s important,” said one Edmontonian CityNews spoke to.

Another saying, “I lived in Quebec for 10 years and then moved back to Alberta, and I see a lot of division. I thought coming back to Alberta was going to be better than living in Quebec, but the cost of living is so high for everything.”

Nelson Wiseman, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto, says, “The extent of which the Liberals and the NDP have influence in Alberta — are in the urban centres. That’s the same right across the country.”

Edmonton’s southeast is getting a new look when it comes to federal ridings. The old riding of Edmonton—Mill Woods has been split in two, becoming Edmonton-Southeast and Edmonton-Gateway.

The now-former Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi has announced he will be running in Edmonton-Southeast for the federal Liberals, and Rod Loyla, a former NDP MLA, will be running for the Liberals in Edmonton Gateway.

“Ottawa is the big leagues. Being mayor of Edmonton is little league. In fact, your premier probably has more influence on what happens in Edmonton in terms of major policy,” said Wiseman.

Sohi won the Edmonton—Mill Woods riding in 2015, and served as a Liberal cabinet minister under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Sohi lost that seat to Conservative MP Tim Uppal in 2019.

Wiseman says he expects Edmonton—Centre will be a riding to watch on Election Day. It’s held by outgoing Liberal MP and former cabinet Minister Randy Boissonnault to stay Liberal, despite just making it by a few hundred votes in 2021. Boissonnault has said he is not running again.

“I expect that riding is going to be held easily by the Liberals, although they only won by 600 votes last time. But with the trends right now, Liberals are more popular then they are last time,” said Wiseman.