Get ready for a major barn burner of a topic. One so dire, so despicable, so full of destructive diabolicalness that it is sucking the very life out of civic affairs in this province.

That’s right, the topic is: ALBERTA’S MEMBERS OF THE PROVINCIAL LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY AND THEIR ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES!

Total boring bummer, right? It’s true.

But look harder.

The election boundaries of Alberta’s provincial government might seem like a boring topic, and it is. But if you take the time to read about the boundaries that put our elected members of the assembly into office, you will find a problem that hurts democracy in Alberta.

The entire population of the West Yellowhead constituency, which includes larger places like Jasper, Edson and Hinton, but also smaller towns like Robb and Cadomin, includes 30,283 voters.

In comparison, Calgary North West includes 60,511 voters. Calgary West has 55,571 voters. Edmonton-Castle Downs: 46,538. Edmonton-Whitemud: 56,596. Red Deer-South: 45,120.

Each of these constituencies is represented by only one MLA who gets one vote in the Alberta legislature. But there’s nearly double the voters in the urban locations. How is this fair?

Compare those constituencies to places like Battle River Wainwright, which has 30,403 voters, or Lesser Slave Lake, which has only 26,943 and you’ll soon see that Alberta has a problem with unfair representation and a grossly unfair voting system.

It means that for many rural Albertans (and for Jasperites), their MLAs vote in the legislature essentially counts twice when compared to an MLA in certain parts of Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Fort McMurray and Airdrie (amongst numerous other places).

Representation by population is simply the fairest, most democratic way of running any government, but Alberta’s two largest cities are represented by a minority of MLAs. For instance, eighteen of Calgary’s 23 electoral divisions have voter populations above the average size of a typical Alberta constituency. Edmonton is nearly as bad. This means that Alberta’s major cities have much less influence on policy and the direction of the province than they should.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the Conservative Party of Alberta knows that taking away MLAs in rural Alberta will affect their seat count. Rural Alberta votes consistently Conservative blue (the word Liberal is still a curse word in some parts of this province) and while new ridings along the suburban outskirts of Calgary and Edmonton would hardly be guaranteed to sway towards the NDP or the Liberals, there’s a much better chance there than in a place like Rocky Mountain House.

The Conservatives would never admit this. Instead, they cite problems of geography and they had a point ten years ago.

Part of the reason for the smaller rural constituencies’ voter lists is that the people in these areas live much further apart from each other. Some MLAs in rural ridings frequently put well over 100,000 kms on their vehicles every year due to all the driving to various meetings. To bring in more voters means increasing the size of some rural ridings which means more time on the road for the local MLA and in turn, more time away from constituents. It’s a problem that someone in downtown Edmonton doesn’t have to face as they can meet dozens of constituents during their daily walk to work. In short, there’s a problem with geography that could hurt our democracy.

But there are now solutions to the problem of distance. Web-cams, tele-conferencing, twitter, blogs, Facebook, mass e-mails, and increased political staffs are all tools that a savvy political operator can use to reach out to their constituency. No, they are not a full substitute for community; for shaking hands, kissing babies and looking someone in the eye, but rural MLAs could still go to the trail and meet with people in larger ridings. They should simply increase the intensity of their visits.

When MLA Robin Campbell comes to town, he should publicize it beforehand. Campbell lives in Jasper, but even the Fitzhugh is rarely in the know about when he’s going to be here. Constituents in the Rocky Mountain House constituency (where I used to work as a reporter) were constantly asking if anyone at the paper knew where MLA Ty Lund was. No one knew.

If MLAs did a better job of letting people know where they were and they could be found, the problems created by distance would diminish. Not entirely because there are is always going to be high school awards ceremonies, chamber of commerce meetings, and municipal council meetings that MLAs have to attend.

Again, scheduling is key and social media can partially fill the void of an MLA’s long absence.

The alternative to not making use of these tools is to keep the electoral boundary system we have. In other words, keep things skewed, unfair and greatly in need of change.