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“It makes it difficult for these more remote areas within the province, where it creates such huge geographical boundaries for the ridings, that it can be very challenging for both the residents in the area to have access to the MLA and the MLA to get out to those communities to cover those communities,” he said in an interview Monday.

“Another item we need to consider in this is the whole role of the culture of a community … I know it won’t be an easy thing for them to sort out but we are concerned about losing rural ridings.”

The commission will use population numbers from the 2016 census, due to be released next month, in its work. Using the most recent population estimate from the province in 2016 — 4,252,879 — the commission says the average population for a constituency would be 48,883.

Constituency populations are allowed to vary 25 per cent from that average, and provincial legislation allows for four seats to fall outside that threshold. Currently there are only two seats — Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley and Lesser Slave Lake — that fall below the 25 per cent threshold.

Wildrose MLA Nathan Cooper, part of an overwhelmingly rural caucus, said he’s hopeful the boundary commission can do its work without causing a divide between city and country.

He noted that Calgary and Edmonton currently have 44 seats, a figure that matches up with the two major cities’ 50 per cent share of the population.

“I would expect we would continue to see a reflection of the population. Obviously there’s going to be some lines redrawn and some adjustments made but I don’t see a major concern around the distribution of seats,” said Cooper, the MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.