Alberta-British Columbia boundary changes would be easier under proposed bill

Just when you think a provincial boundary is set in stone, the geological whims of the Rocky Mountains have other ideas.

Laws dating as far back as 1866 say the mountainous portion of the Alberta-British Columbia boundary is determined by how the water flows — eastward into Alberta, or westward into B.C.

Erosion, landslides and other natural processes nudge the provincial dividing line all the time. But changing the description of the border on paper is a slog, with even a slight tweak necessitating a referendum in Alberta.

Now, the Alberta government is trying to do away with that requirement, proposing a bill in the legislature Wednesday that would eliminate the need for a boundary change referendum.

"Obviously, we're not talking about a significant carving up of the border," Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally said at a news conference in Edmonton. "That still would fall under the Constitution, and a referendum will be required."

Nally's ministry is tasked with axing or simplifying laws and regulations that put bureaucratic hurdles in the way of people accomplishing what should be straightforward paperwork.

The bill would allow the provinces to draw a straight-line "conventional" border in small areas where the landscape is in flux, but a business wants clarity about which province they're operating in.

Nally gave the example of a ski hill, where owners need to know which provincial regulations to follow.

Banff's Sunshine Village ski resort, for instance, has the Great Divide chairlift, which chugs skiers across the provincial boundary twice on their way up the mountain.

Nally said the change would help with survey work that's currently underway on the boundary.

Shawn Marshall, a glacier researcher who studies the Continental Divide, says the "most wiggly border" in Canada is influenced mostly by glaciers melting unevenly on each side of the border — a process that's exacerbated by climate change..

Glacial melt has reduced the height of some mountainous land by as much as 40 metres since the border was originally drawn, he said.

"Right now, the Continental Divide follows a very indirect route and for actual governance of those lands, maybe it's easier to draw a line through those," Marshall said.

Legally changing what land belongs to which province also affects who owns the potentially valuable resources underground, he said