Rocky_Mountain_House_(electoral_district)

Rocky Mountain House (electoral district)

Rocky Mountain House (electoral district)

Defunct provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada


Rocky Mountain House was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1940 to 2012.[1]

Quick Facts Alberta electoral district, Defunct provincial electoral district ...

History

The district was one of 83 current districts mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting since 1959. Prior to that Single Transferable Vote was in use but no election went to a second count.

The district which was located in central western rural Alberta was created from parts of four electoral districts in the 1940 boundary redistribution. It is named after the town of Rocky Mountain House.

The district was favourable to electing Progressive Conservative candidates since 1971. It was only held by four representatives.

The district was replaced in the 2010 Alberta electoral boundary re-distribution with Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.[2]

Boundary history

More information 73 Rocky Mountain House 2003 boundaries, Bordering districts ...
More information Members of the Legislative Assembly for Rocky Mountain House, Assembly ...

Electoral history

The electoral district of Rocky Mountain House was created from parts of four different districts in the 1940 boundary re-distribution. The first election held that year saw Social Credit incumbent Alfred Hooke switch from the Red Deer provincial electoral district. He won his second term in office easily defeating two other candidates on the first ballot.

Hooke would be appointed to the first of his many cabinet portfolios as Provincial Secretary by Premier Ernest Manning in 1943. He would run for a third term and his first with ministerial advantage in the 1944 general election winning a larger majority. In 1945 Hooke also became the Minister of Economic Affairs.

The 1948 general election saw Hooke win his fourth straight term in office and third in the district, with a landslide over Co-operative Commonwealth candidate Ray Schmidt. Hooke won re-election five more times in 1952, 1955, 1959, 1963 and 1967.

Pundits had been predicting that Hooke would be defeated in the 1967 general election after a rift grew in the Social Credit party when national Social Credit leader Robert Thompson nominated an independent candidate to run against Hooke. He won the election easily. Hooke served in cabinet until 1968 when Harry Strom became Premier. He was not invited back to cabinet and retired at dissolution of the assembly in 1971.

The second representative in the district was elected in the 1971 general election. Progressive Conservative candidate Helen Hunley defeated Social Credit Harvey Staudinger to pick up the seat for her party. She was appointed to the first cabinet of Premier Peter Lougheed after the election. Hunley was re-elected in the 1975 defeating Staudinger for the second time with a larger victory. She remained in cabinet and retired from the legislature at dissolution in 1979. Hunley would be appointed remained in politics as she was appointed Lieutenant Governor in 1985.

Hunley was replaced in the legislature by Progressive Conservative candidate John Campbell in the 1979 general election. He won election twice more in 1982 and 1986 with large majorities.

The last representative in the district is Progressive Conservative MLA Ty Lund. Lund won the seat in the 1989 election for the first time with a landslide margin to hold the seat for his party. He was re-elected with a bigger majority in the 1993 election. Premier Ralph Klein appointed Lund to cabinet for the first time on September 15, 1994 as Minister of Environment.

He was re-elected four more times in 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2008. He kept serving various cabinet portfolio's until Premier Ed Stelmach took office in 2006.

The riding is notable for the electoral performances of Social Credit candidate Lavern Ahlstrom, who would later lead the party. Despite the party's minor status in recent times, Ahlstrom consistently polled well above his party's average in the elections he contested.

Legislative election results

1940

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1944

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1948

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1952

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1955

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1959

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1963

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1967

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1971

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1975

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1979

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1982

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1986

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1989

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1993

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1997

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2001

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2004

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2008

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Senate nominee election results

2004

2004 Senate nominee election results: Rocky Mountain House[5] Turnout 47.26%
Affiliation Candidate Votes % votes % ballots Rank
  Progressive Conservative Bert Brown 4,255 15.59% 48.00% 1
  Progressive Conservative Betty Unger 3,961 14.51% 44.69% 2
  Independent Link Byfield 2,996 10.97% 33.80% 4
  Progressive Conservative Cliff Breitkreuz 2,881 10.55% 32.50% 3
  Progressive Conservative Jim Silye 2,748 10.07% 31.00% 5
  Progressive Conservative David Usherwood 2,461 9.02% 27.76% 6
Alberta AllianceMichael Roth2,4098.82%27.18%7
Alberta AllianceVance Gough2,0827.63%23.49%8
Alberta AllianceGary Horan2,0637.56%23.27%10
  Independent Tom Sindlinger 1,444 5.28% 16.29% 9
Total votes 27,300 100%
Total ballots 8,864 3.08 votes per ballot
Rejected, spoiled and declined 1,337

Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot

Plebiscite results

1948 dlectrification plebiscite

District results from the first province-wide plebiscite on electricity regulation.

More information Option A, Option B ...

1957 liquor plebiscite

More information Question A: Do you approve additional types of outlets for the sale of beer, wine and spirituous liquor subject to a local vote?, Ballot choice ...

On October 30, 1957 a stand-alone plebiscite was held province wide in all 50 of the then current provincial electoral districts in Alberta. The government decided to consult Alberta voters to decide on liquor sales and mixed drinking after a divisive debate in the Legislature. The plebiscite was intended to deal with the growing demand for reforming antiquated liquor control laws.[7]

The plebiscite was conducted in two parts. Question A asked in all districts, asked the voters if the sale of liquor should be expanded in Alberta, while Question B asked in a handful of districts within the corporate limits of Calgary and Edmonton asked if men and woman were allowed to drink together in establishments.[6]

Province wide Question A of the plebiscite passed in 33 of the 50 districts while Question B passed in all five districts. Rocky Mountain House voted in favour of the proposal by a narrow majority. Voter turnout in the district was very low, falling well under the province wide average of 46%.[6] This decline in turnout was attributed to heavy rains, high winds and flooding conditions in the district that kept people away from polling stations.[7]

Official district returns were released to the public on December 31, 1957.[6] The Social Credit government in power at the time did not considered the results binding.[8] However the results of the vote led the government to repeal all existing liquor legislation and introduce an entirely new Liquor Act.[9]

Municipal districts lying inside electoral districts that voted against the Plebiscite were designated Local Option Zones by the Alberta Liquor Control Board and considered effective dry zones, business owners that wanted a license had to petition for a binding municipal plebiscite in order to be granted a license.[10]

2004 student vote results

More information Participating schools ...

On November 19, 2004 a student vote was conducted at participating Alberta schools to parallel the 2004 Alberta general election results. The vote was designed to educate students and simulate the electoral process for persons who have not yet reached the legal majority. The vote was conducted in 80 of the 83 provincial electoral districts with students voting for actual election candidates. Schools with a large student body that reside in another electoral district had the option to vote for candidates outside of the electoral district then where they were physically located.

2004 Alberta student vote results[12]
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
  Progressive Conservative Ty Lund 21 51.22%
  Liberal Susan Scott 9 21.95%
Green Jennifer Isaac 4 9.75%
  Social Credit Lavern Ahlstrom 2 4.88%
  NDP Anthony Jones 2 4.88%
Alberta AllianceEd Wilhite24.88%
SeparationBruce Hutton12.44%
Total 41 100%
Rejected, spoiled and declined 5

See also


References

  1. "Election results for Rocky Mountain House". abheritage.ca. Wayback Machine: Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  2. Electoral Divisions Act, S.A. 2003, c. E-4.1
  3. "Members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 1905-2006" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2010. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
  4. "Senate Nominee Election 2004 Tabulation of Official Results" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
  5. Alberta Gazette. Vol. 53 (December 31 ed.). Government of Alberta. 1957. pp. 2, 247–2, 249.
  6. "Albertans Vote 2 to 1 For More Liquor Outlets". Vol L No 273. The Lethbridge Herald. October 31, 1957. pp. 1–2.
  7. "No Sudden Change In Alberta Drinking Habits Is Seen". Vol L No 267. The Lethbridge Herald. October 24, 1957. p. 1.
  8. "Entirely New Act On Liquor". Vol LI No 72. The Lethbridge Herald. March 5, 1958. p. 1.
  9. "Bill 81". Alberta Bills 12th Legislature 1st Session. Government of Alberta. 1958. p. 40.
  10. "School by School results". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  11. "Riding by Riding Results - the Candidates". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved April 19, 2008.

Further reading

52.1°N 116.5°W / 52.1; -116.5


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