Claresholm (provincial electoral district)

Last updated

Claresholm
Flag of Alberta.svg Alberta electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
Legislature Legislative Assembly of Alberta
District created1909
District abolished1929
First contested 1909
Last contested 1926

Claresholm was a provincial electoral district in Alberta mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting from 1909 to 1929. [1]

Contents

History

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Claresholm
AssemblyYearsMemberParty
See Macleod electoral district from 1905-1909
2nd  1909–1913   Malcolm McKenzie Liberal
3rd  1913–1917 William Moffat
4th  1917–1921   Louise McKinney Alberta Non-Partisan League
5th  1921–1926   Thomas Milnes Independent Farmer
6th  1926–1930   Gordon Beverly Walker United Farmers
See Nanton-Claresholm electoral district from 1930-1940

The Claresholm electoral district was formed prior to the 1909 Alberta general election from the northern portion of the Macleod electoral district. The electoral district would be renamed Nanton-Claresholm prior to the 1930 Alberta general election.

Malcolm McKenzie was elected the first MLA for Claresholm in the 1909 election, McKenzie was the incumbent, having been elected to the Macleod electoral district in 1905. McKenzie's margin of victory in Claresholm was much larger than he had achieved in 1905 [2] [3]

Premier Arthur Sifton appointed McKenzie Provincial Treasurer. In keeping with the era's custom, McKenzie responded to the cabinet appointment by resigning his seat in the legislature to contest it in a by-election. Despite his previous wide margins, in 1912 he carried Claresholm by only 14 votes. [4] [5]

McKenzie's tenure as treasurer was not to last long: he caught a chill while attending the convention that nominated him as the Liberals' Claresholm candidate in the 1913 election, and by the time he returned to Edmonton on March 10, 1913, he was confine to bed. He had developed peritonitis, and died from it early in the morning of March 15.

In the 1917 Alberta general election, Louise McKinney became the first woman sworn into the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, and the first woman elected to a legislature in the British Empire. She served in the Alberta legislature from 1917 to 1921 as a member of the Non-Partisan League. McKinney defeating Liberal incumbent and former Mayor of Claresholm William Moffat. [6] She was one of two women elected to the Legislative Assembly that year, the other being Roberta MacAdams. Later McKinney was one of the Famous Five who campaigned successfully for the right of Canadian women to be appointed to the Senate.

McKinney ran for a second term in the 1921 Alberta general election as a member of the United Farmers. She was defeated by Independent Farmer candidate Thomas Milnes. [7]

The electoral district is named for the Town of Claresholm, Alberta.

Election results

1900s

1909 Alberta general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Malcolm McKenzie 69661.87%
Conservative J. F. Garrow42938.13%
Total1,125
Rejected, spoiled and declinedN/A
Eligible electors / turnoutN/AN/A
Liberal pickup new district.
Source(s)
Source: "Claresholm Official Results 1909 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1910s

Alberta provincial by-election, May 27, 1912
Ministerial by-election upon Malcolm McKenzie's appointment as Provincial Treasurer
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Malcolm McKenzie 65150.54%-11.33%
Conservative D. S. MacMillan63749.45%11.33%
Total1,288
Rejected, spoiled and declinedN/A
Eligible electors / turnoutN/AN/A
Liberal hold Swing -11.33
Source(s)
"By-elections". elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta . Retrieved June 24, 2020.
    1913 Alberta general election
    PartyCandidateVotes%
    Liberal William Moffatt 49651.08%
    Conservative D. S. McMillan34835.84%
    Independent G. Malshow12713.08%
    Total971
    Source(s)
    Source: "Claresholm Official Results 1913 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
    1917 Alberta general election
    PartyCandidateVotes%±%
    Nonpartisan League Louise McKinney 83955.60%42.52%
    Liberal William Moffatt 67044.40%-6.68%
    Total1,509
    Rejected, spoiled and declinedN/A
    Eligible electors / turnout1,88480.10%
    Nonpartisan League gain from Liberal Swing -2.02%
    Source(s)
    Source: "Claresholm Official Results 1917 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

    1920s

    1921 Alberta general election
    PartyCandidateVotes%±%
    Independent Farmer Thomas Milnes 80951.46%-4.14%
    United Farmers Louise McKinney 76348.54%
    Total1,572
    Rejected, spoiled and declinedN/A
    Eligible electors / turnoutN/AN/A
    Independent Farmer gain from Nonpartisan League Swing -4.14%
    Source(s)
    Source: "Claresholm Official Results 1921 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
    1926 Alberta general election
    PartyCandidateVotes%±%
    United Farmers Gordon Beverly Walker 93968.99%20.46%
    Conservative John R. Watt42231.01%
    Total1,361
    Rejected, spoiled and declined148
    Eligible electors / turnout2,00975.11%
    United Farmers notional gain from Independent Farmer Swing 17.53%
    Source(s)
    Source: "Claresholm Official Results 1926 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

    See also

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    References

    1. "Election results for Claresholm". abheritage.ca. Wayback Machine: Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
    2. "Claresholm Official Results 1909 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
    3. "Macleod Official Results 1905 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
    4. Thomas, Lewis Gwynne (1959). The Liberal Party in Alberta . Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press. pp. 125–127. ISBN   9780802050830.
    5. "By-elections". elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta . Retrieved June 18, 2020.
    6. "Claresholm Official Results 1917 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
    7. "Claresholm Official Results 1921 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved September 8, 2010.

    Further reading