Crowfoot (electoral district)

Last updated

Crowfoot
Flag of Alberta.svg Alberta electoral district
Alberta federal ridings (rural) - Crowfoot.svg
Crowfoot in relation to the other Alberta ridings (2003 boundaries)
Defunct federal electoral district
Legislature House of Commons
District created1966
District abolished2013
First contested 1968
Last contested 2011
District webpage profile, map
Demographics
Population (2011) [1] 125,481
Electors (2011)87,897
Area (km²) [2] 42,810.46
Census division(s) Division No. 5, Division No. 6, Division No. 7, Division No. 10
Census subdivision(s) Rocky View County, Camrose, Mountain View County, Strathmore, Chestermere, Wheatland County, Drumheller, Camrose County, Stettler, Kneehill County

Crowfoot was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 2015.

Contents

It was located in the central part of the province, and is named in honour of Chief Crowfoot, leader of the Blackfoot First Nations in the 19th century.

Even by the standards of rural Alberta, Crowfoot was a strongly conservative riding. The major right-wing party of the day — Progressive Conservative (1968–1993), Reform (1993–2000), Canadian Alliance (2000–2003), and Conservative (after 2003) — won every election in this riding, usually by some of the largest recorded margins in Canadian politics. As a measure of how conservative this riding is, Jack Horner, the riding's original member, crossed the floor to the Liberals in 1977, only to tumble to only 18 percent of the vote in 1979.

This electoral district was also home to the largest margin of victory in any federal riding in the 2004 and 2006 federal elections. Conservative candidate Kevin Sorenson won 37,649 votes, or 80.2% of the riding's total in 2004. This represented a difference of 34,034 votes, or 72.5%, from the candidate with the riding's second most votes, Liberal Adam Campbell who only received 3,615 votes, or 7.7% of the riding's votes. It was the riding with the highest Conservative vote in the 2004 and 2006 elections. In 2006, Sorenson increased his vote even further, to 43,009 votes, 82.5% of the total.

Geography

The district included the City of Camrose; the Town of Drumheller; the Municipal District of Acadia No. 34; Wheatland County; Kneehill County; Starland County; the County of Stettler No. 6; the County of Paintearth No. 18; Camrose County; and all of Alberta's three special areas (Nos. 2, 3 and 4).

History

This riding was created in 1966 from parts of Medicine Hat, Acadia, Bow River, and Macleod ridings. At the time, the riding contained the rural areas south and east of Calgary, extending as far south as Claresholm and as far east as the Saskatchewan border. It also extended into the rural area of east-central Alberta as far north as Coronation.

Redistribution in 1976 altered the riding drastically. The riding lost all of its territory south of the Red Deer River, which was transferred to ridings of Bow River and Medicine Hat. In turn, the riding moved northward, taking up most of rural east-central Alberta, adding much of what was previously in the riding of Battle River. The riding would now extend as far north as the Highway 13 corridor, including Camrose.

The 1987 redistribution added the Drumheller area to the riding, as well as the Red Deer River valley area north of Drumheller from the ridings of Red Deer and Bow River. In turn, the riding lost most of the Highway 13 corridor in the north to Vegreville except for the Camrose area.

The 1996 redistribution added the Highway 13 corridor back to the riding.

In 2003, parts of Wild Rose riding were added, including the eastern exurbs of Calgary, like Chestemere. The riding subsequently lost the Highway 21 corridor east of Red Deer to the ridings of Red Deer and Wetaskiwin, and lost the Highway 13 corridor (except for Camrose) to Vegreville—Wainwright.

It was abolished in 2012. Most of the riding's eastern portion became Battle River—Crowfoot, with much of the western portion transferring to Bow River and Red Deer—Mountain View. Some outer western portions of the riding that had been annexed into Calgary joined Calgary Shepard and Calgary Forest Lawn.

Historical boundaries

Members of Parliament

ParliamentYearsMemberParty
Crowfoot
Riding created from Medicine Hat, Acadia,
Bow River and Macleod
28th  1968–1972   Jack Horner Progressive Conservative
29th  1972–1974
30th  1974–1977
 1977–1979   Liberal
31st  1979–1980   Arnold Malone Progressive Conservative
32nd  1980–1984
33rd  1984–1988
34th  1988–1993
35th  1993–1997   Jack Ramsay Reform
36th  1997–2000
 2000–2000  Independent Canadian Alliance
 2000–2000   Independent
37th  2000–2003   Kevin Sorenson Alliance
 2003–2004   Conservative
38th  2004–2006
39th  2006–2008
40th  2008–2011
41st  2011–2015
Riding dissolved into Battle River—Crowfoot,
Bow River, Red Deer—Mountain View,
Calgary Shepard and Calgary Forest Lawn

Election results

2011 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Expenditures
Conservative Kevin Sorenson 44,11583.99+1.96$33,424
New Democratic Ellen Parker4,8059.15+1.26$10,007
Green Konrad Schellenberg1,7113.26-2.74$0
Liberal Omar Harb1,2242.33-1.75$4,589
Independent John C. Turner4630.88$2,667
Christian Heritage Gerard Groenedijk2040.39
Total valid votes/Expense limit52,52299.75
Total rejected ballots1310.25-0.02
Turnout52,65359.24+4.38
Eligible voters88,881
Conservative hold Swing +0.35
2008 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Expenditures
Conservative Kevin Sorenson 39,34282.03-0.52$63,199
New Democratic Ellen Parker3,7837.89+0.48$5,585
Green Kaitlin Kettenbach2,8755.99+1.51
Liberal Sharon Howe1,9584.08-1.47$1,397
Total valid votes/Expense limit47,95899.74$106,273
Total rejected ballots1270.26-0.01
Turnout48,08554.86-9.94
Eligible voters87,644
Conservative hold Swing -0.50
2006 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Kevin Sorenson 43,21082.56+2.35
New Democratic Ellen Parker3,8757.40+0.50
Liberal Adam Campbell2,9085.56-2.15
Green Cameron Wigmore2,3474.48+0.66
Total valid votes52,34099.73
Total rejected ballots1420.27+0.08
Turnout52,48264.81+2.44
Eligible voters80,980
Conservative hold Swing +0.92
2004 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Expenditures
Conservative Kevin Sorenson 37,64980.21-5.53$43,903
Liberal Adam Campbell3,6157.70+1.17$3,455
New Democratic Ellen Parker3,2416.90+3.96$2,514
Green Arnold Baker1,7953.82
Marijuana Max Leonard Cornelssen6391.36
Total valid votes46,93999.81
Total rejected ballots890.19
Turnout47,02862.36
Eligible voters75,409
Conservative notional hold Swing -3.35

Note: Change from redistributed results. Conservative vote is compared to the total of Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance vote in 2000.

2000 federal election redistributed results [3]
PartyVote%
  Canadian Alliance 33,98871.72
  Progressive Conservative 6,64114.01
  Liberal 3,0946.53
  New Democratic 1,3962.95
 Independents2,2694.79
2000 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Expenditures
Alliance Kevin Sorenson 33,76770.56-0.43$44,001
Progressive Conservative Verlyn Olson 6,77814.16-1.34$18,591
Liberal Orest Werezak2,9646.19-3.52$2,938
Independent Jack Ramsay 2,6685.57$18,085
New Democratic Jay Russell1,4573.04-0.75$788
Independent Valerie Morrow2230.47$7,959
Total valid votes47,85799.76
Total rejected ballots1170.24+0.06
Turnout47,97466.18+2.12
Eligible voters72,488
Alliance hold Swing +0.45

Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997.

1997 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Expenditures
Reform Jack Ramsay 30,58970.99+5.01$48,007
Progressive Conservative Paul Marshall6,67915.50-2.47$18,052
Liberal Redford W. Peeples4,1859.71-2.88$5,178
New Democratic Bill Scotten1,6353.79+1.39$859
Total valid votes43,08899.82
Total rejected ballots790.18-0.04
Turnout43,16764.06-7.28
Eligible voters67,387
Reform hold Swing +3.74
1993 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Reform Jack Ramsay 23,61165.98+33.93
Progressive Conservative Brian Heidecker6,43117.97-35.71
Liberal Darryl Sandford4,50612.59+6.00
New Democratic Berend J. Wilting8602.40-5.26
Natural Law Alan J. Livingston2630.73
Independent Anita Ashmore1130.32
Total valid votes35,78599.78
Total rejected ballots800.22+0.01
Turnout35,86571.34-6.95
Eligible voters50,275
Reform gain from Progressive Conservative Swing +34.82
1988 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Arnold Malone 19,07953.68-24.15
Reform Jack Ramsay 11,39232.05
New Democratic Fred Rappel2,7257.67-1.67
Liberal Doug Moe2,3446.60-0.76
Total valid votes35,54099.78
Total rejected ballots770.22-0.01
Turnout35,61778.28+5.10
Eligible voters45,499
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -28.10
Source: Thirty Fourth General Election: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer
1984 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Arnold Malone 26,29177.83+1.22
New Democratic L. Gladys Creasy3,1539.33+3.10
Liberal Vange MacNaughton2,4837.35-8.18
Confederation of Regions Joe Domanski1,5594.62
Social Credit Arthur E. Robinson2940.87-0.75
Total valid votes33,78099.77
Total rejected ballots780.23-0.00
Turnout33,85873.18+2.37
Eligible voters46,266
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -0.94
1980 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Arnold Malone 23,49176.61-0.51
Liberal Jack Horner 4,76115.53-2.67
New Democratic Roger Milbrandt1,9126.24+1.56
Social Credit Jim Green4981.62
Total valid votes30,66299.77
Total rejected ballots710.23
Turnout30,73370.81
Eligible voters43,402
Progressive Conservative hold Swing +1.08
1979 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Arnold Malone 25,20277.12+1.62
Liberal Jack Horner 5,94718.20+3.65
New Democratic Roger Milbrandt1,5294.68+0.20
Total valid votes32,678100.00
1974 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Jack Horner 18,04875.51-0.03
Liberal Ernest R. Patterson3,47714.55+4.06
Social Credit Jim Green1,3075.47-1.69
New Democratic Muriel McCreary1,0714.48-2.34
Total valid votes23,903100.00
1972 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Jack Horner 18,66775.54+2.09
Liberal Andy McAlister2,59110.48-10.80
Social Credit Jim Green1,7687.15
New Democratic Gloria Jean Ann Mcgowan1,6866.82+1.55
Total valid votes24,712100.00
1968 Canadian federal election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Progressive Conservative Jack Horner 16,50873.45
Liberal Noel Sharp4,78321.28
New Democratic Stuart McCready1,1855.27
Total valid votes22,476100.00

See also

References