Grande Prairie-Smoky

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Grande Prairie-Smoky
Flag of Alberta.svg Alberta electoral district
GrandePrairieSmoky in Alberta.jpg
2004 boundaries
Defunct provincial electoral district
Legislature Legislative Assembly of Alberta
District created1993
District abolished2019
First contested 1993
Last contested 2015

Grande Prairie-Smoky was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using first-past-the-post balloting from 1993 to 2019.

Contents

The riding was created in 1993 when from the Smoky River electoral district was expanded into the old Whitecourt electoral district. The district includes the north portion of the city of Grande Prairie as well as the towns of Fox Creek, Sexsmith and Valleyview.

History

The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution from the electoral district of Smoky River and Whitecourt. It remained mostly unchanged in the 1997 and 2003 electoral boundary re-distributions. The Boundaries Commission proposed to abolish the district to create a completely urban Grande Prairie district but it changed its decision under public pressure. [1] The 2010 re-distribution made minor changes to the border with Grande Prairie-Wapiti in the city of Grande Prairie but stayed the same in the rural areas. [2]

Boundary history

Representation history

Members of the Legislative Assembly
for Grande Prairie-Smoky
AssemblyYearsMemberParty
See Grande Prairie 1930-1993, Smoky River
1971-1993 and Whitecourt 1971-1993
23rd 1993–1997 Walter Paszkowski Progressive
Conservative
24th 1997–2001
25th 2001–2004 Mel Knight
26th 2004–2008
27th 2008–2012
28th 2012–2015 Everett McDonald
29th 2015–2017 Todd Loewen Wildrose
2017-2019 United Conservative
See Grande Prairie, Grande Prairie-Wapiti
and Central Peace-Notley 2019-

The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution primarily from the old Smoky River and Whitecourt riding's. The first election held that year saw Progressive Conservative Smoky River incumbent Walter Paszkowski win a comfortable majority to pick up the seat for his party. He ran for a second term winning a larger majority in the 1997 election. He retired from the legislature at dissolution in 2001.

The former representative was Progressive Conservative Mel Knight who won his first election in 2001 with a massive majority taking 67% of the popular vote. He was re-elected to his second term in the 2004 election with a very large, but reduced majority.

Premier Ed Stelmach appointed Mel Knight as Minister of Energy in 2006. [5] He won a slightly higher majority running for a third term in the 2008 general election. Knight was shuffled out of the Energy portfolio in 2010 and then served as the Minister of Sustainable Resource Development.

Upon his retirement, Everett McDonald kept the seat for the PCs at a reduced vote share in the 2012 election. In 2015, however, third-time candidate Todd Loewen finally captured the seat for Wildrose. He subsequently crossed the floor to the United Conservative Party when the two parties merged.

Legislative election results

1993

1993 Alberta general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Walter Paszkowski 4,94255.06%
Liberal John Croken2,50627.92%
New Democratic Christine Potts1,19913.36%
Confederation of Regions Herb Wohlgemuth3293.67%
Total8,976
Rejected, spoiled, and declined14
Eligible electors / turnout16,43454.70%
Progressive Conservative pickup new district.
Source(s)
Source: "Grande Prairie-Smoky Official Results 1993 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1997

1997 Alberta general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Walter Paszkowski 5,75364.71%9.65%
Liberal John A. Croken1,99522.44%-5.48%
New Democratic Linda Smith1,14312.86%-0.50%
Total8,891
Rejected, spoiled and declined30
Eligible electors / turnout18,81847.41%-7.30%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 7.56%
Source(s)
Source: "Grande Prairie-Smoky Official Results 1997 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2001

2001 Alberta general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Mel Knight 6,24167.54%2.84%
Liberal Barry Robinson1,77719.23%-3.21%
New Democratic Leon Pendleton8429.11%-3.74%
Alberta Independence Dennis Young3804.11%
Total9,240
Rejected, spoiled and declined5
Eligible electors / turnout21,06843.88%-3.53%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 3.02%
Source(s)
Source: "Grande Prairie-Smoky Official Results 2001 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2004

2004 Alberta general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Mel Knight 4,36956.43%-11.12%
Liberal Neil Peacock1,96525.38%6.15%
New Democratic Georgina Szoke7249.35%0.24%
Alberta Alliance Hank Rahn6858.85%
Total7,743
Rejected, spoiled and declined25
Eligible electors / turnout22,08335.18%-8.71%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -8.63%
Source(s)
Source: "Grande Prairie-Smoky Statement of Official Results 2004 Alberta general election" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Retrieved March 27, 2010.

2008

2008 Alberta general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Mel Knight 4,76959.43%3.01%
Liberal John A. Croken1,08913.57%-11.81%
Wildrose Alliance Todd Loewen 1,04913.07%
New Democratic Neil R.M. Peacock83210.37%1.02%
Green Rebecca Villebrun2853.55%
Total8,024
Rejected, spoiled and declined31
Eligible electors / turnout27,05829.77%-5.41%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 7.41%

2012

2012 Alberta general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Progressive Conservative Everett McDonald 5,45845.79%-13.64%
Wildrose Todd Loewen 4,91241.21%28.14%
New Democratic Mary Dahr7576.35%-4.02%
Liberal Kevin McLean5834.89%-8.68%
Independent Andrew Muise2091.75%
Total11,919
Rejected, spoiled and declined34
Eligible electors / turnout28,12642.50%12.73%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -20.64%

2015

2015 Alberta general election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Wildrose Todd Loewen 5,34333.17%-8.04%
New Democratic Todd Russell5,00931.10%24.75%
Progressive Conservative Everett McDonald 4,96830.84%-14.95%
Liberal Kevin McLean7874.89%-0.01%
Total16,107
Rejected, spoiled and declined42
Eligible electors / turnout32,93049.04%6.54%
Wildrose gain from Progressive Conservative Swing -1.25%

Senate nominee election results

2004

2004 Senate nominee election results: Grande Prairie-Smoky [6] Turnout 35.30%
AffiliationCandidateVotes% votes% ballotsRank
Progressive Conservative Cliff Breitkreuz 3,30416.08%50.85%3
Progressive Conservative Betty Unger 2,83113.77%43.57%2
Progressive Conservative Bert Brown 2,77913.52%42.77%1
 Independent Link Byfield 2,12410.34%32.69%4
Progressive Conservative David Usherwood1,8729.11%28.81%6
Progressive Conservative Jim Silye 1,7758.64%27.32%5
Alberta Alliance Michael Roth1,6458.01%25.32%7
Alberta Alliance Gary Horan1,4927.26%22.96%10
Alberta Alliance Vance Gough1,4777.19%22.73%8
 Independent Tom Sindlinger 1,2516.08%19.26%9
Total votes20,550100%
Total ballots6,4973.16 votes per ballot
Rejected, spoiled and declined1,299

Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot

2012

Student vote results

2004

Participating schools [7]
Grande Prairie Composite HS
Harry Balfour School
Harry Gray Elementary School
Hillside Jr-Sr High School
Peace Wapiti Academy
Sexsmith Secondary School
St. Marys School
St. Stephens

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 [8]
AffiliationCandidateVotes%
Progressive Conservative Mel Knight 60944.88%
  Liberal Neil Peacock38628.45%
  NDP Georgina Szoke25218.57%
Alberta Alliance Hank Rahn1108.10%
Total1,357100%
Rejected, spoiled and declined54

2012

2012 Alberta student vote results
AffiliationCandidateVotes%
Progressive Conservative Everett McDonald%
Wildrose Todd Loewen
  Liberal Kevin McLean%
  NDP Mary Dahr%
Total100%

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References

  1. Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (February 2003). "Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries, and Names for Alberta. Final Report to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta". Legislative Assembly of Alberta . Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  2. Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (June 2010). "Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries, and Names for Alberta. Final Report to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of Alberta . Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  3. Electoral Divisions Act , S.A. 2003, c. E-4.1
  4. "Bill 28 Electoral Divisions Act" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. 2010.
  5. "Stelmach names smaller cabinet". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. December 15, 2006. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  6. "Senate Nominee Election 2004 Tabulation of Official Results" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
  7. "School by School results". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  8. "Riding by Riding Results - the Candidates". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved April 19, 2008.

Further reading

55°22′44″N118°19′23″W / 55.379°N 118.323°W / 55.379; -118.323