Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills

Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills

Alberta electoral district
Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills within Alberta, 2017 boundaries
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Alberta
MLA	Tara Sawyer United Conservative
District created	1996
First contested	1997
Last contested	2023
Demographics
Census division(s)	Division No. 5, Division No. 6
Census subdivision(s)	Acme, Beiseker, Carbon, Carstairs, Cremona, Crossfield, Didsbury, Hussar, Irricana, Kneehill County, Linden, Mountain View County, Olds, Rockyford, Rocky View County, Standard, Three Hills, Trochu, Wheatland County

Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting.

This riding in south-central Alberta stretches from the Red Deer River in the east to the area around Cremona in the west. Agriculture is the major employer, with retail a distant second. Household incomes, at $53,174, are below the Alberta average. ^[1] Seven per cent of residents are considered low income. More than two-thirds of the people here were born in Alberta, while seven per cent are immigrants. People of German origin make up nine per cent of the population. More than 96 per cent say their language at home is English, the second-highest rate in Alberta (2001 census). In 2021, National Post columnist Colby Cosh wrote that the district "might be the single most truculently conservative anywhere" in Canada. ^[2]

History

The electoral district was created in the 1996 electoral boundary re-distribution from the old electoral districts of Olds-Didsbury and Three Hills-Airdrie.

In the 2004 electoral boundary re-distribution the boundaries changed somewhat, with an agricultural section in the far west transferred to Banff-Cochrane, while in the southeast a section of the old Drumheller-Chinook riding — including the community of Carbon — was added. Major communities include Olds, Didsbury, Carstairs, Trochu, and Three Hills, as well as Olds College. It covers Kneehill County and most of Mountain View County. ^[3]

The 2010 electoral boundary re-distribution saw the district absorb the northern portions of Airdrie-Chestermere and Foothills-Rocky View which were both abolished and it lost some land on the eastern boundary to Drumheller-Stettler. ^[4]

The 2017 electoral boundary re-distribution resulted in the expansion of the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills electoral district to include the northern portion of Wheatland County, formerly part of the Strathmore-Brooks constituency. The resulting population of the district in 2017 was 49,418, 6% above the provincial average population of 46,803. ^[5]

Boundary history

69 Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills 2003 boundaries [6]
Bordering districts
North	East	West	South
Innisfail-Sylvan Lake	Drumheller-Stettler	Banff-Cochrane, Rocky Mountain House	Airdrie-Chestermere, Foothills-Rocky View, Strathmore-Brooks
riding map goes here
Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.
Starting at the east boundary of Rge. 4 W5 with the north boundary of Sec. 7 in Twp. 34, Rge. 3 W5; then 1. east along the north boundary of Secs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 in the Twp. and Secs. 7, 8, 9 and 10 in Twp. 34, Rge. 2 W5 to the east boundary of Sec. 10; 2. south along the east boundary of Sec. 10 to the north boundary of Sec. 2; 3. east along the north boundary of Sec. 2 to the east boundary of Sec. 2; 4. south along the east boundary of Sec. 2 to the north boundary of Twp. 33; 5. east along the north boundary of Twp. 33 to the east boundary of Rge. 28 W4; 6. north along the east boundary of Rge. 28 W4 to the north boundary of Sec. 6 in Twp. 34, Rge. 27 W4; 7. east along the north boundary of Secs. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 in Rge. 27 W4 and the north boundary of Secs. 6 and 5 in Rge. 26 W4 to the east boundary of Sec. 8; 8. north along the east boundary of Secs. 8, 17, 20 and 29 to the north boundary of Sec. 28 in the Twp.; 9. east along the north boundary of Secs. 28, 27, 26 and 25 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 30, 29 and 28 in Twp. 34, Rge. 25 W4 to the east boundary of Sec. 33 in the Twp.; 10. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 34; 11. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 3 in Twp. 35, Rge. 25 W4; 12. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 2 in the Twp.; 13. east along the north boundary of Secs. 2 and 1 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 in Twp. 35, Rge. 24 W4 to the east boundary of Rge. 24 W4; 14. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 34; 15. east along the north boundary to the right bank of the Red Deer River; 16. downstream along the right bank to the west boundary of the Town of Drumheller; 17. in a generally southeasterly direction along the west boundary of the Town of Drumheller to the north boundary of Sec. 1, Twp. 28, Rge. 20 W4; 18. west along the north boundary of Sec. 1 to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 1; 19. south along the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 1 to the intersection with the Canadian National Railway (CNR) right-of-way; 20. in a southwesterly direction along the CNR right-of-way to the east boundary of Sec. 21, Twp. 27, Rge. 21 W4; 21. north along the east boundary of Secs. 21, 28 and 33 in the Twp. and the east boundary of Secs. 4 and 9 in Twp. 28 to the north boundary of Sec. 9 in Twp. 28, Rge. 21 W4; 22. west along the north boundary of Secs. 9, 8 and 7 in the Twp. and Secs. 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 and 7 in Twp. 27, Rges. 22, 23 and 24 to the east boundary of Rge. 25 W4; 23. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 28; 24. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 28 W4; 25. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 1 in Twp. 29, Rge. 28 W4; 26. west along the north boundary of Secs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 to the east boundary of Sec. 8 in the Twp.; 27. north along the east boundary of Secs. 8 and 17 to the north boundary of Sec. 17 in the Twp.; 28. west along the north boundary of Secs. 17 and 18 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 13, 14 and 15 in Twp. 29, Rge. 29 W4 and the north boundary of Secs. 13, 14 and 15 in Twp. 29, Rge. 1 W5 to the east boundary of Sec. 16 in the Twp.; 29. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 9 in the Twp.; 30. west along the north boundary of Secs. 9, 8 and 7 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 12 and 11 in Twp. 29, Rge. 2 W5 to the east boundary of Sec. 10 in the Twp.; 31. south along the east boundary of Secs. 10 and 3 in the Twp. to the north boundary of Twp. 28; 32. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 6 W5; 33. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 13 in Twp. 29, Rge. 6 W5; 34. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 24 in the Twp.; 35. north along the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 24 to the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 24; 36. west along the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 24 to the east boundary of Sec. 23 in the Twp.; 37. north along the east boundary of Sec. 23 to the north boundary of Sec. 23; 38. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 27; 39. north along the east boundary of Secs. 27 and 34 to the north boundary of Twp. 29, Rge. 6 W5; 40. east along the north boundary of the Twp. to the east boundary of Rge. 6 W5; 41. north along the east boundary of Rge. 6 to the north boundary of Twp. 30, Rge. 6 W5; 42. east along the north boundary of Twp. 30 to the intersection with Highway 22; 43. north along Highway 22 to the intersection with Highway 27; 44. east along Highway 27 to the east boundary of Rge. 4 W5; 45. north along the east boundary to the starting point.
Note:

73 Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills 2010 boundaries [7]
Bordering districts
North	East	West	South
Innisfail-Sylvan Lake	Drumheller-Stettler	Banff-Cochrane and Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre	Airdrie, Chestermere-Rocky View and Strathmore-Brooks
Note: Boundary descriptions were not used in the 2010 redistribution

Representation history

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
See Olds-Didsbury 1979-1997 and Three Hills-Airdrie 1993-1997
24th	1997-2001		Richard Marz	Progressive Conservative
25th	2001-2004
26th	2004-2008
27th	2008-2012
	2012		Vacant
28th	2012–2014		Bruce Rowe	Wildrose
	2014–2015			Progressive Conservative
29th	2015–2017		Nathan Cooper	Wildrose
	2017–2019			United Conservative
30th	2019–2023
31st	2023–2025
	2025		Vacant
	2025–Present		Tara Sawyer	United Conservative

Right-leaning parties have fared well in this riding. Richard Marz was its first member, holding the seat until 2012. In his first election win in 1997, the runner-up was Social Credit candidate Don MacDonald who had previously served as an MLA under the Liberal banner in the Legislative Assembly from 1992–1993.

Marz achieved a landslide running for his second term in the 2001 election taking over 80% of the popular vote. The 2004 election saw the Alliance Party in a distant second with 16.5%. The 2008 election resulted with Marz increasing his votes by 4.66% over the 2004 results. The Alliance Party changed names to the Wildrose Alliance Party and remained well behind with only 21.03% of the vote. Marz vacated the seat ahead of the 2012 general election on March 16, 2012. Wildrose candidate Bruce Rowe was elected in the 2012 provincial election.

Legislative election results

2025 by-election

v t e Alberta provincial by-election, June 23, 2025 Resignation of Nathan Cooper
** Preliminary results — Not yet official **
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Conservative	Tara Sawyer	9,363	61.12	-14.17
	New Democratic	Beverley Toews	3,061	19.98	+1.18
	Republican	Cameron Davies	2,705	17.66	–
	Wildrose Loyalty Coalition	Bill Tufts	189	1.23	+0.48
Total valid votes			15,318
Total rejected ballots
Turnout
Eligible voters
	United Conservative hold		Swing		-7.67
Source(s) Source: Elections Alberta [8]

2023

v t e 2023 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Conservative	Nathan Cooper	18,228	75.29	-3.26
	New Democratic	Cheryl Hunter Loewen	4,553	18.81	+7.05
	Alberta Independence	Katherine Kowalchuk	1,140	4.71	–
	Wildrose Loyalty Coalition	Cam Tatlock	183	0.76	–
	Solidarity Movement	Judy Bridges	105	0.43	–
Total			24,209	98.82	–
Rejected and declined			288	1.18	+0.72
Turnout			24,497	64.17
Eligible voters			38,173
	United Conservative hold		Swing		-5.16
Source(s) Source: Elections Alberta [9]

2019

v t e 2019 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Conservative	Nathan Cooper	20,516	78.55	-0.95
	New Democratic	Kyle Johnston	3,070	11.75	-4.88
	Alberta Party	Chase Brown	1,779	6.81	+3.44
	Freedom Conservative	Allen MacLennan	557	2.13	–
	Alberta Advantage Party	Dave Hughes	195	0.75	–
Total			26,117	99.54	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			120	0.46	–
Turnout			26,237	72.13
Eligible voters			36,375
	United Conservative notional hold		Swing		+1.97
Source(s) Source: "76 - Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta . Retrieved June 22, 2025.

2015

Redistributed results, 2015 Alberta election [10]
Party		Votes	%
	Wildrose	11,200	52.83
	Progressive Conservative	5,654	26.67
	New Democratic	3,527	16.64
	Alberta Party	714	3.37
	Green	73	0.34
	Liberal	9	0.04
	Other	22	0.10

v t e 2015 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Wildrose	Nathan Cooper	10,692	53.41	-3.12
	Progressive Conservative	Wade Bearchell	5,274	26.35	-10.89
	New Democratic	Glenn R Norman	3,366	16.82	+13.68
	Alberta Party	Jim Adamchick	685	3.42	–
Total			20,017	99.46	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			109	0.54	-0.04
Turnout			20,126	59.44	-1.67
Eligible voters			33,859
	Wildrose hold		Swing		+3.89
Source(s) Source: "73 - Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, 2015 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta . Retrieved June 22, 2025.

2012

v t e 2012 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Wildrose	Bruce Rowe	10,182	56.54	+35.51
	Progressive Conservative	Darcy Davis	6,707	37.24	-26.82
	New Democratic	Kristie Krezanoski	565	3.14	+0.95
	Liberal	Garth E. Davis	555	3.08	-5.40
Total			18,009	99.41	–
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			106	0.59	+0.11
Turnout			18,115	61.11	+13.91
Eligible voters			29,643
	Wildrose gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		+31.17
Source(s) Source: "73 - Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, 2012 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta . Retrieved June 22, 2025.

2008

v t e 2008 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Richard Marz	7,837	64.06	+4.67
	Wildrose	Curt Engel	2,572	21.03	+4.51
	Liberal	Tony Vonesch	1,038	8.49	-2.42
	Green	Kate Haddow	518	4.23	+0.41
	New Democratic	Andy Davies	268	2.19	+0.09
Total			12,233	99.52	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			59	0.48	-0.09
Turnout			12,292	47.20	-9.53
Eligible voters			26,040
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+0.08
Source(s) Source: "Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Official Results 2008 Alberta general election". Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 22, 2025.

2004

v t e 2004 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Richard Marz	7,277	59.40	-21.41
	Alberta Alliance	Gordon Quantz	2,023	16.51	–
	Liberal	Tony Vonesch	1,336	10.91	-1.83
	Separation	Brian Vasseur	746	6.09	–
	Green	Sarah Henckel-Sutmoller	469	3.83	–
	New Democratic	Christopher Davies	257	2.10	-0.84
	Social Credit	Myrna Kissick	143	1.17	-2.36
Total			12,251	99.43	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			70	0.57	+0.16
Turnout			12,321	56.73	-4.57
Eligible voters			21,718
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-18.96
Source(s) Source: "Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Statement of Official Results 2004 Alberta general election" (PDF). Elections Alberta . Retrieved June 22, 2025.

2001

v t e 2001 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Richard Marz	10,553	80.81	+23.73
	Liberal	Gayleen Roelfsema	1,663	12.73	-0.08
	Social Credit	Nicholas Semmler	460	3.52	-24.55
	New Democratic	Brenda L. Dyck	383	2.93	+0.91
Total			13,059	99.59	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			54	0.41	+0.04
Turnout			13,113	61.30	-0.39
Eligible voters			21,391
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+11.90
Source(s) Source: "Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Official Results 2001 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. "Electoral Division of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Statement of Official Results". Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 22, 2025.

1997

v t e 1997 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Richard Marz	6,958	57.08
	Social Credit	Don MacDonald	3,422	28.07
	Liberal	Dave Herbert	1,562	12.81
	New Democratic	Anne Wilson	247	2.03
Total			12,189	99.63
Rejected, spoiled and declined			45	0.37
Turnout			12,234	61.69
Eligible voters			19,830
	Progressive Conservative pickup new district.
Source(s) Source: "Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Official Results 1997 Alberta general election". Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 22, 2025.

Senate nominee election results

2004

2004 Senate nominee election results: Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills [11]					Turnout 56.98%
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	% votes	% ballots	Rank
	Progressive Conservative	Bert Brown	6,517	19.24%	59.43%	1
	Progressive Conservative	Betty Unger	4,721	13.94%	43.05%	2
	Progressive Conservative	Jim Silye	3,687	10.89%	33.62%	5
	Independent	Link Byfield	3,483	10.28%	31.76%	4
	Progressive Conservative	Cliff Breitkreuz	3,439	10.15%	31.36%	3
	Progressive Conservative	David Usherwood	2,969	8.77%	27.08%	6
	Alberta Alliance	Vance Gough	2,816	8.31%	25.68%	8
	Alberta Alliance	Michael Roth	2,500	7.38%	22.80%	7
	Alberta Alliance	Gary Horan	2,263	6.68%	20.64%	10
	Independent	Tom Sindlinger	1,478	4.36%	13.48%	9
Total votes			33,873	100%
Total ballots			10,966	3.09 votes per ballot
Rejected, spoiled and declined			1,409

Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot

Student vote results

2004

Participating schools [12]
Acme School
Carbon School
Didsbury High School
Dr. Elliott School
Prairie Christian Academy
Three Hills School
Trochu Valley School
Westglen School

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 [13]
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Richard Marz	449	42.20%
	Green	Sarah Henckel-Sutmoller	170	15.98%
	Alberta Alliance	Gordon Quantz	154	14.47%
	Liberal	Tony Vonesch	120	11.28%
	Separation	Brian Vasseur	109	10.24%
	NDP	Christopher Davies	41	3.85%
	Social Credit	Myrna Kissick	21	1.98%
Total			1,064	100%
Rejected, spoiled and declined			19

2012

2012 Alberta Student Vote results
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Darcy Davis		%
	Wildrose	Bruce Rowe
	Alberta Party			%
	NDP	Kristie Krezanoski		%
Total				100%

See also

• List of Alberta provincial electoral districts
• Canadian provincial electoral districts

References

1. "Riding Profiles". CBC News.
2. Cosh, Colby (April 14, 2021). "Sorry, Alberta speaker Nathan Cooper's apology not good enough". National Post . Toronto . Retrieved April 15, 2021.
3. 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.
4. 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. ISBN   978-0-9865367-1-7 . Retrieved May 29, 2020.
5. Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (October 2017). 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. ISBN   978-1-988620-04-6 . Retrieved May 29, 2020.
6. "E‑4.1". Statutes of the Province of Alberta. Government of Alberta. 2003. pp. 60–62.
7. "Bill 28 Electoral Divisions Act" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. 2010.
8. "2025 By-elections". Elections Alberta . Retrieved May 26, 2025.
9. "76 - Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta . Retrieved June 22, 2025.
10. "ridingbuilder: Alberta; Riding Data; Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills".
11. "Senate Nominee Election 2004 Tabulation of Official Results" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
12. "School by School results". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
13. "Riding by Riding Results - the Candidates". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved April 19, 2008.

Tara Sawyer chosen to be the new ucp candidate for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills

External links

• Elections Alberta
• The Legislative Assembly of Alberta

51°44′56″N113°45′54″W / 51.749°N 113.765°W / 51.749; -113.765