Wetaskiwin (federal electoral district)

Wetaskiwin

Alberta electoral district
Wetaskiwin in relation to the other Alberta federal electoral districts (2003 boundaries)
Defunct federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
District created	1924
District abolished	2013
First contested	1925
Last contested	2011
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2011) [1]	113,780
Electors (2011)	79,862
Area (km²) [2]	14,996.45
Census division(s)	Division No. 8, Division No. 9, Division No. 11
Census subdivision(s)	Leduc County, Clearwater County, Wetaskiwin, Lacombe, County of Wetaskiwin No. 10, Lacombe County, Ponoka County, Brazeau County, Rocky Mountain House, Ponoka

Wetaskiwin was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 2015.

Geography

In its final configuration, the riding was located south of Edmonton and was legally described as commencing at the intersection of the westerly limit of the Town of Devon with the right bank of the North Saskatchewan River; thence generally southeasterly along the westerly limit of said town to the southwesterly corner of said town (at Highway 60); thence southerly along said highway to Township Road 494; thence easterly along said road to the westerly limit of the City of Leduc; thence easterly, southerly, easterly, northerly and easterly along the southerly limit of said city to Highway No. 623; thence easterly along said highway to the easterly limit of Leduc County; thence generally southwesterly along said limit to the northerly limit of the County of Wetaskiwin No. 10; thence easterly and generally southerly along the northerly and easterly limits of said county to the easterly limit of Ponoka County; thence generally southerly along said limit to the northerly limit of Lacombe County; thence generally southeasterly, generally southerly and generally westerly along the northerly, easterly and southerly limits of said county to the east boundary of R 4 W 5; thence south along the east boundary of R 4 W 5 to the south boundary of Tp 38; thence west along the south boundary of Tp 38 to the west boundary of R 8 W 5; thence north along the west boundary of R 8 W 5 to the north boundary of Tp 41; thence east along the north boundary of Tp 41 to the right bank of the North Saskatchewan River; thence generally northerly and generally easterly along said bank to the point of commencement.

This federal electoral riding represents the County of Wetaskiwin No. 10, Ponoka County, Lacombe County, Leduc County, part of Clearwater County and the cities of Wetaskiwin and Lacombe.

History

This riding was created in 1924 from Strathcona and Victoria ridings.

Like most federal ridings in Alberta, it elected a United Farmers of Alberta MP, former Calgary labour reformer William Irvine, in 1926 and 1930. Then, in 1935 and 1940, it elected Norman Jaques of the radical monetary reform party Social Credit. ^[3]

Like most other ridings in rural Alberta, Wetaskiwin veered sharply to the right after World War II. It was represented by a centre-right MP without interruption from 1935 onward: Social Credit from 1935 to 1958, the Progressive Conservatives from 1958 to 1993, Reform from 1993 to 2000, the Canadian Alliance from 2000 to 2003, and the Conservatives after 2003. Individual centrist, centre-left or left-wing candidates were usually lucky to approach 20 percent of the vote; the last time a single candidate from a non-right-wing party cleared that hurdle was the 1968 federal election.

That aside, in this riding in every election from 1925 to 1957 (excepting 1935) and in 1962, the successful candidate did not win a majority of the riding's votes. More votes went to the unsuccessful candidates than went to the successful one. ^[4]

In 2003, a portion of Red Deer riding was transferred to this electoral district. These boundaries took effect at the 2004 Canadian federal election.

The riding was abolished ahead of the 2015 election. The bulk of the riding, including Lacombe, was merged with the northern portion of Red Deer to form Red Deer—Lacombe. Much of the northern portion, including the city of Wetaskiwin, was merged with Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont to form Edmonton—Wetaskiwin. Smaller portions were transferred to Yellowhead and Battle River—Crowfoot.

Members of Parliament

Parliament	Years	Member		Party
Wetaskiwin Riding created from Calgary and Strathcona
15th	1925–1926		Stanley Tobin	Liberal
16th	1926–1930		William Irvine	United Farmers
17th	1930–1935
18th	1935–1940		Norman Jaques	Social Credit
19th	1940–1945
20th	1945–1949
21st	1949–1953		Ray Thomas
22nd	1953–1957
23rd	1957–1958
24th	1958–1962		James Stanley Speakman	Progressive Conservative
25th	1962–1963		Harry Andrew Moore
26th	1963–1965
27th	1965–1968
28th	1968–1972
29th	1972–1974		Stanley K. Schellenberger
30th	1974–1979
31st	1979–1980
32nd	1980–1984
33rd	1984–1988
34th	1988–1993		Willie Littlechild
35th	1993–1997		Dale Johnston	Reform
36th	1997–2000
	2000–2000			Alliance
37th	2000–2003
	2003–2004			Conservative
38th	2004–2006
39th	2006–2008		Blaine Calkins
40th	2008–2011
41st	2011–2015
Riding dissolved into Red Deer—Lacombe, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, Yellowhead and Battle River—Crowfoot

Last member of Parliament

Its most recent member of Parliament before it ceased to exist was Blaine Calkins, a member of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Candidates for the 2006 election

In the spring of 2005, Dale Johnston announced that he would not be a candidate in the next federal election. A nomination meeting held in May 2005 selected Blaine Calkins as the Conservative Party candidate. Calkins was born and raised in the Lacombe area. He is a graduate of the University of Alberta, and a tenured faculty member at Red Deer College. He began his career in politics as a member of the Lacombe Town Council, and as such has been involved with the Board of Directors of the Lacombe Municipal Ambulance Society, The Board of Directors for Family and Community Support Services, The Municipal Planning Commission, David Thompson Tourist Council and the Disaster Services Committee. Calkins has been involved in the Reform/Canadian Alliance/Conservative Party since becoming a member in 1996. He served on the Candidate Nomination Committee for the Canadian Alliance Wetaskiwin Riding in 1999, and joined the Board of Directors in 2000. Since then, he has held various Board positions, including President, Vice President and Director of Communications.

Peter Crossley was the Liberal Party candidate for the 2006 election. Mr Crossley is a graduate from the University of Alberta and has an honours law degree from the University of Wales at Cardiff. He has operated his own law practice in Rocky Mountain House for the past 12 years, and has served on the Red Deer Kidney Foundation, the Rocky Kinsmen, and the Rotary Club.

Jim Graves was the candidate for the New Democratic Party in the 2006 election . Graves has 27 years of experience as a Professional Engineer, and has been a farmer-rancher since 1989.

Tom Lampman was the Green Party's candidate for Wetaskiwin in the 2006 election . Lampman was the only candidate who also ran in the 2004 federal election, where he outperformed his party's nationwide results by capturing 6.2% of the vote. Like the other candidates, he has experience with the farming industry, as he runs an agricultural consulting business specializing in dairy. One of his specific environmental concerns is thermal pollution from electric power generation. Lampman resides outside of Calmar.

Election results

2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Blaine Calkins	37,756	81.44	+4.31	$23,700
	New Democratic	Tim Robson	5,281	11.39	+2.77	$1,718
	Green	Robert Johnston	1,978	4.27	-3.78	–
	Liberal	Christopher Anderson	1,348	2.91	-2.69	$5,920
Total valid votes/Expense limit			46,363	100.00
Total rejected ballots			122	0.26	+0.01
Turnout			46,485	57.92	+4.98
Eligible voters			80,262	–	–

2008 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Blaine Calkins	32,528	77.13	+1.98	$32,626
	New Democratic	Tim Robson	3,636	8.62	-0.70	$6,371
	Green	Les Parsons	3,395	8.05	+1.72	$388
	Liberal	Rita Katherine Dillon	2,362	5.60	-3.58	$8,762
	Canadian Action	Shawn Mann	249	0.59	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			42,170	100.00	$90,704
Total rejected ballots			105	–
Turnout			42,275	52.94

2006 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Blaine Calkins	35,776	75.15	+1.6	$38,612
	New Democratic	Jim Graves	4,441	9.32	+2.1
	Liberal	Peter Crossley	4,371	9.18	-2.7	$9,976
	Green	Tom Lampman	3,016	6.33	+0.1	$500
Total valid votes			47,604	100.00
Total rejected ballots			105	0.22
Turnout			47,709	62.86

2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Dale Johnston	31,404	73.7	-4.9	$30,845
	Liberal	Rick Bonnett	5,088	11.9	-5.2	$20,307
	New Democratic	Tim Robson	3,090	7.2	+3.0	$4,471
	Green	Tom Lampman	2,642	6.2	–	$302
	Canadian Action	Brent McKelvie	410	1.0	–	$308
Total valid votes			42,634	100.0
Total rejected ballots			102	0.2
Turnout			42,736	60.8	-3.2

2000 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Alliance	Dale Johnston	33,675	69.5	+3.6	$29,250
	Liberal	John Jackie	8,318	17.2	+3.0	$30,902
	Progressive Conservative	Kenneth R. Sockett	4,413	9.1	-4.1	$2,406
	New Democratic	Cliff Reid	2,045	4.2	-0.6	$501
Total valid votes			48,451	100.0
Total rejected ballots			106	0.2
Turnout			48,557	64.0	+2.9

1997 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Reform	Dale Johnston	26,443	66.0	+2.6	$30,470
	Liberal	Glenn McLean	5,692	14.2	-2.5	$10,198
	Progressive Conservative	Graham T. McNamee	5,282	13.2	-1.7	$9,180
	New Democratic	Cliff Reid	1,940	4.8	+1.2	$3,111
	Christian Heritage	Gordon Allan Liddle	734	1.4	–	$3,185
Total valid votes			40,091	100.0
Total rejected ballots			78	0.2
Turnout			40,169	61.0

1993 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Dale Johnston	26,159	63.4	+44.9
	Liberal	Doug Sirrs	6,884	16.7	+8.3
	Progressive Conservative	Brian Rhiness	6,123	14.8	-35.4
	New Democratic	Clifford Reid	1,494	3.6	-10.7
	Canada Party	David M. Greene	336	0.8
	Natural Law	Randy Fritz	274	0.7
Total valid votes			41,270	100.0

1988 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Willie Littlechild	20,090	50.2	-20.7
	Reform	Jim Henderson	7,418	18.5
	New Democratic	Terry Atkinson	5,741	14.3	+1.2
	Liberal	Roy Barrett	3,351	8.4	+0.8
	Christian Heritage	David J. Reimer	3,087	7.7
	Confederation of Regions	Hayward Dow	223	0.6	-6.7
	Independent	Mike Hermansen	113	0.3
Total valid votes			40,023	100.0

1984 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Kenneth Schellenberger	30,128	70.9	-4.1
	New Democratic	Judy Mjolsness	5,596	13.2	+2.8
	Liberal	Mel Harrison Buffalo	3,231	7.6	-7.1
	Confederation of Regions	Bob Matheson	3,063	7.2
	Social Credit	Jim Green	456	1.1
Total valid votes			42,474	100.0

1980 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Kenneth Schellenberger	26,620	75.0	-1.3
	Liberal	Patricia O'Halloran	5,208	14.7	+0.8
	New Democratic	Lyle B. Bleich	3,673	10.3	0.5
Total valid votes			35,501	100.0

1979 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Kenneth Schellenberger	27,785	76.3	+9.4
	Liberal	Mark Toth	5,044	13.9	-3.8
	New Democratic	Alfred O. Arnston	3,587	9.9	+0.7
Total valid votes			36,416	100.0

1974 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Kenneth Schellenberger	21,341	66.9	+4.8
	Liberal	Roger Movold	5,645	17.7	+0.7
	New Democratic	Alfred Arnston	2,906	9.1	-3.6
	Social Credit	Alvin Goetz	2,019	6.3	-1.9
Total valid votes			31,911	100.0

1972 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Kenneth Schellenberger	19,353	62.0	-2.8
	Liberal	Al Barnhill	5,296	17.0	-4.2
	New Democratic	Lionel Udenberg	3,975	12.7	-1.3
	Social Credit	Alvin Goetz	2,576	8.3
Total valid votes			31,200	100.0

1968 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Harry Andrew Moore	15,178	64.8	+14.8
	Liberal	René Béguin	4,970	21.2	11.5
	New Democratic	Ed Nelson	3,281	14.0	+1.9
Total valid votes			23,429	100.0

1965 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Harry Andrew Moore	10,754	50.0	-3.1
	Social Credit	Ivan Paul Stonehocker	6,065	28.2	-1.5
	New Democratic	Ed Nelson	2,607	12.1	+6.4
	Liberal	Albert Butch Dyberg	2,081	9.7	-1.9
Total valid votes			21,507	100.0

1963 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Harry Andrew Moore	11,601	53.1	+7.7
	Social Credit	Ivan Paul Stonehocker	6,483	29.7	-2.1
	Liberal	Ronald Alexander Gordon	2,527	11.6	-2.9
	New Democratic	William Stroschein	1,252	5.7	-2.7
Total valid votes			21,863	100.0

1962 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Harry Andrew Moore	9,204	45.4	-12.7
	Social Credit	Floyd Hawley	6,426	31.7	+8.0
	Liberal	Ronald Alexander Gordon	2,923	14.4	+5.0
	New Democratic	William Stroschein	1,715	8.5	-0.3
Total valid votes			20,268	100.0

1958 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	James Stanley Speakman	10,557	58.1	+38.4
	Social Credit	Ray Thomas	4,314	23.7	-21.9
	Liberal	Ernest Oscar Larson	1,704	9.4	-12.0
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William Irvine	1,591	8.8	-4.4
Total valid votes			18,166	100.0

1957 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Ray Thomas	7,968	45.7	-1.0
	Liberal	Frederick Johns	3,727	21.4	-3.8
	Progressive Conservative	James Stanley Speakman	3,447	19.8	+6.8
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Andrew Borys	2,301	13.2	-2.0
Total valid votes			17,443	100.0

1953 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Ray Thomas	6,920	46.7	+11.7
	Liberal	Clinton Carruthers Reed	3,731	25.2	-6.3
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Ernest John Ingram	2,245	15.2	-1.1
	Progressive Conservative	Jack Bowie-Reed	1,918	12.9	-4.3
Total valid votes			14,814	100.0

1949 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Ray Thomas	6,774	35.0	-4.8
	Liberal	Paul Moseson	6,091	31.5	+14.8
	Progressive Conservative	Alfred B. Haarstad	3,340	17.3	-1.5
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Wilbert A. Stevens	3,154	16.3	-5.5
Total valid votes			19,359	100.0

v t e 1945 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Norman Jaques	7,255	39.80	−0.15
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William Albert Stevens	3,969	21.77	+5.53
	Progressive Conservative	Alfred Berger Haarstad	3,419	18.76	+3.05
	Liberal	Robert Henry C. Harrison	3,040	16.68	−11.42
	Labor–Progressive	Henry Lundgren	546	3.00
Total valid votes			18,229	100.00
Total rejected ballots			159
Turnout			18,388	71.99	+13.37
Electors on the lists			25,543

v t e 1940 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Norman Jaques	6,245	39.95	−17.75
	Liberal	Walter Stephen Campbell	4,392	28.10	+6.84
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Robert Henry Haskins	2,539	16.24	−4.80
	National Government	Charles Homer Russell	2,456	15.71
Total valid votes			15,632
Total rejected ballots			132
Turnout			15,764	58.62	−0.44
Electors on the lists			26,890

v t e 1935 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Social Credit	Norman Jaques	7,601	57.70
	Liberal	Walter Stephen Campbell	2,801	21.26
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William Irvine	2,772	21.04
Total valid votes			13,174
Total rejected ballots			128
Turnout			13,302	59.06
Electors on the lists			22,524

1930 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Farmers of Alberta	William Irvine	4,750	39.7	-2.2
	Conservative	Charles Homer Russell	4,326	36.2	+12.1
	Liberal	William Hayhurst	2,876	24.1	-9.8
Total valid votes			11,952	100.0

1926 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Farmers of Alberta	William Irvine	3,897	41.9	+5.4
	Liberal	Stanley Tobin	3,150	33.9	-5.3
	Conservative	Charles Homer Russell	2,243	24.1	-0.1
Total valid votes			9,290	100.0

1925 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Stanley Tobin	3,429	39.2
	Progressive	Daniel Webster Warner	3,201	36.6
	Conservative	Charles Homer Russell	2,121	24.2
Total valid votes			8,751	100.0

See also

• Wetaskiwin Alberta provincial electoral district
• Wetaskiwin Northwest Territories territorial electoral district
• List of Canadian federal electoral districts
• Historical federal electoral districts of Canada

References

• "Wetaskiwin (federal electoral district) (Code 48026) Census Profile". 2011 census . Government of Canada - Statistics Canada . Retrieved 2011-03-06.
• Atlas of Canada
• Riding history for Wetaskiwin from the Library of Parliament
• Expenditures - 2008
• Expenditures - 2004
• Expenditures - 2000
• Expenditures - 1997
• Elections Canada
• Website of the Parliament of Canada

Notes

1. Statistics Canada: 2011
2. Statistics Canada: 2011
3. E.G. Mardon, Who's Who in Federal Politics from Alberta, p. 48
4. Ernest Mardon and Austin Mardon, Alberta Election Results, 1882–1992

53°00′N113°30′W / 53.0°N 113.5°W / 53.0; -113.5