Edmonton was a

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

for the Legislative Assembly of

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, Canada.

History

The riding was created by royal proclamation in 1883, the second district to elect a representative to the

North-West Legislative Assembly The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories (with Northwest hyphenated as North-West until 1906), is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a un ...

, and the first within the Alberta provisional district. In 1885 the riding of St. Albert was split off from Edmonton's northwestern area, but in 1888 two ridings were combined again, with Edmonton briefly becoming a two-member district. St. Albert was re-established in 1891, and Edmonton again elected only one member. Strathcona was also split off from Edmonton's southern part in 1902. When Alberta became a province in 1905, the district continued on as Edmonton (Alberta).

Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs)

Edmonton elected its first representative in the North-West Assembly, '' Edmonton Bulletin'' founder

Frank Oliver Frank Oliver may refer to: *Frank Oliver (American football) (born 1952), American football player *Frank Oliver (footballer) (1882–?), English footballer *Frank Oliver (politician) (1853–1933), Canadian politician *Frank Oliver (rugby union) ( ...

, in a by-election in 1883. Although the Legislative Council was not dissolved, elections were held in most of the North-West Territories in 1885, and Oliver was defeated by local physician and businessman

Herbert Charles Wilson Herbert Charles Wilson (December 7, 1859 – December 17, 1909) was a Canadian politician and physician. He served as mayor of the Town of Edmonton and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories. Wilson was born in 1859 i ...

, who became speaker of the Assembly. The

first general election First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

of the territory was held in 1888, after the dissolution of the Legislative Council. This was the only election in which Edmonton was a double-member district, and both Wilson and Oliver were elected. Wilson retired from politics when the Assembly was dissolved in 1891. As Edmonton was now a single-member district again, Oliver remained MLA for another five years, with no challengers in the 1891 or 1894 elections. He resigned to run for the House of Commons seat for Alberta, which he successfully captured. The resulting by-election was a close race between former Edmonton mayor

Matthew McCauley Matthew McCauley may refer to: * Matthew McCauley (politician) (1850–1930), Canadian politician * Matthew McCauley (producer) Matthew McCauley (born 1954) is a Canadian composerMotion'. 1973. p. 206. and record producer based in Los Angeles ...

and the future premier of Alberta Alexander Rutherford, which McCauley won. Both men contested the seat again in the general election of 1898, but McCauley triumphed a second time. In 1902, however, McCauley was defeated by former alderman Richard Secord. While MLA, Secord challenged Frank Oliver for his House of Commons seat in the 1904 federal election, but was defeated. He did not seek re-election when Alberta was created in 1905 (although both Rutherford and McCauley went on to become MLAs in the new province).

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

1902 election

References

External links

The Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories
{{NWA-ED Former electoral districts of Northwest Territories Politics of Edmonton