Grande Prairie-Wapiti is a

provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

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 ...

in northwestern

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is one of 87 mandated to return a single member to the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...

using the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

method of voting. The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution from the old

Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...

electoral district and significantly modified in the 2017 redistribution. The district and its antecedent have been a stronghold for conservative candidates in recent decades. The representative for this district is United Conservative

Travis Toews Travis Toews (born 1964) is a Canadian politician elected in the 2019 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Grande Prairie-Wapiti in the 30th Alberta Legislature. He was appointed as List of Alberta provincial ministers# ...

. He won election for the first time in 2017. To date there have been four representatives who have held the district. The riding takes its name from the City of

and the

Wapiti River The Wapiti River is a river in eastern British Columbia and western Alberta, Canada. It is a major tributary of the Smoky River, located in the southern area of the Peace River Basin. Wapiti is named after the Cree word for elk (''waapiti''). ...

Geography

While a predominantly rural riding, Grande Prairie-Wapiti includes a few neighbourhoods on the east side of the City of Grande Prairie (including Cobblestone, Countryside, Crystal Heights, Crystal Landing, Hillside, Ivy Lake, and Smith). Four small towns are also located in the riding -

Beaverlodge Beaverlodge is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 43, west of Grande Prairie and east of the British Columbia border. History The town was named for the Beaverlodge River, which was known as ''Uz-i-pa'' ("tempora ...

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * T ...

, Sexsmith, and

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. The bulk of the riding's area is made up of rural municipalities, including almost all of the

County of Grande Prairie No. 1 The County of Grande Prairie No. 1 is a municipal district in northwestern Alberta, Canada in Census Division No. 19. It is bounded on the south by the Wapiti River, on the east by the Smoky River and on the west by the province of British ...

and a portion of the

Municipal District of Greenview No. 16 The Municipal District of Greenview No. 16 is a municipal district (MD) in northwest Alberta, Canada. It covers the full extent of Census Division 18, and with an area of , it is the largest municipal district in Alberta. Its administrative& ...

. The riding's Indigenous community includes the

Horse Lake First Nation The Horse Lake First Nation is a First Nations band government west of Hythe in northwestern Alberta, Canada. It consists of the Beaver and Cree people. It is a party to Treaty 8, and is a member of the Western Cree Tribal Council. Despite being ...

and the Wanyandie Flats East settlement of the unrecognized Aseniwuche Winewak Nation. Grande Prairie-Wapiti surrounds the riding of

and borders

Central Peace-Notley Central Peace-Notley is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district was 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. It ...

to the north and east and

West Yellowhead West Yellowhead is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 current ridings mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The dis ...

to the south. The riding's western boundary is the Alberta-

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

border.

History

The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution from the old

electoral district. It remained mostly unchanged in the 1997 and 2003 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. The 2010 distribution made minor changes to the border with Grande Prairie-Smoky in the city of Grande Prairie but stayed the same in the rural areas.

Boundary history

Electoral history

The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution from the old Grande Prairie district. The first representative elected in 1993 was Progressive Conservative candidate Wayne Jaques. He won a hotly contested race over Liberal candidate Dwight Logan to pick up the new district for his party. Jaques was re-elected in the 1997 election with a much larger margin. He retired from provincial politics in 2001. The second representative was Progressive Conservative was Gordon Graydon who won his first term in office in 2001 with a landslide over a field of five other candidates. He won a second term in the 2004 general election winning over half the popular vote. After the 2004 election Premier

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...

appointed Graydon Minister of Gaming. He held that post until 2006. Graydon retired from provincial politics in 2008. The third representative is current Progressive Conservative MLA is Wayne Drysdale who was elected in the 2008 election for the first time.

Election results

1993 general election

1997 general election

2001 general election

2004 general election

2008 general election

2012 general election

2015 general election

2019 general election

Senate nominee results

2004 Senate nominee election district results

''Voters had the option of selecting 4 Candidates on the Ballot''

2012 Senate nominee election district results

Student Vote results

2004 election

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.

2012 election

References

{{coord missing, Alberta Alberta provincial electoral districts Grande Prairie