Medicine Hat was 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 ...

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 ...

, mandated to return

members Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

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 ...

from 1905 to 1971, and again from 1979 to 2019. The electoral district was named after the City of Medicine Hat.

History

The electoral district of Medicine Hat has existed in two iterations. The Medicine Hat electoral district was one of the original 25 electoral districts contested in the

1905 Alberta general election The 1905 Alberta general election was the first general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on November 9, 1905, to elect twenty-five members of the Alberta legislature to the 1st Alberta Legislative Assembly, shortly after the provi ...

upon Alberta joining

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

in September 1905. The district was carried over from the old

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, ...

electoral district which returned a single member to the

Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories 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 uni ...

from 1888 to 1905. The member for the Northwest Territories seat,

William Finlay William Thomas Finlay (July 12, 1853 – May 9, 1914) was a merchant, politician and cabinet minister in Alberta and Northwest Territories, Canada. Finlay served as the second mayor of Medicine Hat, represented the electoral district of Med ...

would be elected in the 1st Alberta general election. Upon the electoral district's formation, it covered a large portion of rural south east Alberta. The district shrunk until it became an urban only riding surrounding the City of Medicine Hat. The district was abolished in the 1971 electoral district re-distribution to become part of Medicine Hat-Redcliff, which was abolished in 1979 and once again became the Medicine Hat electoral district. Under the 2004 Alberta electoral boundary re-distribution, the constituency covered the portion of the city north of the

South Saskatchewan River The South Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada that flows through the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. For the first half of the 20th century, the South Saskatchewan would completely freeze over during winter, creating spectacular ...

, the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

and Carry Drive. The rest of the city and surrounding area was part of the

Cypress-Medicine Hat Cypress-Medicine Hat is a provincial electoral district in the southeast corner of Alberta. Under the Alberta electoral boundary re-distribution of 2004, the constituency covers the portion of Medicine Hat south of the South Saskatchewan River ...

constituency. The 2010 electoral boundary re-distribution saw minor changes made to align the riding with new boundaries of Medicine Hat. The Medicine Hat electoral district was dissolved in the 2017 electoral boundary re-distribution, and portions of the district would incorporate the

Brooks-Medicine Hat Brooks-Medicine Hat 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. It wa ...

to the North, and

to the South for the

2019 Alberta general election The 2019 Alberta general election was held on April 16, 2019, to elect 87 members to the 30th Alberta Legislature. In its first general election contest, the Jason Kenney-led United Conservative Party (UCP) won 54.88% of the popular vote and 63 ...

Boundary history

Representation history

The provincial electoral district of Medicine Hat has a long history that goes back to 1888 under the old

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. ...

electoral district. The district was carried over when the province of Alberta was created in 1905. The first election in 1905 saw former Northwest Territories MLA

win the district in a hotly contested race. Finlay was re-elected in 1909 and resigned in 1910 so cabinet minister

Charles Mitchell Charles Mitchell may refer to: * Charles Mitchell (footballer), British soccer player * Charles Mitchell (academic) (born 1965), professor of law at University College, London * Charles Mitchell (American football) (born 1989), American football ...

could have a seat in the Legislature. Mitchell only held the district for one term before being defeated by Conservative Nelson Spencer in the 1913 election. Spencer's win was considered an upset. Spencer was re-elected by acclamation under Chapter 38 of the Elections Act in 1917 for serving in the Canadian Army during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He retired from the Legislature in 1921 and moved to

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, ...

. The Liberal government passed a law in 1921 that turned Medicine Hat into a two-member constituency during the 5th Legislature. The two seats were won by United Farmers candidate Peren Baker who headed the polls and William Johnston a Dominion Labor candidate who finished second. Baker was confirmed to a cabinet post by acclamation in a ministerial by-election on December 9, 1921. Johnson died in 1925, vacating his seat. The by-election saw former Speaker of the Legislature Charles Pingle win the district for the Liberal party. The district was once again mandated to return two members in 1926, but this time electing through STV. Pingle stood for re-election. Baker moved to the Cypress electoral district. Liberal Pingle and Conservative J.J. Hendricks were elected in this election. This was the first - and only- election held in this district using single transferable vote. The vote was changed to

Instant runoff voting Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of ranked preferential voting method. It uses a majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referred to as ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the Un ...

before the next general election. Pingle died in 1928, forcing another by-election. Liberal candidate Hector Lang retained the seat for the party. He was re-elected in 1930 and was defeated, when he ran for a third term in 1935, by Social Credit candidate John Robinson. Robinson held the district for five terms, being re-elected in 1940, 1944, 1948 and 1952. He was appointed Minister of Industries and Labour by Premier

Ernest Manning Ernest Charles Manning, (September 20, 1908 – February 19, 1996), a Canadian politician, was the eighth Premier of Alberta between 1943 and 1968 for the Social Credit Party of Alberta. He served longer than any other premier in Alberta's histor ...

in 1948 and held that post until his death in 1953. The by-election in 1953 saw John Robinson's wife Elizabeth Robinson retain the seat for Social Credit. She held the district for three terms before dying in 1961. The last by-election held in the district in 1961 saw Harry Leinweber become the third member of Social Credit to win the district. He was re-elected in 1963 and 1967 before retiring in 1971. Medicine Hat was redistributed to include the town of Redcliff in 1971 boundary redistribution. The new riding was called Medicine Hat-Redcliff. The electoral district of Medicine Hat was re-created in 1979 containing just the city of Medicine Hat. The first election in the new Medicine Hat district saw former Medicine Hat-Redcliff incumbent Jim Horsman won the district in a landslide winning a 10,000 vote margin over the second place candidate. He would improve on that victory winning his biggest margin in the 1982 general election finishing almost 12,000 votes ahead of second place. He was also re-elected in 1986 and 1989 before retiring in 1993.

Rob Renner Robert William Renner (born October 6, 1954) is a Canadian politician and was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for the constituency of Medicine Hat as a Progressive Conservative. Early life Renner was born October 6, 1954 in ...

was elected as a Progressive Conservative candidate for the first time in the 1993 general election. He was re-elected in 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2008.

Blake Pedersen Blake James Pedersen (born February 9, 1965) is a Canadian politician who was an elected member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, previously representing the electoral district of Medicine Hat. He was born at Gull Lake, Saskatchewan. He wa ...

was elected as a Wildrose candidate in 2012. On December 17, 2014, he was one of nine Wildrose MLAs who crossed the floor to join the Alberta Progressive Conservative caucus.

Bob Wanner Robert Edward Wanner (born April 25, 1949) is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2015 Alberta general election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Medicine Hat. On June 11, 2015, he was electe ...

was elected as a New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate in 2015.http://www.municipalaffairs.alberta.ca/documents/MDRS/Wanner_2014.pdf

Legislature results 1905-1971

1905 general election

1909 general election

1910 by-election

1913 general election

1917 general election

1921 general election

1921 by-election results

Due to laws existing in the Legislative Assembly Act a series of ministerial by-elections were needed to confirm members appointed to the Greenfield government. Seven by-elections in total were called for an election day of December 9, 1921. This was set for one week after the

1921 Canadian federal election The 1921 Canadian federal election was held on December 6, 1921, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 14th Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, and re ...

. The by-election writ was dropped on November 16, 1921, United Farmers incumbent Perren Baker who had been appointed as Minister of Education ran unopposed and was acclaimed at the nomination deadline held on December 2, 1921. The timing of the by-elections was deliberately chosen to coincide with the federal election to ensure that opposition candidates would be unlikely to oppose the cabinet ministers.

1925 by-election

#William McCombs was a candidate jointly nominated by the United Farmers of Alberta and the Dominion Labor Party. The party percent change is reflected from the combined party percentages in the 1921 general election.

1926 general election

Two Members elected through STV. Pingle and Hendricks both elected.

1928 by-election

1930 general election

1935 general election

1940 general election

1944 general election

1948 general election

1952 general election

1953 by-election

1955 general election

1959 general election

1961 by-election

1963 general election

1967 general election

Legislature results 1979-2015

1979 general election

1982 general election

1986 general election

1989 general election

1993 general election

1997 general election

2001 general election

2004 general election

2008 general election

2012 general election

2015 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

Plebiscite results

1948 Electrification Plebiscite

District results from the first province wide plebiscite on electricity regulation.

1957 liquor plebiscite

On October 30, 1957 a stand-alone plebiscite was held province wide in all 50 of the then current provincial electoral districts in

. The government decided to consult Alberta voters to decide on liquor sales and mixed drinking after a divisive debate in the Legislature. The plebiscite was intended to deal with the growing demand for reforming antiquated liquor control laws. The plebiscite was conducted in two parts. Question A asked in all districts, asked the voters if the sale of liquor should be expanded in Alberta, while Question B asked in a handful of districts within the corporate limits of Calgary and Edmonton asked if men and woman were allowed to drink together in establishments. Province wide Question A of the plebiscite passed in 33 of the 50 districts while Question B passed in all five districts. Medicine Hat just barely voted in favour of the proposal with the difference between Yes and No being four votes. Voter turnout in the district was slightly below the province wide average of 46%. Official district returns were released to the public on December 31, 1957. The Social Credit government in power at the time did not considered the results binding. However the results of the vote led the government to repeal all existing liquor legislation and introduce an entirely new ''Liquor Act''. Municipal districts lying inside electoral districts that voted against the Plebiscite were designated Local Option Zones by the Alberta Liquor Control Board and considered effective dry zones, business owners that wanted a license had to petition for a binding municipal plebiscite in order to be granted a license.

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

External links

Elections AlbertaThe Legislative Assembly of Alberta
{{Coord, 50.06, N, 110.69, W, display=title Former provincial electoral districts of Alberta Politics of Medicine Hat