Redwater 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 ...

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 ...

from 1940 to 1971 and again from 1993 to 2004.

History

Boundary history

Redwater was created in 1940 from most of the

Sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretace ...

district and a part of Whitford, consisting of the area around

Smoky Lake Smoky Lake is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located northeast of Edmonton at the junction of Highway 28 and Highway 855. It lies between the North Saskatchewan River, Smoky Creek and White Earth Creek, in a mainly agricultural area. ...

, with the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventual ...

forming its southern boundary. When neighbouring Beaver River was abolished in 1952 a small portion was transferred to Redwater, but otherwise no boundary changes were made until the riding was abolished in 1971. It was replaced by the larger

Redwater-Andrew Redwater-Andrew was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 1971 to 1993. History Boundary history Red ...

. In 1993, Redwater was created again out of most of Redwater-Andrew and the part of

Westlock-Sturgeon Westlock-Sturgeon was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using first-past-the-post balloting from 1986 to 1993. History Boundary history The riding was ...

containing

Morinville Morinville is a town in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada. It is approximately north of Edmonton along Highway 2. History Morinville was settled by Jean-Baptiste Morin, a priest and missionary of the Missionary Oblates ...

. The new riding extended much further southwest than the original Redwater, touching the northern boundary of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. It underwent no boundary adjustments until abolished in 2004, with most of the riding transferred to

Athabasca-Redwater Athabasca-Redwater was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 2004 to 2012. The district in rural northern ...

and a small sliver to

Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 2004 to 2019. The Barrhead-Morin ...

Representation history

The riding's first MLA was James Popil, who had already served one term for

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

and was re-elected twice in Redwater. He was succeeded by Peter Chaba, a Ukrainian immigrant, who also held the riding for two terms. In 1955, however, Chaba was narrowly defeated by

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Alfred Macyk on the third count. The Social Credit government then abolished

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 ...

because of the Liberal Party's resurgence, and Macyk was defeated in 1959 by their candidate,

John Dubetz John Dubetz (1916-2002) was a politician from Alberta, Canada. He served in 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 Legisla ...

. When Dubetz decided not to run again in 1963, Social Credit chose

Michael Senych Michael Senych (September 24, 1926 - March 27, 2002) was a politician from Alberta, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1963 to 1971 as a member of the Social Credit Party. Early life Michael Senych was born in Corbin ...

as their candidate. He held the riding for two terms, until it was abolished in 1971. When Redwater was re-created in 1993, two incumbent MLAs ran against each other: former Liberal leader and two-term MLA for

, Nicholas Taylor, faced off against Steve Zarusky, two-term PC MLA for

. Taylor won by a significant margin, and three years later was subsequently appointed to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...

. The resulting 1996 by-election was won by another Liberal, Mary Anne Balsillie, by a razor-thin margin. However, the governing Progressive Conservatives would capture the riding in the following year, with candidate

Dave Broda David Mike Broda (September 17, 1944 – June 13, 2010) was a Canadian politician. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1997 to 2004 as a member of the Progressive Conservative caucus. Political career Broda ran twice as the ...

defeating Balsillie in an equally close contest. He was re-elected in 2001 by a much larger margin, and retired from politics when Redwater was abolished in 2004.

Election results

1940s

, - !colspan=6, Second count , colspan=2, Neither , align=292

1950s

, - !colspan=6, Second count , colspan=2, Neither , align=766 , - !colspan=6, Second count , colspan=2, Neither , align=379 After the 1955 election, a historic breakthrough for the Liberal Party, the government of

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 ...

abolished

alternative vote Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of Ranked voting, ranked preferential Electoral system, voting method. It uses a Majority rule, majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referr ...

and introduced

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 ...

voting across the province. The Social Credit candidate in Redwater was therefore able to win with less than a majority of votes in 1959. This change can also be seen in the dramatic drop in spoiled (incorrectly marked) ballots.

1960s

See

and

for results in the 1970s and 1980s.

1990s

2000s

Plebiscite results

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 women should be 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. Redwater voted in favour of the proposal with a landslide majority. Voter turnout in the district was abysmal, falling well 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 consider 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 twhohat wanted a license had to petition for a binding municipal plebiscite in order to be granted a license.

References

External links

Elections AlbertaThe Legislative Assembly of Alberta
{{Coord, 54.09, N, 112.48, W, display=title Former provincial electoral districts of Alberta