Lacombe 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 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 1905 to 1993.

History

Lacombe 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 electoral district was a continuation of the Lacombe Northwest Territories electoral district which was formed in 1902. The electoral district was named for the City of Lacombe in central Alberta. Lacombe was dissolved in the 1993 electoral district re-distribution. The more urbanized portion, including the city of Lacombe, was merged with neighbouring Stettler to form

Lacombe-Stettler Lacombe-Stettler 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 1993 to 2004. History The Lacombe-Stettler e ...

, while the more rural portion was transferred to

Rocky Mountain House Rocky Mountain House is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately west of Red Deer at the confluence of the Clearwater and North Saskatchewan Rivers, and at the crossroads of Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail) and Highway 11 (David Th ...

Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs)

Election results

1905 general election

1909 general election

1913 general election

1917 general election

1921 general election

1926 general election

1930 general election

1935 general election

1940 general election

1944 general election

1948 general election

1952 general election

1955 general election

1959 general election

1963 general election

1967 general election

1971 general election

1975 general election

1979 general election

1982 general election

1986 general election

1989 general election

Plebiscite results

1957 liquor plebiscite

On October 30, 1957 a stand-alone

plebiscite A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

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 Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

and

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 ...

, asked if men and women 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. Lacombe voted against the proposal by a wide margin. The voter turnout in the district was well above the province wide average of 46% with well over half the electors turning out to vote. Official district returns were released to the public on December 31, 1957. The

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 ...

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 such as Lacombe were designated Local Option Zones by the

Alberta Liquor Control Board 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 Territ ...

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.

References

External links

Elections AlbertaThe Legislative Assembly of Alberta
{{coord missing, Alberta Former provincial electoral districts of Alberta 1905 establishments in Alberta 1993 disestablishments in Alberta Constituencies disestablished in 1993