Calgary Centre (provincial electoral district)

Calgary Centre 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 1959 to 1971.[1][2]

Calgary Centre
Alberta electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of Alberta
District created1959
District abolished1970
First contested1959
Last contested1967

History

The original Centre Calgary district was first created during a brief period when the Calgary riding was split three ways. The other two districts were Calgary South and Calgary North.

The second incarnation was during the re-distribution of 1959 when Alberta moved from Single Transferable Vote to First Past the Post.

The riding was last contested in the 1967 Alberta general election, after which the Alberta Legislature passed the 1970 An Act to amend The Election Act and The Legislative Assembly Act to redraw provincial electoral districts. Calgary Centre and Calgary Victoria Park were split between Calgary-Buffalo, Calgary-Mountain View, Calgary-Bow, Calgary-Millican and Calgary-North Hill.[2]

The riding covered the Downtown Calgary.

1959 Redistribution

The historic 1959 redistribution of the provincial ridings of Calgary and Edmonton marked the transition back to First Past the Post. From 1926 to 1959 Calgary and Edmonton, elected members with Single Transferable Vote. The rest of the province had an option of how to count ballots to elect members in single seat ridings.

The redistribution created seven ridings in Calgary, two of those still exist today. Calgary and Edmonton were becoming too large to be a single riding.

The other six ridings were Calgary Bowness, Calgary West, Calgary Glenmore, Calgary North, Calgary North East, Calgary South East.

Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs)

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary Centre
Assembly Years Member Party
See Calgary electoral district from 1921-1959
14th  1959–1963     Frederick C. Colborne Social Credit
15th  1963–1967
16th  1967–1971
See Calgary-West electoral district from 1971-Present,
Calgary-Millican electoral district from 1971-1993
and Calgary-Buffalo electoral district from 1971-Present

Election results

1959 general election

1959 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Social CreditFred C. Colborne4,82453.79%0.00%
Progressive ConservativeRuno Berglund2,64229.46%0.00%
LiberalGordan Arnell1,15412.87%0.00%
Co-operative CommonwealthGrant McHardy3493.89%0.00%
Total 8,969
Rejected, spoiled and declined 16
Eligible electors / turnout 16,88453.22%
Source(s)
Source: "Calgary-Centre Official Results 1959 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1963 general election

1963 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Social CreditFred C. Colborne4,39561.63%7.85%
LiberalE. Virgil Anderson1,87826.34%13.47%
New DemocraticMrs. Melba Cochlan75710.62%
CommunistDave Raichman1011.42%
Total 7,131
Rejected, spoiled and declined 48
Eligible electors / turnout 17,56740.87%
Social Credit hold Swing 5.48%
Source(s)
Source: "Calgary-Centre Official Results 1963 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1967 general election

1967 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Social CreditFred C. Colborne3,87340.85%-20.78%
Progressive ConservativeChuck Cook3,35935.43%
LiberalJohn Starchuk1,27513.45%-12.89%
New DemocraticMrs. Margaret Hanley97310.26%-0.35%
Total 9,480
Rejected, spoiled and declined 90
Eligible electors / turnout 17,55454.52%
Social Credit hold Swing -14.94%
Source(s)
Source: "Calgary-Centre Official Results 1967 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

See also

References

  1. "Election results for Calgary Centre". abheritage.ca. Wayback Machine: Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  2. The Election Act, RSA 1970, c. 117

Further reading

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