Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo
Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo 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.
 Alberta electoral district | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo within Alberta, 2017 boundaries | |||
| Provincial electoral district | |||
| Legislature | Legislative Assembly of Alberta | ||
| MLA |
United Conservative | ||
| District created | 2003 | ||
| First contested | 2004 | ||
| Last contested | 2019 | ||
The district had in recent years been favourable to the election of Progressive Conservative candidates, a trend broken by the 2015 election of Wildrose and UCP MLA Tany Yao.
Geography
Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo is a largely rural riding in the northeast corner of Alberta. Municipally, the riding consists of the northern part of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and almost all of Improvement District No. 24. The riding is home to the bulk of industrial activity relating to the Athabasca oil sands.
The major urban centre in the region, Fort McMurray, is split between this riding and Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, with the northern neighbourhood of Timberlea falling within the boundaries of Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo. Other communities in the riding include the hamlets of Fort Chipewyan, Fort Fitzgerald, and Fort McKay.
Three First Nation band governments are based in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo: Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Fort McKay First Nation, and Mikisew Cree First Nation. Smith's Landing First Nation is based outside of the riding but has several reserves within its boundaries. All of these bands are signatories of Treaty 8.
In addition to Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche to the south, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo also borders the riding of Lesser Slave Lake to the southwest, the riding of Peace River to the west, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the province of Saskatchewan to the east.
History
The electoral district was created in the 2004 electoral boundary re-distribution by merging the electoral district of Fort McMurray with a portion of Athabasca-Wabasca residing in the Municipal district of Wood Buffalo.[1]
The decade that went by since the district was created saw significant population growth due to exploration and development of the oil sands. The 2010 electoral boundary re-distribution resulted in the splitting of the district in two along north south lines creating Fort McMurray-Conklin in the eastern half.[2]
Boundary history
| 54 Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo 2003 Boundaries[3] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bordering Districts | |||
| North | East | West | South |
| none | none | Lesser Slave Lake, Peace River | Lac La Biche-St. Paul |
| riding map goes here |  | ||
| Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act. | |||
| Starting at the intersection of the east boundary of Rge. 10 W5 and the north boundary of the Province; then 1. east along the north boundary of the Province to the east boundary of the Province; 2. south along the east boundary of the Province to the north boundary of Twp. 73, Rge. 1 W4 (north boundary of the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range [CLAWR]); 3. west along the north boundary of the CLAWR to the east boundary of Sec. 21, Twp. 73, Rge. 9 W4; 4. north along the east boundary of Secs. 21, 28 and 33 in the Twp. and Secs. 4, 9, 16, 21, 28 and 33 in Twp. 74, Rge. 9 W4 to the north boundary of Twp. 74; 5. west along the north boundary of Twp. 74 to the east boundary of Rge. 10; 6. north along the east boundary of Rge. 10 to the north boundary of Twp. 80; 7. west along the north boundary of Twp. 80 to the east boundary of Rge. 13 W4; 8. south along the east boundary of Rge. 13 to the north boundary of Sec. 13 in the Twp.; 9. west along the north boundary of Secs. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 in the Twp. to the east boundary of Rge. 14 W4; 10. north along the east boundary of Rge. 14 to the north boundary of Twp. 80; 11. west along the Twp. to the intersection with the right bank of the Athabasca River; 12. downstream along the right bank of the Athabasca River to the intersection with the east boundary of Rge. 18 W4 in Twp. 86; 13. north along the east boundary of Rge. 18 to the north boundary of Twp. 95; 14. west along the north boundary of Twp. 95 to the east boundary of Rge. 20 W4; 15. north along the east boundary of Rge. 20 to the north boundary of Twp. 96; 16. west along the north boundary of Twp. 96 to the 5th meridian; 17. north along the 5th meridian to the north boundary of Twp. 111; 18. east along the north boundary of Twp. 111 to the east boundary of Rge. 23 W4; 19. north along the east boundary of Rge. 23 to the north boundary of Twp. 112; 20. west along the north boundary of Twp. 112 to the 5th meridian (Wood Buffalo National Park boundary); 21. north, west and north along the park boundary to the starting point. | |||
| Note: | |||
| 59 Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo 2010 Boundaries[4] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bordering Districts | |||
| North | East | West | South |
| Northwest Territories boundary | Fort McMurray-Conklin | Lesser Slave Lake and Peace River | Fort McMurray-Conklin |
 |
 | ||
| Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2010, Electoral Divisions Act. | |||
| Note: Boundary descriptions were not used in the 2010 redistribution | |||
Representation history
| Assembly | Years | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| See Athabasca-Wabasca 1993–2004, Fort McMurray, 1986–2004 and Lesser Slave Lake 1971–2004 | ||||
| 26th | 2004–2008 | Guy Boutilier | Progressive Conservative | |
| 27th | 2008–2009 | |||
| 2009–2010 | Independent | |||
| 2010 | Independent Wildrose Alliance | |||
| 2010–2011 | Wildrose Alliance | |||
| 2011–2012 | Wildrose | |||
| 28th | 2012–2013 | Mike Allen | Progressive Conservative | |
| 2013–2014 | Independent | |||
| 2014–2015 | Progressive Conservative | |||
| 29th | 2015–2017 | Tany Yao | Wildrose | |
| 2017–2019 | United Conservative | |||
| 30th | 2019–present | |||
The electoral district was created in the 2003 boundary redistribution. The first election held that year saw Fort McMurray incumbent Progressive Conservative MLA Guy Boutilier win the new seat with a landslide over four other candidates to pick it up for his party.
Boutilier was appointed as Minister of Environment by Premier Ralph Klein in 2004. In 2006 he was shuffled to Minister of International Relations. He ran for a second term as a cabinet minister in the 2008 general election. That election saw him win another big majority.
On July 18, 2009 Boutilier was ejected from caucus by Premier Ed Stelmach after speaking out against the government over a broken promise to put a seniors care facility in Fort McMurray.[5] He sat as an Independent until joining the Wildrose Alliance caucus as an Independent member on June 24, 2010. On October 25, 2010 he became a full member of the caucus.[6]
However, Boutilier was defeated in 2012 by PC Mike Allen. Allen was also ejected from PC caucus in 2013 after being caught in a prostitution sting while on an official trip to Minnesota, but was readmitted to caucus in 2014.[7]
In the 2015 election, Allen was defeated by Wildrose candidate Tany Yao. When the Wildrose and PC parties merged in 2017, Yao joined the new United Conservative Party along with the rest of the Wildrose caucus.
Yao running as a member of the United Conservative Party would once again defeat NDP candidate Stephen Drover in the 2019 general election by a healthy margin of 7,140 votes.
Legislature results
2004 general election
| 2004 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Guy C. Boutilier | 4,433 | 63.19% | – | ||||
| Liberal | Russell W. (Russ) Collicott | 1,802 | 25.69% | – | ||||
| New Democratic | Dave Malka | 462 | 6.59% | – | ||||
| Alberta Alliance | Eugene Eklund | 224 | 3.19% | – | ||||
| Independent | Reginald (Reg) Normore | 94 | 1.34% | – | ||||
| Total | 7,015 | – | – | |||||
| Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | 54 | – | – | |||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 26,618 | 26.56% | – | |||||
| Progressive Conservative pickup new district. | ||||||||
Source(s)
"Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo Statement of Official Results 2004 Alberta general election" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Retrieved April 10, 2020. | ||||||||
2008 general election
| 2008 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Guy C. Boutilier | 4,519 | 63.41% | 0.21% | ||||
| Liberal | Ross Jacobs | 1,758 | 24.67% | -1.02% | ||||
| New Democratic | Mel Kraley | 550 | 7.72% | 1.13% | ||||
| Greens | Reginald (Reg) Normore | 300 | 4.21% | – | ||||
| Total | 7,127 | – | – | |||||
| Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | 27 | – | – | |||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 36,054 | 19.84% | -6.71% | |||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | 0.62% | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: "54 - Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, 2008 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. The Report on the March 3, 2008 Provincial General Election of the Twenty-seventh Legislative Assembly (PDF). Elections Alberta. pp. 414–417. Retrieved May 21, 2020. | ||||||||
2012 general election
| 2012 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Mike Allen | 3,609 | 48.99% | -14.42% | ||||
| Wildrose | Guy Boutilier | 3,164 | 42.95% | – | ||||
| New Democratic | Denise Woollard | 372 | 5.05% | -2.67% | ||||
| Liberal | Amy McBain | 222 | 3.01% | -21.66% | ||||
| Total valid votes | 7,367 | – | – | |||||
| Spoiled, declined, and rejected | 87 | – | – | |||||
| Registered electors / Turnout | 21,843 | 34.13% | +14.29% | |||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | -28.69 | ||||||
Source(s)
Elections Alberta. "Electoral Division Results: Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo". Retrieved June 21, 2018. | ||||||||
2015 general election
| 2015 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Wildrose | Tany Yao | 3,835 | 40.03% | -2.92% | ||||
| New Democratic | Stephen Drover | 2,915 | 30.42% | 25.38% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Mike Allen | 2,486 | 25.95% | -23.04% | ||||
| Liberal | Robin Le Fevre | 345 | 3.60% | 0.59% | ||||
| Total | 9,581 | – | – | |||||
| Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | 76 | – | – | |||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 22,940 | 42.10% | 7.97% | |||||
| Wildrose gain from Progressive Conservative | Swing | 1.78% | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: "59 - Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, 2015 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. | ||||||||
2019 general election
| 2019 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| United Conservative | Tany Yao | 10,269 | 71.06% | 5.00% | ||||
| New Democratic | Stephen Drover | 3,129 | 21.65% | -8.77% | ||||
| Alberta Party | Marcus Erlandson | 804 | 5.56% | – | ||||
| Alberta Independence | Michael Keller | 249 | 1.72% | – | ||||
| Total | 14,451 | – | – | |||||
| Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | 90 | – | – | |||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 22,497 | 64.64% | 22.54% | |||||
| United Conservative gain from Wildrose | Swing | 6.93% | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: "61 - Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Change and swing for UCP candidate is based on the combination of Wildrose and PC candidate results. | ||||||||
Senate nominee results
2004 Senate nominee election district results
| 2004 Senate nominee election results: Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo[8] | Turnout 26.45% | |||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % Votes | % Ballots | Rank | |
| Progressive Conservative | Betty Unger | 2,560 | 15.87% | 50.23% | 2 | |
| Progressive Conservative | Bert Brown | 2,218 | 13.75% | 43.52% | 1 | |
| Progressive Conservative | Cliff Breitkreuz | 1,882 | 11.67% | 36.92% | 3 | |
| Progressive Conservative | David Usherwood | 1,683 | 10.43% | 33.02% | 6 | |
| Independent | Link Byfield | 1,509 | 9.36% | 29.61% | 4 | |
| Progressive Conservative | Jim Silye | 1,355 | 8.40% | 26.58% | 5 | |
| Alberta Alliance | Michael Roth | 1,338 | 8.30% | 26.25% | 7 | |
| Independent | Tom Sindlinger | 1,233 | 7.64% | 24.19% | 9 | |
| Alberta Alliance | Gary Horan | 1,177 | 7.30% | 23.09% | 10 | |
| Alberta Alliance | Vance Gough | 1,176 | 7.28% | 23.07% | 8 | |
| Total Votes | 16,131 | 100% | ||||
| Total Ballots | 5,097 | 3.17 Votes Per Ballot | ||||
| Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | 1,839 | |||||
Voters had the option of selecting 4 Candidates on the Ballot
Student Vote results
2004 election
| Participating Schools[9] |
|---|
| Beacon Hill School |
| Dr. K.A. Clark School |
| Father Mercredi Catholic High School |
| Fort McMurray Christian School |
| Fort McMurray Composite High School |
| Timberlea Public School |
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.
| 2004 Alberta Student Vote results[10] | ||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Progressive Conservative | Guy Boutilier | 400 | 38.13% | |
| NDP | Dave Malka | 224 | 21.35% | |
| Independent | Reginald Normore | 199 | 18.97% | |
| Liberal | Russell Collicott | 163 | 15.54% | |
| Alberta Alliance | Eugene Eklund | 63 | 6.01% | |
| Total | 1,049 | 100% | ||
| Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | 40 | |||
2012 election
| 2012 Alberta Student Vote results | ||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Progressive Conservative | Mike Allen | % | ||
| Wildrose | Guy Boutilier | |||
| Liberal | Amy McBain | % | ||
| NDP | Denise Woollard | % | ||
| Total | 100% | |||
References
- Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (February 2003). "Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries, and Names for Alberta. Final Report to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta". Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (June 2010). "Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries, and Names for Alberta. Final Report to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. ISBN 978-0-9865367-1-7. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- Electoral Divisions Act, S.A. 2003, c. E-4.1
- "Bill 28 Electoral Divisions Act" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. 2010.
- Braid, Don (July 17, 2009). "Bold critique of Stelmach endangers Alberta Tory MLA". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 2009-07-18. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- Bennett, Dean (June 25, 2010). "Former Alberta cabinet minister joins Wildrose Alliance". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
- "Alberta MLA Mike Allen back in PC Caucus". Global News. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
- "Senate Nominee Election 2004 Tabulation of Official Results" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
- "School by School results". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
- "Riding by Riding Results - the Candidates". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-19.