West Yellowhead (electoral district)
West Yellowhead is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 current ridings mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting.
 Alberta electoral district | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 West Yellowhead within Alberta, 2017 boundaries | |||
| Provincial electoral district | |||
| Legislature | Legislative Assembly of Alberta | ||
| MLA |
United Conservative | ||
| District created | 1986 | ||
| First contested | 1986 | ||
| Last contested | 2019 | ||
The district in its early history was a swing riding, changing party hands often. More recently, support has gone to electing candidates from the Progressive Conservatives, who have held the district with sizable majorities since 1997. The current representative is UCP Martin Long who was first elected in the 2019 provincial election.
Geography
West Yellowhead is a predominantly rural riding located in northwest and west-central Alberta. The landscape includes the Rocky Mountains of Jasper National Park, their foothills, and large expanses of boreal forest, some of which has been cleared for agriculture.
There are no cities in the riding. The only urban municipalities within its boundaries are three large towns: Edson, Hinton, and Whitecourt. Other population centres include Jasper, incorporated as a specialized municipality, and Grande Cache, a former town that became a hamlet in 2019.
West Yellowhead also includes the entirety of three rural municipalities (Improvement District No. 12, Improvement District No. 25, and Yellowhead County) and parts of two others (the Municipal District of Greenview No. 16 and Woodlands County).
No First Nation band governments are based in the riding. However, the riding does includes three reserves (Alexis Cardinal River Indian Reserve 234, Alexis Elk River Indian Reserve 233, and Alexis Whitecourt Indian Reserve 232) that are associated with the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, a signatory of Treaty 6. The unrecognized Aseniwuche Winewak Nation also has several settlements in the riding, in the Grande Cache area.
West Yellowhead borders seven other electoral districts: Grande Prairie-Wapiti and Central Peace-Notley to the north, Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock to the northeast, Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland and Drayton Valley-Devon to the east, and Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre and Banff-Kananaskis to the south. The riding's western boundary is the Alberta-British Columbia border.
History
The district was created in the 1986 boundary redistribution from most of the old Edson electoral district. Since it was created, the district has remained almost unchanged. The 2010 boundary redistribution did not change the riding from 2003.[1]
Boundary history
| 81 West Yellowhead 2003 Boundaries[2] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bordering Districts | |||
| North | East | West | South |
| Grande Prairie-Smoky and Grande Prairie-Wapiti | Drayton Valley-Calmar and Whitecourt-Ste. Anne | British Columbia boundary | Rocky Mountain House |
| riding map goes here |  | ||
| Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act. | |||
| Starting at the intersection of the west boundary of the Province and the north boundary of Twp. 58; then 1. east along the north boundary to the left bank of the Smoky River; 2. downstream along the left bank to its most westerly intersection with the north boundary of Twp. 62; 3. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 25 W5; 4. south along the east boundary to the right bank of the Berland River; 5. downstream along the right bank of the Berland River to the right bank of the Athabasca River; 6. downstream along the right bank of the Athabasca River to the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5; 7. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 58; 8. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 18 W5; 9. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 57; 10. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 16 W5; 11. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 47; 12. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 15 W5; 13. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 44; 14. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5; 15. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 43; 16. west along the north boundary to the right bank of the Brazeau River; 17. upstream along the right bank to the Jasper National Park boundary; 18. in a generally southwesterly direction along the park boundary to the Alberta-British Columbia boundary; 19. in a generally northwesterly direction along the boundary to the starting point. | |||
| Note: | |||
| 85 West Yellowhead 2010 Boundaries | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bordering Districts | |||
| North | East | West | South |
| Grande Prairie-Smoky and Grande Prairie-Wapiti | Drayton Valley-Devon and Whitecourt-Ste. Anne | British Columbia boundary | Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre |
 |
 | ||
| Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2010, Electoral Divisions Act. | |||
| Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act. | |||
| Note: The district remained unchanged in 2010.[1] | |||
| Members of the Legislative Assembly for West Yellowhead[3] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assembly | Years | Member | Party | |
| See: Edson 1913-1986 | ||||
| 21st | 1986–1989 | Ian Reid | Progressive Conservative | |
| 22nd | 1989–1993 | Jerry Doyle | New Democrat | |
| 23rd | 1993–1997 | Duco Van Binsbergen | Liberal | |
| 24th | 1997–2001 | Ivan Strang | Progressive Conservative | |
| 25th | 2001–2004 | |||
| 26th | 2004–2008 | |||
| 27th | 2008–2012 | Robin Campbell | ||
| 28th | 2012–2015 | |||
| 29th | 2015–2019 | Eric Rosendahl | New Democrat | |
| 30th | 2019–present | Martin Long | United Conservative | |
Electoral history
The electoral district was created in the 1986 general election. The first election held that year saw a tight race between incumbent Progressive Conservative MLA Ian Reid who had previously represented the Edson electoral district and New Democrat candidate Phil Oakes. Reid barely hung onto win to pick up the new district for his party.
The 1989 election would see Reid defeated by New Democrat candidate Jerry Doyle in another close race. Doyle would only last a single term in office as he was defeated by Liberal candidate Duco Van Binsbergen in the 1993 general election.
The Progressive Conservatives would regain the seat in the 1997 general election as candidate Ivan Strang defeated Van Binsbergen. Strang was re-elected in the 2001 election with a solid majority. He won a third term in the 2004 general election taking less than half the popular vote but winning a comfortable plurality over the opposition candidates which polled an evenly dived vote. He would retire from office in 2008.
Progressive Conservative Robin Campbell was elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012. Campbell lost to Eric Rosendahl of the New Democratic Party when the NDP were voted into government on May 4, 2015.[4]
Legislature results
1986 general election
| 1986 Alberta general election results[5] | Turnout 45.19% | Swing | ||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | Party | Personal | |
| Progressive Conservative | Ian Reid | 3,207 | 44.86% | |||
| New Democratic | Phil Oakes | 3,005 | 42.04% | |||
| Liberal | Laurie Switzer | 749 | 10.48% | * | ||
| Western Canada Concept | Lorraine Oberg | 187 | 2.62% | * | ||
| Total | 7,148 | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 21 | |||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 15,863 | % | ||||
1989 general election
| 1989 Alberta general election results[6] | Turnout 52.15% | Swing | ||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | Party | Personal | |
| New Democratic | Jerry Doyle | 3,989 | 47.26% | 5.22% | ||
| Progressive Conservative | Ian Reid | 3,109 | 36.83% | -8.03% | ||
| Liberal | Sharron Johnstone | 1,103 | 13.07% | 2.59% | ||
| Independent | Harvey Ball | 240 | 2.84% | |||
| Total | 8,441 | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 25 | |||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 16,234 | % | ||||
| NDP pickup from Progressive Conservative | Swing 6.63% | |||||
1993 general election
| 1993 Alberta general election results[7] | Turnout 55.44% | Swing | ||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | Party | Personal | |
| Liberal | Duco Van Binsbergen | 3,562 | 37.07% | 24.00% | ||
| Progressive Conservative | Fiona Cleary | 3,101 | 32.28% | -4.55% | ||
| New Democratic | Jerry Doyle | 2,243 | 23.34% | -23.92% | ||
| Social Credit | Garry Klewchuk | 582 | 6.06% | * | ||
| Green | Mario Houle | 120 | 1.25% | * | ||
| Total | 9,608 | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 21 | |||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 17,367 | % | ||||
| Liberal pickup from NDP | Swing 14.28% | |||||
1997 general election
| 1997 Alberta general election results[8] | Turnout 55.90% | Swing | ||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | Party | Personal | |
| Progressive Conservative | Ivan Strang | 4,498 | 42.05% | 9.77% | ||
| Liberal | Duco Van Binsbergen | 3,795 | 35.47% | -1.60% | ||
| New Democratic | Glenn Taylor | 2,130 | 19.91% | -3.43% | ||
| Social Credit | John Ahlstrom | 275 | 2.57% | -3.49% | * | |
| Total | 10,698 | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 22 | |||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 19,176 | % | ||||
| Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal | Swing | 5.69% | ||||
2001 general election
| 2001 Alberta general election results[9] | Turnout 51.48% | Swing | ||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | Party | Personal | |
| Progressive Conservative | Ivan Strang | 5,763 | 59.14% | 17.09% | ||
| Liberal | Lyle Benson | 3,180 | 32.64% | -2.83% | ||
| New Democratic | Noel Lapierre | 801 | 8.22% | -11.69% | ||
| Total | 9,774 | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 34 | |||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 18,995 | % | ||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | 9.96% | ||||
2004 general election
| 2004 Alberta general election results[10] | Turnout 46.61% | Swing | ||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | Party | Personal | |
| Progressive Conservative | Ivan Strang | 3,753 | 45.72% | -13.42% | ||
| New Democratic | Barry Madsen | 1,771 | 21.58% | 13.36% | ||
| Liberal | Rob Jolly | 1,666 | 20.30% | -12.34% | ||
| Alberta Alliance | Earle Cunningham | 675 | 8.22% | |||
| Green | Monika Schaefer | 343 | 4.18% | * | ||
| Total | 8,208 | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 44 | |||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 17,706 | % | ||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | -13.39% | ||||
2008 general election
| 2008 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Robin Campbell | 4,206 | 53.83% | 8.11% | ||||
| Liberal | Lisa Higgerty | 1,932 | 24.72% | 4.42% | ||||
| New Democratic | Ken Kuzminski | 1,054 | 13.49% | −8.09% | ||||
| Wildrose Alliance | Earle Cunningham | 326 | 4.17% | −4.05% | ||||
| Green | Scott Pickett | 296 | 3.79% | −0.39% | ||||
| Total | 7,814 | |||||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 32 | |||||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 22,252 | 35.26% | ||||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | 6.27% | ||||||
| Source: The Report on the March 3, 2008 Provincial General Election of the Twenty-seventh Legislative Assembly. Elections Alberta. July 28, 2008. pp. 558–563. | ||||||||
2012 general election
| 2012 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| Progressive Conservative | Robin Campbell | 4,405 | 44.86 | |||||
| Wildrose | Stuart Taylor | 2,642 | 26.91 | |||||
| Alberta Party | Glenn Taylor | 1,668 | 16.99 | |||||
| New Democratic | Barry Madsen | 794 | 8.09 | |||||
| Liberal | Michael Martyna | 310 | 3.16 | |||||
| Total | 9,810 | |||||||
2015 general election
| 2015 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| New Democratic | Eric Rosendahl | 4,141 | 39.0% | |||||
| Progressive Conservative | Robin Campbell | 3,433 | 32.3% | |||||
| Wildrose | Stuart Taylor | 3,046 | 28.7% | |||||
| Total | 10,623 | |||||||
2019 general election
| 2019 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| United Conservative | Martin Long | 16,381 | 68.3% | |||||
| New Democratic | Paula Cackett | 4,912 | 20.5% | |||||
| Alberta Party | Kristie Gomuwka | 2,073 | 8.6% | |||||
| Alberta Advantage | Paul Lupyczuk | 261 | 1.1% | |||||
| Independence | Travis Poirier | 229 | 1.0% | |||||
| Independent | David Pearce | 123 | 0.5% | |||||
| Total valid ballots cast | 23,979 | – | – | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 111 | 50 | 9 | |||||
| Eligible electors / Turnout | 35,546 | 67.8% | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: "87 - Edmonton-Strathcona, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. | ||||||||
Senate nominee results
2004 Senate nominee election district results
| 2004 Senate nominee election results: West Yellowhead[11] | Turnout 46.49% | |||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % Votes | % Ballots | Rank | |
| Progressive Conservative | Cliff Breitkreuz | 4,004 | 20.24% | 59.57% | 3 | |
| Progressive Conservative | Betty Unger | 2,758 | 13.94% | 41.03% | 2 | |
| Progressive Conservative | Bert Brown | 2,125 | 10.74% | 31.61% | 1 | |
| Independent | Link Byfield | 2,025 | 10.23% | 30.13% | 4 | |
| Progressive Conservative | David Usherwood | 1,628 | 8.23% | 24.22% | 6 | |
| Alberta Alliance | Michael Roth | 1,540 | 7.78% | 22.91% | 7 | |
| Progressive Conservative | Jim Silye | 1,506 | 7.61% | 22.40% | 5 | |
| Alberta Alliance | Gary Horan | 1,434 | 7.25% | 21.33% | 10 | |
| Alberta Alliance | Vance Gough | 1,415 | 7.15% | 21.05% | 8 | |
| Independent | Tom Sindlinger | 1,352 | 6.83% | 20.11% | 9 | |
| Total Votes | 19,787 | 100% | ||||
| Total Ballots | 6,722 | 2.94 Votes Per Ballot | ||||
| Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | 1,510 | |||||
Voters had the option of selecting 4 Candidates on the Ballot
Student Vote results
2004 election
| Participating Schools[12] |
|---|
| Crescent Valley School |
| Ecole Mountain View School |
| Gerard Redmond Community Catholic School |
| Harry Collinge High School |
| Holy Redeemer Catholic Jr/Sr High School |
| Parkland Composite High School |
| Pine Grove Middle School |
| Yellowhead Koinonia Christian 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[13] | ||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Progressive Conservative | Ivan Strang | 593 | 32.91% | |
| NDP | Barry Madsen | 448 | 24.86% | |
| Liberal | Rob Jolly | 341 | 18.92% | |
| Alberta Alliance | Earle Cunningham | 271 | 15.04% | |
| Green | Monika Schaefer | 149 | 8.27% | |
| Total | 1,802 | 100% | ||
| Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | 62 | |||
2012 election
| 2012 Alberta Student Vote results[14] | ||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Alberta Party | Glenn Taylor | 224 | 34.30% | |
| Progressive Conservative | Robin Campbell | 221 | 33.84% | |
| Wildrose | Stuart Taylor | 102 | 15.62% | |
| NDP | Barry Madsen | 57 | 8.73% | |
| Liberal | Michael Martyna | 49 | 7.50% | |
| Total | 653 | 100% | ||
References
- "Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries, and Names for Alberta" (PDF). Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission. June 2010. p. 22. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- "E‑4.1". Statutes of the Province of Alberta. Government of Alberta. 2003. p. 74.
- "Members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 1905-2006" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 30, 2007. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
- http://www.cbc.ca/news/elections/alberta-votes/alberta-election-2015-results-ndp-wave-sweeps-across-province-in-historic-win-1.3062605
- "West Yellowhead results 1986 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
- "West Yellowhead results 1989 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
- "West Yellowhead results 1993 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
- "1997 General Election". Elections Alberta. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
- "West Yellowhead Official Results 2001 Alberta general election" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Retrieved April 8, 2010.
- "West Yellowhead Statement of Official Results 2004 Alberta general election" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Retrieved April 8, 2010.
- "Senate Nominee Election 2004 Tabulation of Official Results" (PDF). Elections Alberta. 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.
- "West Yellowhead". Student Vote Canada. Retrieved 2012-06-06.