Edmonton (provincial electoral district)

The Edmonton provincial electoral district existed in two incarnations from 1905 - 1909 and again from 1921 - 1955, with the city (small as it was in former times) broken up into multiple constituencies in the other time-periods. The district was created when Alberta became a province, to encompass residents of the city of Edmonton on the northside of the North Saskatchewan River For a time, it was one of three multi-member constituencies in the province's history, the others being Calgary and Medicine Hat.

Three methods of electing representatives were used over the years. First past the post election of a single member was used in 1905 and subsequent by-elections to 1921.

Block voting (voters able to cast as many votes as there were seats, that is 2) was used in 1909 and 1913.

The constituency was divided into two single-member constituencies for the provincial election of 1917: Edmonton East and Edmonton West. The adjacent constituency of Edmonton South had been renamed from the old constituency of Strathcona.

These three districts merged to form the Edmonton constituency in 1921, and block voting was established in 1921, to elect five members in the single constituency.

As a semblance of proportional representation, the UFA government brought in the single transferable vote for all constituencies, and made Edmonton, Calgary and Medicine Hat (for 1926 only) multi-member constituencies, with votes apportioned as per the Hare system, starting in 1924. STV, and the Hare system, where applicable, was also used in provincial by-elections during this period.

In 1959 the Social Credit government broke up the Calgary and Edmonton constituencies and replaced the transferable balloting with first-past-the-post system across the province. Nine constituencies were created in Edmonton: Edmonton Centre, Edmonton North, Edmonton Norwood, Edmonton North East, Edmonton North West, Jasper West, Strathcona Centre, Strathcona East and Strathcona West.

Expansion of seats and districts in Edmonton

The first table shows at a glance, the number of seats available by general election year for the Edmonton riding. The second table shows the number of districts in Edmonton, when the Edmonton riding was broken up.

Seats

Year	1905	1909	1913	1921	1926	1930	1935	1940	1944	1948	1952	1955
Seats	1	2	2	5	5	6	6	5	5	5	7	7

Districts

Year	1913	1917	1959	1963	1967	1971	1975	1979	1982	1986	1989	1993	1997	2001	2004
Districts	1	3	9	10	11	16	16	18	18	17	17	18	19	19	18

For the 1913 election, Edmonton South Provincial electoral district was created from the old Strathcona constituency to elect one MLA. The Edmonton constituency elected two members by the block vote system.

Edmonton party composition at a glance

Affiliation		1905	1909	1913	1921	1926	1930	1935	1940	1942	1944	1948	1948	1952	1955
	Liberal	1	2	2	5	1	1	3					1	2	3
	Conservative					2	3	1	3					1	1
	Social Credit							2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3
	Cooperative Commonwealth									1	1	1	1	1
	Labour					1	1
	United Farmers					1	1
	Veteran's & Active Force										1
	Independent Citizen's											1
	Independent								3	2	1	1
Total		1	2	2	5	5	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	7	7

(Note: Independents in the 1940s were members of the Unity League, an anti-SC coalition of Liberal and Conservatives.)

Election results

1905 general election

1905 Alberta general election results^[1]			Turnout Unknown
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Charles Wilson Cross	1,209	70.50%
	Conservative	William Griesbach	516	29.50%
Total			1,715	100%
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			Unknown

1909 and 1913 general elections

Year	Candidate	Party	Votes	Year	Candidate	Party	Votes
1913	Charles Wilson Cross	Liberal	5,407	1909	Charles Wilson Cross	Liberal	3,282
	Albert Ewing	Conservative	5,107		John McDougall	Liberal	2,977
1913	Alexander Grant MacKay	Liberal	4,913	1909	Albert Ewing	Conservative	1,595
	William Antrobus Griesbach	Conservative	4,499		John Gailbraith	Independent	348
	J.D. Blayney	Independent	643

In 1913 Charles Cross was elected in Edmonton and Edson.

1921 general election

Alberta general election, 1921
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Elected
	Liberal	Andrew Robert McLennan	6,498	36.20%	Y
	Liberal	John Campbell Bowen	5,803	32.33%	Y
	Liberal	Nellie McClung	5,388	30.02%	Y
	Liberal	John Robert Boyle	5,361	29.86%	Y
	Liberal	Jeremiah Wilfred Heffernan	5,289	29.46%	Y
	United Farmers	William Jackman	4,978	27.73%
	Conservative	Albert Freeman Ewing	4,777	26.61%
	Labour	A. A. Campbell	3,736	20.81%
	Conservative	Herbert Howard Crawford	3,553	19.79%
	Conservative	Elizabeth Ferris	3,188	17.76%
	Labour	Robert McCreath	2,931	16.33%
	Independent	Joseph Woods Adair	2,571	14.32%
	Labour	Elmer Ernest Roper	2,515	14.01%
	Conservative	Ambrose Upton Gledstanes Bury	2,509	13.98%
	Conservative	William A. Wells	2,329	12.97%
	Independent	James Kennedy Cornwall	2,082	11.60%
	Independent	A. L. Marks	1,744	9.72%
	Independent Liberal	Gerald Pelton	1,467	8.17%
	Independent	William Short	1,447	8.06%
	Independent Labour	William R. Ball	1,409	7.85%
	Independent	A. Boileau	1,226	6.83%
	Independent Labour	Mary Cantin	1,133	6.31%
	Independent Labour	Ernest Brown	1,073	5.98%
	Independent Labour	James Bailey	941	5.24%
	Independent Labour	Joe E. White	927	5.16%
	Labour Socialist	Marie Millard	883	4.92%
Total votes cast			17,951
Source: "Election results for Edmonton, 1921". Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2010-07-06.

1924 Edmonton by-Election

W.T. Henry elected on third count. Communist Party candidate H.M. Bartholomew showed strong third place showing, almost exceeding Conservative candidate on the second count.

1926 general election

Alberta general election, 1926
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	Elected
	United Farmers	John Lymburn	3,046	16.27%	3,026	21.19%	Y
	Conservative	Charles Weaver	2,202	11.76%	3,026	21.19%	Y
	Liberal	Warren Prevey	1,517	8.10%	2,940	20.58%	Y
	Independent Liberal	Joseph Clarke	1,179	6.30%
	Liberal	John C. Bowen	1,147	6.13%
	Independent	Samuel Barnes	1,060	5.66%
	Labour	Alfred Farmilo	973	5.20%
	Conservative	F. J. Follinsbee	881	4.71%
	Labour	Charles Gibbs	879	4.70%	3,026	21.19%	Y
	Liberal	William Thomas Henry	858	4.58%
	Conservative	David Duggan	857	4.58%	2,265	15.86%	Y
	Conservative	Herbert Crawford	782	4.18%
	Labour	James Findlay	628	3.35%
	Labour	Jan Lakeman	605	3.23%
	Liberal	William Rea	561	3.00%
	Labour	Elmer Roper	478	2.55%
	Conservative	M. W. Robertson	361	1.93%
	Independent	J. W. Leedy	140	0.75%
Votes cast			18,721
Eligible electors / Turnout			33,741	55.5%
Source: "Election results for Edmonton, 1926". Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-23.

1930 general election

Alberta general election, 1930
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	Elected
	United Farmers	John Lymburn	3,230	14.76%	3,028	17.54%	Y
	Conservative	David Duggan	2,665	12.18%	3,028	17.54%	Y
	Labour	Charles Gibbs	2,262	10.34%	3,028	17.54%	Y
	Conservative	Charles Weaver	2,013	9.20%	2,903	16.82%	Y
	Liberal	William R. Howson	1,835	8.39%	2,915	16.89%	Y
	Conservative	William Atkinson	1,786	8.16%	2,360	13.67%	Y
	Liberal	Warren Prevey	1,331	6.08%
	Liberal	James Collisson	1,040	4.75%
	Labour	Alfred Farmilo	832	3.80%
	Labour	Samuel Barnes	818	3.74%
	Independent	Jan Lakeman	752	3.44%
	Labour	K. Knott	745	3.41%
	Conservative	N. C. Willson	451	2.06%
	Liberal	G. V. Pelton	442	2.02%
	Conservative	J. A. Buchannan	424	1.94%
	Independent	Joseph Clarke	374	1.71%
	Conservative	R. D. Tighe	189	0.86%
Turnout				55.8%
Source: "Election results for Edmonton, 1930". Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-23.

1935 general election

Alberta general election, 1935
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	Votes final count	Elected
	Liberal	William Howson	9,139	5,324	Y
	Social Credit	Samuel Barnes	4,476	5,324	Y
	Social Credit	W.S. Hall	2,818
	Social Credit	D.B. Mullen	2,500	4,932	Y
	United Farmers	J.F. Lymburn	2,092
	Social Credit	Orvis A. Kennedy	1,781
	Conservative	D.M. Duggan	1,466	5,078	Y
	Liberal	G.H. Van Allen	1,255	5,324	Y
	Social Credit	M.W. Robertson	1,243
	Liberal	Marion Conroy	1,238
	Conservative	William Atkinson	1,220
	Liberal	Gerald O'Connor	1,116	4,922	Y
	Communist	Jan Lakeman	1,096
	Conservative	Frederick Jamieson	1,029
	Social Credit	G.L. King	843
	Liberal	J.C.M. Marshall	673
	Conservative	J.E. Basarab	671
	Liberal	Walter Morrish	612
	Labour	James East	505
	Conservative	Emily Fitzsimon	363
	Labour	J.W. Findlay	331
	Economic Reconstruction	Elsie Wright	192
	Labour	Carl Berg	192
	Labour	S.S. Bowcott	166
	Labour	A. Farmilo	127
	Conservative	D.M. Ramsay	71
	Labour	Sidney Parsons	52
Total votes cast			38,052	38,052
Elegible electors / Turnout			49,212	77.3%
Source: "Election results for Edmonton, 1935". Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-23.

1940 general election

Year	Count	Candidate	Party	Votes
1940	2nd	Ernest Manning	Social Credit	7,291
	2nd	John P. Page	Independent	7,291
	2nd	Norman James	Social Credit	7,133
	2nd	D.M. Duggan	Independent	6,731
	2nd	Hugh John MacDonald	Independent	6,649
1940	1st	Ernest Manning	Social Credit	10,066
	1st	John P. Page	Independent	5,607
	1st	Hugh John MacDonald	Independent	4,128
	1st	Gerald O'Connor	Independent	3,392
	1st	D.M. Duggan	Independent	3,878
	1st	L.Y. Cairns	Independent	3,316
	1st	Elmer Roper	Cooperative Commonwealth	1,984
	1st	H.D. Ainlay	Cooperative Commonwealth	1,840
	1st	E.C. Fisher	Independent	1,607
	1st	C. Gould	Social Credit	1,192
	1st	E. East	Social Credit	1,117
	1st	James A. MacPherson	Communist	1,067
	1st	N.B. James	Social Credit	967
	1st	C.B. Wills	Social Credit	948
	1st	Marjorie Pardee	Independent	822
	1st	W.H. Miller	Cooperative Commonwealth	442
	1st	G.F. Hustler	Independent	400
	1st	Samuel Barnes	Independent Progressive	282
	1st	J.H. Green	Independent Progressive	108

It should be noted that many of the candidates listed as Independents, such as sitting MLA D.M. Duggan, were candidates for the Unity League, an anti-SC alliance of Conservatives and Liberals.

1942 by-election

September 22, 1942 by-election^[2]			Turnout 32.71%
Affiliation		Candidate	1st	%	Votes	%	Count
	Cooperative Commonwealth	Elmer Roper	4,834	24.76%	8,432	53.98%	4th
	Independent	John Lymburn	4,032	20.65%	7,188	46.02%	4th
	Social Credit	G.B. Giles	4,432	22.70%	Eliminated prior to 4th count
	Soldier Representative	W. Griffin	3,389	17.36%	Eliminated prior to 3rd count
	Liberal	N.V. Buchanan	2,838	14.53%	Eliminated prior to 2nd count
Valid Ballots			19,525	100%	15,620	100%
Exhausted Ballots					3,905	4 Counts

1944 and 1948 general elections

Year	Count	Candidate	Party	Votes	Year	Count	Candidate	Party	Votes
1948	2nd	Elmer Roper	Cooperative Commonwealth	8,684	1944	2nd	Elmer Roper	Cooperative Commonwealth	6,345
	2nd	Lou Heard	Social Credit	7,746		2nd	John P. Page	Independent	6,333
	2nd	Ernest Manning	Social Credit	7,692		2nd	Ernest Manning	Social Credit	6,306
	2nd	James Harper Prowse	Liberal	7,692		2nd	William J. Williams	Veterans' and Active Force	5,535
	2nd	Clayton Adams	Social Credit	7,559		2nd	Norman James	Social Credit	3,532
1948	1st	Ernest Manning	Social Credit	22,014	1944	1st	Ernest Manning	Social Credit	14,271
	1st	Elmer Roper	Cooperative Commonwealth	6,511		1st	Elmer Roper	Cooperative Commonwealth	5,253
	1st	James Harper Prowse	Liberal	6,302		1st	John P. Page	Independent	4,603
	1st	John P. Page	Independent Citizen's	2,723		1st	William J. Williams	Veterans' and Active Force	2,818
	1st	Peter Lazarowich	Liberal	1,234		1st	Johnnie Caine	Independent	1,400
	1st	Jack Hampson	Cooperative Commonwealth	1,046		1st	Henry Carrigan	Social Credit	1,188
	1st	Clayton Adams	Social Credit	946		1st	Orvis A. Kennedy	Social Credit	876
	1st	Mary Scullion	Liberal	942		1st	Clifford Lee	Cooperative Commonwealth	854
	1st	Lou Heard	Social Credit	890		1st	Norman James	Social Credit	781
	1st	John Gillies	Social Credit	772		1st	John Gillies	Social Credit	755
	1st	Mary Crawford	Cooperative Commonwealth	618		1st	James A. MacPherson	Labor–Progressive	742
	1st	Francis Ford	Liberal	565		1st	James Enright	Cooperative Commonwealth	649
	1st	Walter Crockett	Social Credit	523		1st	M.E. Butterworth	Cooperative Commonwealth	549
	1st	Arthur Thornton	Cooperative Commonwealth	498		1st	Joseph Dowler	Cooperative Commonwealth	545
	1st	J.H. Dowler	Cooperative Commonwealth	370		1st	William Halina	Labor–Progressive	496
	1st	William Brownlee	Liberal	442		1st	Cecil Chapman	Independent	476
						1st	Clarence Richards	Independent	422
						1st	Jan Lakeman	Labor–Progressive	251
						1st	Alex Herd	Labor–Progressive	119
						1st	G.V. Murdoch	Labor–Progressive	72

1952 and 1955 general elections

Year	Count	Candidate	Party	Votes	Year	Count	Candidate	Party	Votes
1955	2nd	Ernest Manning	Social Credit	9,568	1952	2nd	Ernest Manning	Social Credit	6,505
	2nd	James Harper Prowse	Liberal	9,569		2nd	James Harper Prowse	Liberal	6,505
	2nd	Abe Miller	Liberal	9,569		2nd	Elmer Roper	Cooperative Commonwealth	6,505
	2nd	Harold Tanner	Liberal	9,569		2nd	Joseph Donovan Ross	Social Credit	6,505
	2nd	Joseph Donovan Ross	Social Credit	9,483		2nd	Edgar Gerhart	Social Credit	5,895
	2nd	John P. Page	Conservative	9,224		2nd	John P. Page	Conservative	5,504
	2nd	Edgar Gerhart	Social Credit	9,121		2nd	Harold Tanner	Liberal	4,921
1955	1st	Ernest Manning	Social Credit	23,216	1952	1st	Ernest Manning	Social Credit	17,022
	1st	James Harper Prowse	Liberal	18,755		1st	James Harper Prowse	Liberal	7,264
	1st	Elmer Roper	Cooperative Commonwealth	4,444		1st	Elmer Roper	Cooperative Commonwealth	6,632
	1st	John P. Page	Conservative	4,086		1st	John P. Page	Conservative	2,212
	1st	Edgar Bailey	Liberal	2,971		1st	Joseph Donovan Ross	Social Credit	1,757
	1st	Andre Dechene	Liberal	2,877		1st	Ambrose A. Holowach	Social Credit	1,381
	1st	Abe Miller	Liberal	2,787		1st	Andre Milville Dechene	Liberal	1,340
	1st	Anthony Hylnka	Social Credit	1,896		1st	Peter Lazarowich	Liberal	1,136
	1st	J.L. Payment	Liberal	1,640		1st	Harry Carrigan	Social Credit	1,135
	1st	Harold Tanner	Liberal	1,604		1st	Stella Baker	Social Credit	1,126
	1st	Joseph Donovan Ross	Social Credit	1,575		1st	Marshall Manning	Conservative	1,060
	1st	Edgar Gerhart	Social Credit	1,320		1st	Harold Tanner	Liberal	875
	1st	Giffard Main	Conservative	1,064		1st	Williston Haszard	Social Credit	834
	1st	William Harasym	Labor–Progressive	947		1st	Bernard Swankey	Labor–Progressive	824
	1st	Robert Atkin	Cooperative Commonwealth	940		1st	Cora Casselman	Liberal	819
	1st	W.J.M. Henning	Social Credit	785		1st	Edger Gerhart	Social Credit	769
	1st	Gerard Amerongen	Conservative	692		1st	Robert Atkin	Cooperative Commonwealth	658
	1st	Cyril Harvard	Social Credit	602		1st	Laurette Douglas	Liberal	632
	1st	C.M. Hattersley	Social Credit	555		1st	Roy Jamha	Cooperative Commonwealth	619
	1st	Lois Grant	Liberal	552		1st	Arthur Thronton	Cooperative Commonwealth	612
	1st	R.F. Lambert	Conservative	548		1st	Duncan Innes	Liberal	608
	1st	Floyd Albin Johnson	Cooperative Commonwealth	458		1st	Floyd Albin Johnson	Cooperative Commonwealth	500
	1st	F.J. Mitchell	Conservative	405		1st	Marcel Lambert	Conservative	432
	1st	Mary Crawford	Cooperative Commonwealth	383		1st	Frederick Mitchell	Conservative	430
	1st	Ivor Dent	Cooperative Commonwealth	328		1st	Norman Finnemore	Cooperative Commonwealth	413
	1st	J.A.L. Smith	Conservative	299		1st	Winnifred Scott	Cooperative Commonwealth	383
	1st	Art Thompson	Cooperative Commonwealth	290		1st	Arnold Taylor	Conservative	272
	1st	Robert Brower	Conservative	221		1st	John A.L. Smith	Conservative	189
	1st	H.M. Smith	Cooperative Commonwealth	221		1st	Edward Sturrock	Conservative	105
	1st	C.E. Payne	Independent	127

By-Elections

Party	1937	1936	1931	1924	1912
Liberal	Edward Leslie Gray 17,788	W. Morrish 9,863	John C. Bowen 2,934	William Thomas Henry 4,640	Charles Wilson Cross 1,802
Conservative			Frederick Jamieson 8,026	Albert Ewing 4,238	Albert Ewing 1,733
Labour			Elmer Roper 5,583	H.M. Bartholomew 4,118
People's Candidate	Joseph Clarke 10,000
Socialist					Joseph R. Knight 183
Soldier Representative	W. Griffen 3,389
Communist	Jan Lakeman 1,779		Jan Lakeman 813
Unity		Margaret Crang 6,129
Cooperative Commonwealth		Harry Dean Ainlay 2,056
Progressive Labour	Margaret Crang 1,275
Independent	Rice Sheppard 257			G.V. Pelton 1,131

Plebiscite results

1948 Electrification Plebiscite

District results from the first province wide plebiscite on electricity regulation.

Option A	Option B
Are you in favour of the generation and distribution of electricity being continued by the Power Companies?	Are you in favour of the generation and distribution of electricity being made a publicly owned utility administered by the Alberta Government Power Commission?
22,351 50.99%	21,478 49.01%
Province wide result: Option A passed.

1957 liquor plebiscite

Question A: Do you approve additional types of outlets for the sale of beer, wine and spirituous liquor subject to a local vote?
1957 Alberta liquor plebiscite results: Edmonton^[3]
Ballot Choice		Votes	%
	Yes	46,219	71.98%
	No	17,994	28.02%
Total Votes		64,213	100%
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined		75
127,279 Eligible Electors, Turnout 50.94%
Question B2: Should mixed drinking be allowed in beer parlours in Edmonton and the surrounding areas?
Ballot Choice		Votes	%
	Yes	48,645	75.85%
	No	15,485	24.15%
Total Votes		64,134	100%
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined		622
127,279 Eligible Electors, Turnout 50.88%

On October 30, 1957 a stand-alone plebiscite was held province wide in all 50 of the then current provincial electoral districts in Alberta. 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.^[4]

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 woman were allowed to drink together in establishments.^[3] Question B was slightly modified depending on which city the voters were in.^[3]

Province wide Question A of the plebiscite passed in 33 of the 50 districts while Question B passed in all five districts. Edmonton voted overwhelmingly in favor of the plebiscite. The district recorded slightly above average voter turnout almost just over the province wide 46% average with over half of eligible voters casting a ballot.^[3]

Edmonton also voted on Question B2. Residents voted for mixed drinking with a super majority. Turnout for question B. Turnout for Question B was slightly lower and than Question A.^[3]

Official district returns were released to the public on December 31, 1957.^[3] The Social Credit government in power at the time did not considered the results binding.^[5] However the results of the vote led the government to repeal all existing liquor legislation and introduce an entirely new Liquor Act.^[6]

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 that wanted a license had to petition for a binding municipal plebiscite in order to be granted a license.^[7]

References

↑ "Edmonton Official Results 1905 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
↑ "C.C.F. Candidate Wins By-Election at Edmonton Tuesday". Red Deer Advocate. September 23, 1942. p. 1.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Alberta Gazette. 53 (December 31 ed.). Government of Alberta. 1957. pp. 2,247–2,249.
↑ "Albertans Vote 2 to 1 For More Liquor Outlets". Vol L No 273. The Lethbridge Herald. October 31, 1957. pp. 1–2.
↑ "No Sudden Change In Alberta Drinking Habits Is Seen". Vol L No 267. The Lethbridge Herald. October 24, 1957. p. 1.
↑ "Entirely New Act On Liquor". Vol LI No 72. The Lethbridge Herald. March 5, 1968. p. 1.
↑ "Bill 81". Alberta Bills 12th Legislature 1st Session. Government of Alberta. 1958. p. 40.

External links

Website of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta

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