Grande Prairie (provincial electoral district)

Grande Prairie was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. It was mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1930 to 1993.

Boundary history

The riding was created out of the southern half of Peace River in 1930, and reduced in size for the 1940 election when its northern area was transferred to the new district of Spirit River. In 1986, the district was further reduced to the city of Grande Prairie and rural areas to its west and south. The riding was abolished in 1993, with the northern half of the city transferred to the new district of Grande Prairie-Smoky, and the remainder becoming Grande Prairie-Wapiti.

Representation history

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Grande Prairie
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
See Peace River 1905-1930
7th	1930 - 1935		Hugh Allen	United Farmers
8th	1935 - 1940		William Sharpe	Social Credit
9th	1940 - 1944		Lewis O'Brien	Unity Movement
10th	1944 - 1948		Ira McLaughlin	Social Credit
11th	1948 - 1952
12th	1952 - 1955
13th	1955 - 1959
14th	1959 - 1963
15th	1963 - 1967
16th	1967 - 1971
17th	1971 - 1975		Winston Backus	Progressive Conservative
18th	1975 - 1979
19th	1979 - 1982	Elmer Borstad
20th	1982 - 1986	Bob Elliott
21st	1986 - 1989
22nd	1989 - 1993
See Grande Prairie-Smoky and Grande Prairie-Wapiti after 1993

When the district of Peace River was split in 1930, incumbent MLA Hugh Allen chose to run in the new district of Grande Prairie. Since no other candidates challenged him, no election was held, and he was acclaimed.

In 1935, Allen finished third, and Social Credit candidate William Sharpe picked the district up as part of their province-wide sweep. However, he would serve only one term as MLA.

In 1940, the traditional parties attempted to defeat Social Credit by running joint candidates as independents in what became known as the Unity Movement. Their candidate in Grande Prairie, Lewis O'Brien, defeated Sharpe on the second count. He, too, would serve only one term as MLA, and did not run for re-election. O'Brien was the only opposition member ever elected in Grande Prairie, making the riding something of a bellwether while it existed.

Social Credit took Grande Prairie back in the 1944 election, with candidate Ira McLaughlin easily cruising to victory. He was re-elected six more times, serving as MLA until 1971.

Progressive Conservative candidate Winston Backus won Grande Prairie in 1971. The PCs held the riding until it was abolished, but Backus served only two terms, retiring in 1979. The next PC candidate, Elmer Borstad, served only one term.

The riding's final MLA was Bob Elliott, who became MLA in 1982 and served three terms, until Grande Prairie was split in 1993.

Election results

1930s

Alberta general election, 1930
Party		Candidate	Votes[1]
	United Farmers	Hugh Allen	Acclaimed
Total valid votes			0
	United Farmers pickup new district.

Alberta general election, 1935
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Social Credit	William Sharpe	2,741	37.04%
	Liberal	W.J. Thomson	2,387	32.25%
	United Farmers	Hugh Allen	1,809	24.44%
	Conservative	J.S. McKenzie	464	6.27%
Final count
	Social Credit	William Sharpe	3,142	50.65%	+13.61%
	Liberal	W.J. Thomson	3,061	49.35%	+17.10%
	No second/third preference		1,198
Total valid votes			7,401
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			401
Electors / Turnout			10,317	75.62%
	Social Credit gain from United Farmers		Swing		-

Final count swing reflects increase in vote share from the first count.

1940s

Alberta general election, 1940
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Independent Movement	Lewis O'Brien	1,998	47.26%
	Social Credit	William Sharpe	1,556	36.80%	-0.24%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William Rigby	674	15.94%
Second count
	Independent Movement	Lewis O'Brien	2,233	55.59%	+8.33%
	Social Credit	William Sharpe	1,784	44.41%	+7.61%
	No second preference		211
Total valid votes			4,228
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			226
Electors / Turnout			6,328	70.39%	-5.23%
	Independent Movement gain from Social Credit		Swing		+23.75%

Alberta general election, 1944
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Social Credit	Ira McLaughlin	2,366	55.93%	+19.13%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William Rigby	1,128	26.67%	+10.73%
	Independent	D.W. Patterson	736	17.40%
Total valid votes			4,230
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			-
Electors / Turnout			-	-
	Social Credit gain from Independent Movement		Swing		+4.20%

Alberta general election, 1948
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Social Credit	Ira McLaughlin	2,952	62.29%	+6.36%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Leslie Harris	1,019	21.50%	-5.17%
	Liberal	Patrick Croken	768	16.21%
Total valid votes			4,739
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			373
Electors / Turnout			7,468	68.45%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		+5.77%

1950s

Alberta general election, 1952
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Social Credit	Ira McLaughlin	2,967	61.76%	-0.53%
	Liberal	John Cox	935	19.46%	+3.25%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Percy Johnson	902	18.78%	-2.72%
Total valid votes			4,804
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			356
Electors / Turnout			7,886	65.43%	-3.02%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-1.89%

Alberta general election, 1955
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Social Credit	Ira McLaughlin	3,240	57.49%	-4.27%
	Liberal	Mary Gray	1,481	26.28%	+6.82%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	James Hughson	538	9.55%	-9.23%
	Conservative	Paul Galway	377	6.69%
Total valid votes			5,636
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			482
Electors / Turnout			9,694	70.77%	+4.57%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-5.55%

In 1959, Alberta abandoned instant runoff voting in rural districts, instead electing MLAs by the first past the post method. Although a second round had not been needed in Grande Prairie since 1940, this change is evident in the dramatic drop in rejected (incorrectly marked) ballots.

Alberta general election, 1959
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Social Credit	Ira McLaughlin	4,213	65.62%	+8.13%
	Progressive Conservative	David Williamson	1,391	21.67%	+14.98%
	Liberal	Mac Perkins	816	12.71%	-13.57
Total valid votes			6,420
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			19
Electors / Turnout			9,694	66.42%	-4.35%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-3.43%

1960s

Alberta general election, 1963
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Social Credit	Ira McLaughlin	4,763	73.03%	+7.41%
	Liberal	Ed Kimpe	997	15.29%	+2.58%
	New Democratic	Charles Evaskevich	762	11.68%
Total valid votes			6,522
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			8
Electors / Turnout			11,368	57.44%	-8.98%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		+2.42%

Alberta general election, 1967
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Social Credit	Ira McLaughlin	4,847	55.54%	-17.49%
	New Democratic	Alan Bush	2,748	31.49%	+19.81%
	Liberal	George Repka	1,132	12.97%	-2.32%
Total valid votes			8,727
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			25
Electors / Turnout			12,666	69.10%	+11.66%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-18.65%

1970s

Alberta general election, 1971
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Progressive Conservative	Winston Backus	4,553	42.76%
	Social Credit	William Bowes	4,104	38.54%	-17.00%
	New Democratic	Arthur Macklin	1,992	18.71%	-12.78%
Total valid votes			10,649
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			32
Electors / Turnout			14,157	75.45%	+6.35%
	Progressive Conservative gain from Social Credit		Swing		+29.88%

Alberta general election, 1975
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Progressive Conservative	Winston Backus	6,466	61.27%	+18.51%
	New Democratic	Ross Campbell	1,962	18.59%	-0.12%
	Social Credit	John Baergen	1,475	13.98%	-24.56%
	Liberal	Gordon Astle	651	6.17%
Total valid votes			10,554
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			32
Electors / Turnout			16,615	63.71%	-11.74%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+9.32%

Alberta general election, 1979
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Progressive Conservative	Elmer Borstad	6,313	50.26%	-11.01%
	Social Credit	Donald Wood	3,380	26.91%	+12.93%
	New Democratic	Ross Campbell	2,266	18.04%	-0.55%
	Liberal	Helen Rice	601	4.79%	-1.38%
Total valid votes			12,560
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			5
Electors / Turnout			20,718	60.79%	-2.92%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-11.97%

1980s

Alberta general election, 1982
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Progressive Conservative	Bob Elliott	9,555	58.22%	+7.96%
	New Democratic	Bernie Desrosiers	3,280	19.98%	+1.94%
	Western Canada Concept	Jack Smith	2,249	13.70%
	Independent	Jake Paetkau	504	3.07%
	Social Credit	Roy Housworth	494	3.01%	-23.90%
	Liberal	Colin Nash	331	2.02%	-2.77%
Total valid votes			16,413
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			31
Electors / Turnout			24,639	66.74%	+5.95%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+3.01%

Alberta general election, 1986
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Progressive Conservative	Bob Elliott	6,239	61.58%	+3.36%
	New Democratic	Bernie Desrosiers	3,095	30.55%	+10.57%
	Representative	Andy Haugen	557	5.50%
	Independent	Roy Housworth	240	2.37%
Total valid votes			10,131
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			26
Electors / Turnout			22,209	45.73%	-21.01%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-3.61%

Alberta general election, 1989
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Progressive Conservative	Bob Elliott	5,319	52.62%	-8.96%
	New Democratic	Evelyn Vardalas	2,696	26.67%	-3.88%
	Liberal	Irv Macklin	1,611	15.94%
	Social Credit	Murray Gauvreau	482	4.77%
Total valid votes			10,108
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			20
Electors / Turnout			22,850	44.32%	-1.41%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-2.54%

Plebiscite results

1957 liquor plebiscite

1957 Alberta liquor plebiscite results: Grande Prairie[2]
Question A: Do you approve additional types of outlets for the sale of beer, wine and spirituous liquor subject to a local vote?
Ballot Choice		Votes	%
	Yes	1,462	58.57%
	No	1,034	41.43%
Total Votes		2,496	100%
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined		9
8,907 Eligible Electors, Turnout 28.12%

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.^[3]

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.^[2]

Province wide Question A of the plebiscite passed in 33 of the 50 districts while Question B passed in all five districts. Grande Prairie voted in favour of the proposal by a solid majority. Voter turnout in the district was abysmal, and one of the lowest districts in the province falling well under the province wide average of 46%.^[2]

Official district returns were released to the public on December 31, 1957.^[2] The Social Credit government in power at the time did not considered the results binding.^[4] However the results of the vote led the government to repeal all existing liquor legislation and introduce an entirely new Liquor Act.^[5]

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.^[6]

References

1. "Alberta Heritage Foundation: Grande Prairie Results". Retrieved 2016-08-28.
2. Alberta Gazette. 53 (December 31 ed.). Government of Alberta. 1957. pp. 2,247–2,249.
3. "Albertans Vote 2 to 1 For More Liquor Outlets". Vol L No 273. The Lethbridge Herald. October 31, 1957. pp. 1–2.
4. "No Sudden Change In Alberta Drinking Habits Is Seen". Vol L No 267. The Lethbridge Herald. October 24, 1957. p. 1.
5. "Entirely New Act On Liquor". Vol LI No 72. The Lethbridge Herald. March 5, 1958. p. 1.
6. "Bill 81". Alberta Bills 12th Legislature 1st Session. Government of Alberta. 1958. p. 40.