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

Districts

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

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

Election results

1905 general election

1909 and 1913 general elections

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

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

1944 and 1948 general elections

1952 and 1955 general elections

By-Elections

Plebiscite results

1948 Electrification Plebiscite

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

1957 liquor plebiscite

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

External links

• Website of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta