Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche is a current provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district will be 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. It was contested for the first time in the 2019 Alberta election.
 Alberta electoral district | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche within Alberta (2017 boundaries) | |||
| Provincial electoral district | |||
| Legislature | Legislative Assembly of Alberta | ||
| MLA |
United Conservative | ||
| District created | 2017 | ||
| First contested | 2019 | ||
| Last contested | 2023 | ||
| Demographics | |||
| Population (2016)[1] | 44,166 | ||
| Area (km²) | 32,317 | ||
| Pop. density (per km²) | 1.4 | ||
| Census division(s) | Division No. 12, Division No. 13, Division No. 16 | ||
| Census subdivision(s) | Athabasca County, Beaver Lake 131, Gregoire Lake 176, Heart Lake 167, Janvier 194, Lac la Biche County, Smoky Lake County, White Fish Lake 128, Wood Buffalo | ||
Geography edit
The district is located in northeastern Alberta and is named for its main communities: it includes all of Lac La Biche County and the southern half of Fort McMurray (Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo). It also contains two reserves belonging to the Fort McMurray First Nation (Clearwater 175 and Gregoire Lake 176), all three reserves of the Chipewyan Prairie First Nation, the Heart Lake First Nation (on Heart Lake 167), the main reserve of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Beaver Lake 131, and one of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation's reserves (Whitefish Lake 128). Major transportation routes include Alberta Highways 36 (Veterans Memorial Highway), 55 (Northern Woods and Water Route), 63, and 881.
History edit
| Members of the Legislative Assembly for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assembly | Years | Member | Party | |
| Riding created from Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills, Fort McMurray-Conklin, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo and Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater |
||||
| 30th | 2019–2021 | Laila Goodridge | United Conservative | |
| 30th | 2022–Present | Brian Jean | United Conservative | |
The district was created in 2017 when the Electoral Boundaries Commission recommended abolishing Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills and extending the border of Fort McMurray-Conklin southward, renaming it in the process. The new district differs from the historical Lac La Biche-McMurray district in that it does not contain the whole of Fort McMurray. Its northern boundary is formed by the Athabasca River, Thickwood Boulevard within Fort McMurray, and the Clearwater River.[2]
In 2019, the district elected United Conservative MLA Laila Goodridge who had previously been elected to Fort McMurray-Conklin in the July 12, 2018 by-election following the resignation of Brian Jean on March 5, 2018.[3] Goodridge had previously stood as a Wildrose candidate for Grande Prairie-Wapiti in the 2015 Alberta general election, placing third behind PC Wayne Drysdale and NDP candidate Mary Dahr. The 2019 election was in many ways a rematch of the 2018 by-election with Goodridge once again defeating Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo councillor and NDP candidate Jane Stroud, this time by 6,231 votes.[4]
In August 2021 Goodridge resigned as MLA to successfully run as the Conservative Party's MP candidate in Fort McMurray—Cold Lake MP in the 2021 Canadian federal election. A provincial by-election was then held in March 2022, making Brian Jean the new MLA.
Electoral results edit
2023 edit
| 2023 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| United Conservative | Brian Jean | 7,692 | 73.57 | +9.93 | ||||
| New Democratic | Calan William Simeon Hobbs | 2,561 | 24.50 | +5.99 | ||||
| Independent | Kdmkevin Johnston | 202 | 1.93 | – | ||||
| Total | 10,455 | 99.33 | – | |||||
| Rejected and declined | 70 | 0.67 | ||||||
| Turnout | 10,525 | 42.90 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 24,536 | |||||||
| United Conservative hold | Swing | +3.63 | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Elections Alberta[5] | ||||||||
2022 by-election edit
| Alberta provincial by-election, 15 March 2022 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| United Conservative | Brian Jean | 3,717 | 63.64 | -2.69 | ||||
| New Democratic | Ariana Mancini | 1,081 | 18.51 | -6.01 | ||||
| Wildrose Independence | Paul Hinman | 628 | 10.75 | – | ||||
| Liberal | Abdulhakim Hussein | 211 | 3.61 | – | ||||
| Alberta Party | Michelle Landsiedel | 98 | 1.68 | -4.10 | ||||
| Independent | Brian Deheer | 57 | 0.98 | –0.58 | ||||
| Alberta Advantage Party | Marilyn Burns | 25 | 0.43 | – | ||||
| Alberta Independence | Steven Mellott | 24 | 0.41 | -1.42 | ||||
| Total valid votes | 5,841 | 99.39 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 36 | 0.61 | -0.02 | |||||
| Turnout | 5,877 | 23.99 | -34.26 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 24,501 | |||||||
| United Conservative hold | Swing | +1.66 | ||||||
2019 edit
| 2019 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| United Conservative | Laila Goodridge | 9,836 | 66.33 | +2.63 | ||||
| New Democratic | Jane Stroud | 3,635 | 24.51 | -8.79 | ||||
| Alberta Party | Jeff Fafard | 857 | 5.78 | – | ||||
| Alberta Independence | Mark Grinder | 271 | 1.83 | – | ||||
| Green | Brian Deheer | 230 | 1.55 | +0.45 | ||||
| Total | 14,829 | 99.36 | – | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 95 | 0.64 | – | |||||
| Eligible electors / turnout | 25,622 | 58.25 | – | |||||
| United Conservative notional hold | Swing | 5.73 | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: "60 - Fort Mcmurray-Lac La Biche, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume II (PDF) (Report). Vol. 2. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 269–274. ISBN 978-1-988620-12-1. Retrieved April 7, 2021. Change is based on re-distributed results from the 2015 Alberta general election. | ||||||||
2015 edit
| Redistributed results, 2015 Alberta election[citation needed] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | ||
| Wildrose | 4,910 | 42.59% | ||
| New Democratic | 3,833 | 33.25% | ||
| Progressive Conservative | 2,433 | 21.10% | ||
| Others | 353 | 3.06% | ||
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Statistics Canada: 2016
- ^ Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (October 2017). "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 978-1-988620-04-6. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ McDermott, Vincent (July 13, 2018). "United Conservatives win Alberta byelections". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
- ^ Walsh, Melanie (February 19, 2019). "NDP choose Jane Stroud and Steve Drover as provincial candidates". MyMcMurray. Rogers Digital Media. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
- ^ "60 - Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
External links edit