Brooks-Medicine Hat is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is 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 and is presently represented by Premier Danielle Smith.

Brooks-Medicine Hat
Alberta electoral district
Brooks-Medicine Hat within Alberta (2017 boundaries).
Provincial electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of Alberta
MLA
 
 
 
Danielle Smith
United Conservative
District created2017
First contested2019
Last contested2023
Demographics
Population (2016)[1]51,070
Area (km²)13,742
Pop. density (per km²)3.7
Census division(s)1, 2
Census subdivision(s)Bassano, Brooks, Cypress County, Duchess, Medicine Hat, Newell County, Redcliff, Rosemary

Geography edit

The district is located in southeastern Alberta, containing the entirety of Newell County and the northern portions of Cypress County and Medicine Hat. It is named for its two largest communities, Medicine Hat and Brooks, and also contains CFB Suffield. Within the city of Medicine Hat, its border with Cypress-Medicine Hat runs southeast along Highway 1, then northeast along Highway 41A until the railroad tracks, then east along the South Saskatchewan River.

History edit

Members for Brooks-Medicine Hat
Assembly Years Member Party
See Medicine Hat 1979–2019, Cypress-Medicine Hat
and Strathmore-Brooks 1997–2019
30th 2019–2022 Michaela Frey[a] UCP
2022–2023 Danielle Smith UCP
31st 2023

The district was created in 2017 when the Electoral Boundaries Commission endeavoured to reduce the number of ridings in southern Alberta, owing to slow population growth in the region.[2] The district was created from the eastern half of Strathmore-Brooks, the northern third of Cypress-Medicine Hat, and some of the northern neighbourhoods previously part of Medicine Hat.[2] Based on Statistics Canada information, in 2017, the Brooks-Medicine Hat electoral district had a population of 51,070, which was 9 per cent above the provincial average of 46,803 for a provincial electoral district.[2]

In the 2019 Alberta general election, United Conservative Party (UCP) candidate Michaela Frey[a] was elected with 61 per cent of the vote, defeating New Democratic Party candidate Lynn MacWilliam with 18 per cent of the vote and four other candidates. Independent candidate Todd Beasley was previously removed from the UCP constituency nomination contest by the party after making comments on social media describing Islam as an "evil cult".[3][4] On October 7, 2022, Frey resigned her seat in the Legislative Assembly to allow the newly elected leader of the United Conservative Party and premier, Danielle Smith, to seek a seat in legislature.[5] Smith was elected on November 8, 2022.[6]

Electoral results edit

2023 edit

2023 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
United Conservative Danielle Smith 13,315 66.49 +11.98
New Democratic Gwendoline Dirk 5,477 27.35 +0.61
Alberta Party Barry Morishita 1,233 6.16 -10.37
Total 20,025 99.54
Rejected and declined 92 0.46
Turnout 20,117 56.85
Eligible voters 35,385
United Conservative hold Swing -1.82
Source(s)

2022 by-election edit

Alberta provincial by-election, 8 November 2022
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
United Conservative Danielle Smith 6,919 54.51 -6.15
New Democratic Gwendoline Dirk 3,394 26.74 +8.85
Alberta Party Barry Morishita 2,098 16.53 +9.60
Alberta Independence Bob Blayone 225 1.77 +0.80
Wildrose Independence Jeevan Mangat 56 0.44
Total valid votes 12,692
Total rejected ballots 45
Turnout 12,695 35.51 -30.27
Eligible voters 35,872
United Conservative hold Swing -7.48
Source(s)

2019 edit

2019 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
United Conservative Michaela Glasgo 13,606 60.66 -11.42 $57,924
New Democratic Lynn MacWilliam 4,012 17.89 -5.33 $16,573
Independent Todd Beasley 2,759 12.30 $36,347
Alberta Party Jim Black 1,554 6.93 +4.30 $10,750
Liberal Jamah Bashir Farah 281 1.25 +0.05 $500
Alberta Independence Collin Pacholek 218 0.97 $1,751
Total 22,430 99.53
Rejected, spoiled and declined 105 0.47
Turnout 22,535 65.78
Eligible electors 34,257
United Conservative notional hold Swing -3.05
Source(s)
Source: Elections Alberta[9][10][11]
Note: Expenses is the sum of "Election Expenses", "Other Expenses" and "Transfers Issued". The Elections Act limits "Election Expenses" to $50,000.
United Conservative Party change is calculated from combined Wildrose and Progressive Conservative totals.

2015 edit

Redistributed results, 2015 Alberta election
Wildrose 8,886 48.40
Progressive Conservative 4,348 23.68
New Democratic 4,263 23.22
Alberta Party 482 2.63
Liberal 220 1.20
Green 82 0.45
Others 78 0.42

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b elected as Michaela Glasgo

References edit

  1. ^ Statistics Canada: 2016
  2. ^ a b c 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) (Report). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-1-988620-04-6. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 4, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  3. ^ Ward, Rachel (July 16, 2018). "Disqualified UCP candidate stands behind calling Islam an 'evil cult'". CBC News.
  4. ^ Gallant, Collin (March 13, 2019). "Shunned by UCP, Beasley to run as independent". Medicine Hat News.
  5. ^ White, Ryan (October 7, 2022). "Brooks-Medicine Hat UCP MLA tenders resignation, encourages Smith to run". CTV News. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  6. ^ Herring, Jason (November 9, 2022). "Premier Danielle Smith wins byelection that gives her seat in Alberta legislature". National Post. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  7. ^ "52 - Brooks-Medicine Hat". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  8. ^ "By-Election November 8, 2022 - 52 - Brooks-Medicine Hat". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  9. ^ "52 - Brooks-Medicine Hat, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  10. ^ 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. 218–224. ISBN 978-1-988620-12-1. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  11. ^ Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume III Election Finances (PDF) (Report). Vol. 3. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 68–82. ISBN 978-1-988620-13-8. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Preceded by Constituency represented by the premier of Alberta
2022-present
Incumbent