Grande Prairie-Smoky was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using first-past-the-post balloting from 1993 to 2019.

Grande Prairie-Smoky
Alberta electoral district
2004 boundaries
Defunct provincial electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of Alberta
District created1993
District abolished2019
First contested1993
Last contested2015

The riding was created in 1993 when from the Smoky River electoral district was expanded into the old Whitecourt electoral district. The district includes the north portion of the city of Grande Prairie as well as the towns of Fox Creek, Sexsmith and Valleyview.

History

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The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution from the electoral district of Smoky River and Whitecourt. It remained mostly unchanged in the 1997 and 2003 electoral boundary re-distributions. The Boundaries Commission proposed to abolish the district to create a completely urban Grande Prairie district but it changed its decision under public pressure.[1] The 2010 re-distribution made minor changes to the border with Grande Prairie-Wapiti in the city of Grande Prairie but stayed the same in the rural areas.[2]

Boundary history

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Representation history

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Members of the Legislative Assembly
for Grande Prairie-Smoky
Assembly Years Member Party
See Grande Prairie 1930-1993, Smoky River
1971-1993 and Whitecourt 1971-1993
23rd 1993–1997 Walter Paszkowski Progressive
Conservative
24th 1997–2001
25th 2001–2004 Mel Knight
26th 2004–2008
27th 2008–2012
28th 2012–2015 Everett McDonald
29th 2015–2017 Todd Loewen Wildrose
2017-2019 United Conservative
See Grande Prairie, Grande Prairie-Wapiti
and Central Peace-Notley 2019-

The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution primarily from the old Smoky River and Whitecourt riding's. The first election held that year saw Progressive Conservative Smoky River incumbent Walter Paszkowski win a comfortable majority to pick up the seat for his party. He ran for a second term winning a larger majority in the 1997 election. He retired from the legislature at dissolution in 2001.

The former representative was Progressive Conservative Mel Knight who won his first election in 2001 with a massive majority taking 67% of the popular vote. He was re-elected to his second term in the 2004 election with a very large, but reduced majority.

Premier Ed Stelmach appointed Mel Knight as Minister of Energy in 2006.[5] He won a slightly higher majority running for a third term in the 2008 general election. Knight was shuffled out of the Energy portfolio in 2010 and then served as the Minister of Sustainable Resource Development.

Upon his retirement, Everett McDonald kept the seat for the PCs at a reduced vote share in the 2012 election. In 2015, however, third-time candidate Todd Loewen finally captured the seat for Wildrose. He subsequently crossed the floor to the United Conservative Party when the two parties merged.

Legislative election results

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1993

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1993 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Walter Paszkowski 4,942 55.06%
Liberal John Croken 2,506 27.92%
New Democratic Christine Potts 1,199 13.36%
Confederation of Regions Herb Wohlgemuth 329 3.67%
Total 8,976
Rejected, spoiled, and declined 14
Eligible electors / turnout 16,434 54.70%
Progressive Conservative pickup new district.
Source(s)
Source: "Grande Prairie-Smoky Official Results 1993 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1997

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1997 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Walter Paszkowski 5,753 64.71% 9.65%
Liberal John A. Croken 1,995 22.44% -5.48%
New Democratic Linda Smith 1,143 12.86% -0.50%
Total 8,891
Rejected, spoiled and declined 30
Eligible electors / turnout 18,818 47.41% -7.30%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 7.56%
Source(s)
Source: "Grande Prairie-Smoky Official Results 1997 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2001

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2001 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Mel Knight 6,241 67.54% 2.84%
Liberal Barry Robinson 1,777 19.23% -3.21%
New Democratic Leon Pendleton 842 9.11% -3.74%
Alberta Independence Dennis Young 380 4.11%
Total 9,240
Rejected, spoiled and declined 5
Eligible electors / turnout 21,068 43.88% -3.53%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 3.02%
Source(s)
Source: "Grande Prairie-Smoky Official Results 2001 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2004

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2004 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Mel Knight 4,369 56.43% -11.12%
Liberal Neil Peacock 1,965 25.38% 6.15%
New Democratic Georgina Szoke 724 9.35% 0.24%
Alberta Alliance Hank Rahn 685 8.85%
Total 7,743
Rejected, spoiled and declined 25
Eligible electors / turnout 22,083 35.18% -8.71%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -8.63%
Source(s)
Source: "Grande Prairie-Smoky Statement of Official Results 2004 Alberta general election" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Retrieved March 27, 2010.

2008

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2008 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Mel Knight 4,769 59.43% 3.01%
Liberal John A. Croken 1,089 13.57% -11.81%
Wildrose Alliance Todd Loewen 1,049 13.07%
New Democratic Neil R.M. Peacock 832 10.37% 1.02%
Green Rebecca Villebrun 285 3.55%
Total 8,024
Rejected, spoiled and declined 31
Eligible electors / turnout 27,058 29.77% -5.41%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 7.41%

2012

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2012 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Everett McDonald 5,458 45.79% -13.64%
Wildrose Todd Loewen 4,912 41.21% 28.14%
New Democratic Mary Dahr 757 6.35% -4.02%
Liberal Kevin McLean 583 4.89% -8.68%
Independent Andrew Muise 209 1.75%
Total 11,919
Rejected, spoiled and declined 34
Eligible electors / turnout 28,126 42.50% 12.73%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -20.64%

2015

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2015 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Wildrose Todd Loewen 5,343 33.17% -8.04%
New Democratic Todd Russell 5,009 31.10% 24.75%
Progressive Conservative Everett McDonald 4,968 30.84% -14.95%
Liberal Kevin McLean 787 4.89% -0.01%
Total 16,107
Rejected, spoiled and declined 42
Eligible electors / turnout 32,930 49.04% 6.54%
Wildrose gain from Progressive Conservative Swing -1.25%

Senate nominee election results

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2004

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2004 Senate nominee election results: Grande Prairie-Smoky[6] Turnout 35.30%
Affiliation Candidate Votes % votes % ballots Rank
Progressive Conservative Cliff Breitkreuz 3,304 16.08% 50.85% 3
Progressive Conservative Betty Unger 2,831 13.77% 43.57% 2
Progressive Conservative Bert Brown 2,779 13.52% 42.77% 1
  Independent Link Byfield 2,124 10.34% 32.69% 4
Progressive Conservative David Usherwood 1,872 9.11% 28.81% 6
Progressive Conservative Jim Silye 1,775 8.64% 27.32% 5
Alberta Alliance Michael Roth 1,645 8.01% 25.32% 7
Alberta Alliance Gary Horan 1,492 7.26% 22.96% 10
Alberta Alliance Vance Gough 1,477 7.19% 22.73% 8
  Independent Tom Sindlinger 1,251 6.08% 19.26% 9
Total votes 20,550 100%
Total ballots 6,497 3.16 votes per ballot
Rejected, spoiled and declined 1,299

Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot

2012

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Student vote results

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2004

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Participating schools[7]
Grande Prairie Composite HS
Harry Balfour School
Harry Gray Elementary School
Hillside Jr-Sr High School
Peace Wapiti Academy
Sexsmith Secondary School
St. Marys School
St. Stephens

On November 19, 2004 a student vote was conducted at participating Alberta schools to parallel the 2004 Alberta general election results. The vote was designed to educate students and simulate the electoral process for persons who have not yet reached the legal majority. The vote was conducted in 80 of the 83 provincial electoral districts with students voting for actual election candidates. Schools with a large student body that reside in another electoral district had the option to vote for candidates outside of the electoral district then where they were physically located.

2004 Alberta student vote results[8]
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
Progressive Conservative Mel Knight 609 44.88%
  Liberal Neil Peacock 386 28.45%
  NDP Georgina Szoke 252 18.57%
Alberta Alliance Hank Rahn 110 8.10%
Total 1,357 100%
Rejected, spoiled and declined 54

2012

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2012 Alberta student vote results
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
Progressive Conservative Everett McDonald %
Wildrose Todd Loewen
  Liberal Kevin McLean %
  NDP Mary Dahr %
Total 100%

References

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  1. ^ Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (February 2003). "Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries, and Names for Alberta. Final Report to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta". Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  2. ^ Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (June 2010). "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. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  3. ^ Electoral Divisions Act, S.A. 2003, c. E-4.1
  4. ^ "Bill 28 Electoral Divisions Act" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. 2010.
  5. ^ "Stelmach names smaller cabinet". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. December 15, 2006. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  6. ^ "Senate Nominee Election 2004 Tabulation of Official Results" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
  7. ^ "School by School results". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  8. ^ "Riding by Riding Results - the Candidates". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved April 19, 2008.

Further reading

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55°22′44″N 118°19′23″W / 55.379°N 118.323°W / 55.379; -118.323