District created 2003 Last contested 2015 | First contested 2004 | |
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MLA Rick StrankmanWildrose | ||
Drumheller-Stettler is a provincial electoral district (riding) in Alberta, Canada. The electoral district is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The district was created in the 2003 boundary redistribution and came into force in 2004 from the old districts of Drumheller-Chinook and Lacombe-Stettler.
Contents
The district is named after the towns of Drumheller and Stettler and covers a large rural portion of central east Alberta. It also contains the towns of Cereal, Consort, Hanna, Oyen and Youngstown and Dinosaur Provincial Park.
The district and its antecedents have been strongholds for Progressive Conservative candidates in recent decades. The current representative in the district is Wildrose Party member Rick Strankman, who was first elected in a provincial election on April 23, 2012. Mr. Strankman won his seat from Progressive Conservative Jack Hayden, who was first elected in a by-election on June 12, 2007. Before Hayden, Deputy Premier Shirley McClellan represented the riding as its first elected member in 2004.
History
The electoral district was created in the 2003 boundary redistribution after parts of Drumheller-Chinook and Lacombe-Stettler were merged. The 2010 redistribution saw Paintearth County transferred to this division from Battle River-Wainwright.
Electoral history
The riding was created when the writ was dropped for the 2004 Alberta general election as a merger between Drumheller-Chinook and the eastern half of the Lacombe-Stettler riding.
The 2004 provincial election saw Deputy Premier Shirley McClellan, formerly from Drumheller-Chinook win re-election here. She defeated five other candidates to pick up the new district.
McClellan resigned her seat in the legislature on January 15, 2007, the same day that former premier Ralph Klein resigned his seat in Calgary-Elbow. By-elections for both electoral districts were called held on June 12, 2007.
The by-election saw a significant shift in support for the opposition parties with the re-emergence of the Liberal party who didn't run a candidate in 2004 to take second place. The Alberta Alliance and NDP fared the worst, both retaining the same candidates from the general election dropping from second and third to fifth and last respectively. The Progressive Conservative candidate Jack Hayden won the district by holding his party's vote from the last election with a slightly reduced percentage. Social Credit made surprising gains jumping from last to third place, and Independent candidate John Rew also made a strong showing.
Hayden won his second term in the 2008 general election winning a landslide. He was appointed to the cabinet by Premier Ed Stelmach after the election.
2004 Senate nominee election district results
Voters had the option of selecting 4 Candidates on the Ballot
2004 election
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.