Stony Plain (electoral district)

History

The electoral district of Stony Plain originally styled Stonyplain has existed since the province of Alberta was created in 1905. The riding was renamed to Stony Plain in 1909 and has kept that name since. The original boundaries of the riding took it to the British Columbia from Edmonton city limits but it has since shrunk to a fraction of its original size.

The 2010 boundary redistribution saw the riding transfer land north of Alberta Highway 16 to the electoral district of Whitecourt-Ste. Anne.

Electoral history

The electoral district of Stony Plain was created when the province was first formed in 1905. It is one of only a couple districts to survive intact for every boundary redistribution.

The first election in 1905 saw a three way battle which was handily won by Liberal candidate John McPherson. He was re-elected in 1909 and stood for a third term in 1913 before being defeated by Conservative party candidate Conrad Weidenhammer.

Weidenhammer only represented the district before retiring in 1917. Conservative Frederick Lundy won a tight race to hold the district. He ran for a second term in the 1921 election but was defeated by United Farmers candidate Willard Washburn in a landslide.

Washburn held the district for two terms before retiring in 1930. The United Farmers ran candidate Donald Macleod who held the district in a tight race over Liberal candidate George Bryan. Macleod was defeated in 1935 finished a very distant third place to Social Credit candidate William Hayes.

Hayes died on April 2, 1939 vacating his seat. The vacancy would not be filled before the 1940 election. Cornelia Wood was nominated to be the Social Credit candidate, she won the district for her party in a tight race that went to ballot transfers. Wood was re-elected for three terms before being defeated by Liberal candidate John McLaughlin in 1955. McLaughlin would be defeated by Wood again in 1959. The two ran against each other twice more with Wood coming up the winner each time.

Wood lost her nomination race to run as the Social Credit candidate again in the 1967 general election to Ralph Jespersen. She later left the Social Credit caucus on April 24, 1967 to run as an Independent Social Credit candidate. She would be defeated finishing a distant fourth place in a landslide by Jespersen.

Jespersen would only last a single term in office before being defeated by William Purdy in the 1971 general election. Purdy was re-elected three more times before retiring at dissolution in 1986. His replacement in the legislature was Progressive Conservative candidate Jim Heron. Heron served a term in office before being defeated by New Democrat Stan Woloshyn.

Woloshyn only stayed with the NDP caucus for a few years before crossing the floor to the Progressive Conservative caucus on February 23, 1993. He ran for re-election as a Progressive Conservative that year and won. In 1996 Premier Ralph Klein appointed him to the provincial cabinet. He won re-election again in 1997 and 2001 before retiring in 2004.

Fred Lindsay replaced Woloshyn in 2004 as the Progressive Conservative MLA for the riding and was re-elected in 2008. Former mayor Ken Lemke retained the riding for the PCs in the 2012 election.

Stony Plain is currently represented by Erin Babcock who won the riding for the Alberta New Democratic Party in the 2015 election.

2004 Senate nominee election district results

Voters had the option of selecting 4 Candidates on the Ballot

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.

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.

Province wide Question A of the plebiscite passed in 33 of the 50 districts while Question B passed in all five districts. Stony Plain voted in favour of the proposal by a landslide majority. Voter turnout in the district was abysmal falling well under the province wide average of 46%.

Official district returns were released to the public on December 31, 1957. The Social Credit government in power at the time did not considered the results binding. However the results of the vote led the government to repeal all existing liquor legislation and introduce an entirely new Liquor Act.

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.

2004 Student Vote

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.