Wainwright (provincial electoral district)

Wainwright was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1913 to 2004.[1]

Wainwright

Alberta electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Alberta
District created	1913
District abolished	2004
First contested	1913
Last contested	2002

History

Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs)

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Wainwright
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
See Alexandra electoral district from 1909-1913 and Vermilion electoral district from 1905-1913
3rd	1913–1917		George LeRoy Hudson	Conservative
4th	1917–1921
5th	1921–1926		John Russell Love	United Farmers
6th	1926–1930
7th	1930–1935
8th	1935–1940		William Masson	Social Credit
9th	1940–1944
10th	1944–1948
11th	1948–1952
12th	1952–1955
13th	1955–1959		Henry A. Ruste
14th	1959–1963
15th	1963–1967
16th	1967–1971
17th	1971–1975
18th	1975–1979		Charles Stewart	Progressive Conservative
19th	1979–1982
20th	1982–1986		Butch Fischer
21st	1986–1989
22nd	1989–1993
23rd	1993–1997
24th	1997–2001
25th	2001–2002
	2002–2004		Doug Griffiths
See Battle River-Wainwright electoral district from 2004-2019

Election results

1913 general election

1913 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George LeRoy Hudson	711	53.62%	–
	Liberal	Henry Yale Pawling	615	46.38%	–
Total			1,326	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			2,082	63.69%	–
	Conservative pickup new district.
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1913 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1917 general election

1917 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George LeRoy Hudson	Acclaimed	–	–
Total			N/A	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			N/A	N/A	–
	Conservative hold		Swing		N/A
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1917 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1921 general election

1921 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Farmers	John Russell Love	1,877	57.77%	–
	Liberal	Harcus Strachan	913	28.10%	–
	Conservative	George LeRoy Hudson	459	14.13%	–
Total			3,249	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			3,273	99.27%	–
	United Farmers gain from Conservative		Swing		N/A
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1921 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1926 general election

1926 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Farmers	John Russell Love	1,609	61.27%	3.50%
	Conservative	George LeRoy Hudson	1,017	38.73%	24.60%
Total			2,626	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			139	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			3,896	70.97%	-28.30%
	United Farmers hold		Swing		-3.56%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1926 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1930 general election

1930 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	±%
	United Farmers	John Russell Love	1,446	46.63%	1,564	-14.64%
	Independent	Ernest A. Pitman	1,005	32.41%	1,254	–
	Liberal	Stephen R. Bowerman	650	20.96%	–	–
Total			3,101	–	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			144	–	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			4,333	74.89%	3.92%	–
	United Farmers hold		Swing		-4.16%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1930 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Instant-runoff voting requires a candidate to receive a plurality (greater than 50%) of the votes. As no candidate received a plurality of votes, the bottom candidate was eliminated and their 2nd place votes were applied to both other candidates until one received a plurality.

1935 general election

1935 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	William Masson	2,382	54.88%	–
	Liberal	Peter Milne	953	21.96%	1.00%
	United Farmers	H. L. Coursier	811	18.69%	-27.94%
	Conservative	Robert Smallwood	194	4.47%	–
Total			4,340	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			5,191	83.61%	8.72%
	Social Credit gain from United Farmers		Swing		9.35%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1935 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1940 general election

1940 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	±%
	Social Credit	William Masson	2,296	43.23%	2,583	-11.65%
	Independent	N. P. Strachan	1,611	30.33%	2,169	–
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Kenneth S. Tory	1,039	19.56%	–	–
	Independent Progressive	Albert Lester Blue	365	6.87%	–	–
Total			5,311	–	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			189	–	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			7,201	76.38%	-7.23%	–
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-10.01%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1940 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Instant-runoff voting requires a candidate to receive a plurality (greater than 50%) of the votes. As no candidate received a plurality of votes, the bottom candidate was eliminated and their 2nd place votes were applied to both other candidates until one received a plurality.

1944 general election

1944 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	William Masson	2,939	65.71%	22.47%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	M. D. Meade	1,300	29.06%	9.50%
	Labor–Progressive	R. Garneau	234	5.23%	–
Total			4,473	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			92	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			6,448	70.80%	-5.58%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		11.87%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1944 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1948 general election

1948 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	William Masson	2,877	62.58%	-3.12%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Stewart Wright	887	19.30%	-9.77%
	Liberal	John Alexander Kelly	833	18.12%	–
Total			4,597	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			314	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			6,979	70.37%	-0.43%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		3.32%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1948 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1952 general election

1952 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	William Masson	2,578	58.75%	-3.83%
	Liberal	John Davidson	1,105	25.18%	7.06%
	Independent	Kenneth S. Tory	705	16.07%	–
Total			4,388	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			301	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			5,443	86.15%	15.78%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-4.86%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1952 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1955 general election

1955 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Henry A. Ruste	2,637	54.86%	-3.89%
	Liberal	John M. Saville	1,537	31.97%	6.79%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	James Jackson	570	11.86%	–
	Labor–Progressive	E. P. Taylor	63	1.31%	–
Total			4,807	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			548	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			7,434	72.03%	-14.11%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-5.34%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1955 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1959 general election

1959 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Henry A. Ruste	3,465	72.28%	17.42%
	Progressive Conservative	Donald Mills	668	13.93%	–
	Liberal	Henry D. Frizzell	387	8.07%	–
	Co-operative Commonwealth	John Wesley Connelly	274	5.72%	-6.14%
Total			4,794	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			10	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			7,283	65.96%	-6.07%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		17.73%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1959 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1963 general election

1963 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Henry A. Ruste	3,465	76.66%	4.38%
	Liberal	John M. Saville	668	14.78%	-6.71%
	New Democratic	John Wesley Connelly	387	8.56%	2.82%
Total			4,520	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			24	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			7,284	62.38%	-3.58%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		1.77%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1963 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1967 general election

1967 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Henry A. Ruste	3,807	82.83%	6.17%
	New Democratic	Glenn Valleau	789	17.17%	8.61%
Total			4,596	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			38	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			7,307	63.42%	1.04%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		1.89%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1967 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1971 general election

1971 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Henry A. Ruste	3,311	63.38%	-19.45%
	Progressive Conservative	Clifford Smallwood	1,366	26.15%	–
	New Democratic	Gary Luciow	547	10.47%	-6.70%
Total			5,224	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			28	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			7,272	72.22%	8.80%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-14.22%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1971 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1975 general election

1975 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Charles Stewart	3,039	59.00%	32.85%
	Social Credit	Bev Penman	1,616	31.37%	-32.01%
	New Democratic	Harold Tangen	496	9.63%	-0.84%
Total			5,151	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			8	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			7,291	70.76%	-1.46%
	Progressive Conservative gain from Social Credit		Swing		-4.80%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1975 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1979 general election

1979 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Charles Stewart	3,489	56.47%	-2.52%
	Social Credit	Keith Cornish	2,103	34.04%	2.67%
	New Democratic	Alan Richards	509	8.24%	-1.39%
	Liberal	Sultan Tejani	77	1.25%	–
Total			6,178	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			8,660	71.34%	0.58%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-2.60%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1979 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1982 general election

1982 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Robert A. (Butch) Fischer	4,589	61.78%	5.31%
	Western Canada Concept	Bill Veitch	2,145	28.88%	–
	New Democratic	Wes Connelly	476	6.41%	-1.83%
	Liberal	Joseph A. Vermette	218	2.93%	1.69%
Total			7,428	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			12	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			9,766	76.18%	4.84%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		5.23%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1982 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1986 general election

1986 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Robert A. (Butch) Fischer	4,244	68.56%	6.78%
	New Democratic	Willy Kelch	1,106	17.87%	11.46%
	Western Canada Concept	Allen Abrassart	475	7.67%	-21.20%
	Liberal	Joseph A. Vermette	365	5.90%	2.96%
Total			6,190	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			11	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			11,100	55.86%	-20.32%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		8.90%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1986 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1989 general election

1989 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Robert A. (Butch) Fischer	4,009	67.75%	-0.81%
	New Democratic	Willy Kelch	1,182	19.98%	2.11%
	Liberal	Joseph A. Vermette	726	12.27%	6.37%
Total			5,917	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			19	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			10,801	54.96%	-0.91%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-1.46%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1989 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1993 general election

1993 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Robert A. (Butch) Fischer	5,294	54.80%	-12.96%
	Liberal	Evangéline Forcier	1,933	20.01%	7.74%
	Social Credit	Dale Trefz	1,760	18.22%	–
	New Democratic	Tom A. Samuel	674	6.98%	-13.00%
Total			9,661	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			16	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			15,882	60.93%	5.97%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-6.49%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1993 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1997 general election

1997 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Robert A. (Butch) Fischer	6,232	52.74%	-2.06%
	Social Credit	Jerry D. Barber	3,348	28.33%	10.12%
	Liberal	Ronald Williams	1,568	13.27%	-6.74%
	New Democratic	Lilas I. Lysne	668	5.65%	-1.32%
Total			11,816	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			29	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			19,756	59.96%	-0.97%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-5.19%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 1997 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2001 general election

2001 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Robert A. (Butch) Fischer	6,910	63.62%	10.88%
	Alberta First	Jerry D. Barber	1,394	12.83%	–
	Liberal	Ronald Williams	1,269	11.68%	-1.59%
	Independent	Jeff Newland	868	7.99%	–
	New Democratic	Lilas I. Lysne	420	3.87%	-1.79%
Total			10,861	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			16	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			19,292	56.38%	-3.58%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		13.19%
Source(s) Source: "Wainwright Official Results 2001 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2002 by-election

Alberta provincial by-election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Doug Griffiths	2,924	44.6
	Alberta First	Jerry D. Barber	1,695	25.9
	Liberal	Horst Schreiber	1,114	17.0
	Social Credit	Robin Skitteral	519	7.9
	New Democratic	Lilas Lysne	227	3.5
	Green	Colleen Biggs	73	1.1
Turnout			6,552	33.6

Plebiscite results

1957 liquor plebiscite

1957 Alberta liquor plebiscite results: Wainwright[2]
Question A: Do you approve additional types of outlets for the sale of beer, wine and spirituous liquor subject to a local vote?
Ballot choice		Votes	%
	No	1,674	50.65%
	Yes	1,631	49.35%
Total votes		3,305	100%
Rejected, spoiled and declined		33
6,897 eligible electors, turnout 48.40%

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.[3]

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 women were allowed to drink together in establishments.[2]

Province wide Question A of the plebiscite passed in 33 of the 50 districts while Question B passed in all five districts. Wainwright was divided on the issue with the vote almost being a tie. The voter turnout in the district was light but still slightly above the province wide average of 46%.[2]

Official district returns were released to the public on December 31, 1957.[2] The Social Credit government in power at the time did not consider the results binding.[4] However the results of the vote led the government to repeal all existing liquor legislation and introduce an entirely new Liquor Act.[5]

Municipal districts lying inside electoral districts that voted against the plebiscite such as Wainwright were designated Local Option Zones by the Alberta Liquor Control Board and considered effective dry zones. Business owners who wanted a license had to petition for a binding municipal plebiscite in order to be granted a license.[6]

See also

• Alberta provincial electoral districts
• Wainwright, Alberta a town in Alberta

References

1. "Election results for Wainwright". abheritage.ca. Wayback Machine: Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
2. Alberta Gazette. 53 (December 31 ed.). Government of Alberta. 1957. pp. 2, 247–2, 249.
3. "Albertans Vote 2 to 1 For More Liquor Outlets". Vol L No 273. The Lethbridge Herald. October 31, 1957. pp. 1–2.
4. "No Sudden Change In Alberta Drinking Habits Is Seen". Vol L No 267. The Lethbridge Herald. October 24, 1957. p. 1.
5. "Entirely New Act On Liquor". Vol LI No 72. The Lethbridge Herald. March 5, 1968. p. 1.
6. "Bill 81". Alberta Bills 12th Legislature 1st Session. Government of Alberta. 1958. p. 40.

Further reading

• Office of the Chief Electoral Officer; Legislative Assembly Office (2006). A Century of Democracy: Elections of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 1905-2005. The Centennial Series. Edmonton, AB: Legislative Assembly of Alberta. ISBN 0-9689217-8-7. Retrieved 25 May 2020.

External links

• Elections Alberta
• The Legislative Assembly of Alberta