Spirit River-Fairview
Spirit River-Fairview was a provincial electoral district in Northwestern Alberta. In 1971 the district created by a merger of the Spirit River and Dunvegan electoral districts. The district was abolished in 1986 and recreated into Dunvegan.
History
Boundary history
Spirit River-Fairview was created in 1971 out of Dunvegan and the north half of Spirit River. It contained the communities of Spirit River, Fairview and Rycroft, and extended northward past the Chinchaga River. Its boundaries remained unchanged until it was abolished in 1986 and replaced by the second incarnation of Dunvegan.
Representation history
| Members of the Legislative Assembly for Spirit River-Fairview | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assembly | Years | Member | Party | |
| See Spirit River 1940-1971 and Dunvegan 1959-1971 | ||||
| 17th | 1971 - 1975 | Grant Notley | New Democrat | |
| 18th | 1975 - 1979 | |||
| 19th | 1979 - 1982 | |||
| 20th | 1982 - 1984 | |||
| 1984 - 1985 | Vacant | |||
| 1985 - 1986 | Jim Gurnett | New Democrat | ||
| See Dunvegan 1986-2004 | ||||
Spirit River-Fairview's first MLA was NDP leader Grant Notley. He is the father of premier Rachel Notley, who was seven years old when he was first elected. Notley was the only New Democrat elected in 1971, and would remain the party's only MLA until 1982. He served as leader of the opposition until his untimely death in a plane crash in 1984.
The resulting by-election in 1985 saw the NDP hold Spirit River-Fairview, with Jim Gurnett serving as MLA for the remainder of the term, after which the riding was abolished. This makes Spirit River-Fairview the only rural riding in Alberta to have elected only New Democrats to the Legislative Assembly.
Election results
1970s
| Alberta general election, 1971 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| New Democratic | Grant Notley | 2,400 | 38.74% | +3.43% | ||||
| Social Credit | Adolph Fimrite | 2,246 | 36.26% | -5.58% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Don Moore | 1,439 | 23.23% | |||||
| Independent | Michael Zuk | 110 | 1.78% | |||||
| Total valid votes[1] | 6,195 | |||||||
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 45 | |||||||
| Electors / Turnout | 7,705 | 80.99% | +13.90% | |||||
| New Democratic notional gain from Social Credit | Swing | +4.51% | ||||||
Swing is calculated from the 1967 result in Dunvegan, which had similar boundaries.
| Alberta general election, 1975 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| New Democratic | Grant Notley | 3,017 | 50.83% | +12.09% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Alex Woronuk | 2,918 | 49.17% | +25.94% | ||||
| Total valid votes | 5,935 | |||||||
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 49 | |||||||
| Electors / Turnout | 7,380 | 81.08% | +0.09% | |||||
| New Democratic hold | Swing | -6.93% | ||||||
| Alberta general election, 1979 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| New Democratic | Grant Notley | 3,657 | 54.19% | +3.36% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Jim Reynolds | 2,668 | 39.53% | -9.64% | ||||
| Social Credit | Aubrey Milner | 356 | 5.27% | |||||
| Liberal | Terry Fletcher | 68 | 1.01% | |||||
| Total valid votes | 6,749 | |||||||
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 17 | |||||||
| Electors / Turnout | 8,458 | 80.00% | -1.08% | |||||
| New Democratic hold | Swing | +6.50% | ||||||
1980s
| Alberta general election, 1982 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| New Democratic | Grant Notley | 3,443 | 44.16% | -10.03% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Doug Snider | 3,260 | 41.82% | +2.29% | ||||
| Western Canada Concept | Dan Fletcher | 1,093 | 14.02% | |||||
| Total valid votes | 7,796 | |||||||
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 38 | |||||||
| Electors / Turnout | 9,476 | 82.67% | +2.67% | |||||
| New Democratic hold | Swing | -6.16% | ||||||
| Alberta provincial by-election, October 19, 1984 upon the death of Grant Notley | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| New Democratic | Jim Gurnett | 2,509 | 36.69% | -7.47% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Verna Block | 2,047 | 29.93% | -11.89% | ||||
| Western Canada Concept | Dan Fletcher | 1,713 | 25.05% | +11.03% | ||||
| Confederation of Regions | Elmer Knutson | 311 | 4.55% | |||||
| Liberal | Rick Nicholson | 162 | 2.37% | |||||
| Social Credit | Ray Nielson | 79 | 1.16% | |||||
| Heritage | Mike Pawlus | 18 | 0.26% | |||||
| Total valid votes | 6,839 | |||||||
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 11 | |||||||
| Electors / Turnout | 10,545 | 64.96% | -17.71% | |||||
| New Democratic hold | Swing | +2.21% | ||||||
References
- ↑ "Alberta Heritage Foundation: Results for Spirit River-Fairview". Retrieved 2016-08-30.