Lorne was an electoral district that existed in the District of Saskatchewan, North-West Territories from 1880 until 1888. The district was one of the first three electoral districts in the Territories. It was created by statutory proclamation in 1880. Of the three electoral districts proclaimed, it was the only one to actually have an election held in it.
Under the North-West Territories Act 1880 the district was mandated at its inception to return a single member to the North-West Territories Legislature under the first past the post electoral system. The district was named in the honour of then-Governor General, the Marquess of Lorne. Lorne toured through the North-West Territories just after the electoral district was created in 1881.
The electoral district ceased to exist following electoral redistribution before the 1888 North-West Territories general election was called. The redistribution was due to a population boom in the area caused by an influx of settlers. The electoral district was redistributed and split between the electoral districts of Batoche and Prince Albert. During the nine years the district existed, it returned three members through three elections who served roughly three-year terms.
Overview
The electoral district was one of three proclaimed by Lieutenant-Governor David Laird on November 13, 1880, under the authority of the North-West Territories Act. The other two electoral districts were Salisbury, named after the Marquess of Salisbury and Kimberley name after the Lord of Kimberley. Kimberley's contribution to the North-West Territories was transferring the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to Canada on September 1, 1880.
The electoral district was created with the provision to cover an area of and have a population of 1,000 electors. The major population centres in the electoral district at the time of creation were Prince Albert, and Fort Carlton. The government had not yet developed to the point of being a Responsible Government as the majority of members were appointed and not elected.
!Name
!Vote
!%
|Lawrence Clarke
|250
|63.61%
|Henry Stewart Moore
|143
|36.39%
|-
|colspan=2 align=center|Total votes
|393
|100%
|}
The election was conducted by voice vote, a qualified elector would tell the returning officer at a polling station who he was going to vote for and the results would be tallied. Under the terms of the Act eligible electors were males who had reached the age of majority, which was 21 years of age at that time. The act specified that electors must be bona fide males who were not aliens or unenfranchised Indians. Electors must also have resided in the territory for at least 12 months to the day of the writ being dropped.
The election commenced when Lieutenant-Governor David Laird dropped the writ on 1881. The election was contested by two candidates, Lawrence Clarke who was a fur trader and Chief Factor of the District of Saskatchewan for the Hudson's Bay Company. Clarke's opponent was Henry Stewart Moore a local French speaking businessman from Prince Albert who had been operating a flour mill since 1875.
Clarke held a big advantage in the campaign as he was supported by the Métis who had been looking for someone to locally represent them in the Legislature since the territory was formed in 1870. MacDowall's campaign efforts and donation proved to be very popular.
thumb|150px|right|Official results published June 20, 1883
MacDowall's appeal for representation translated into a landslide victory on election day. On June 5, 1883 he defeated Andrew Porter capturing nearly 70% of the popular vote. His win was the largest majority of the three elections held in the electoral district.
1885
The 1885 election in this district was held on September 17, 1885 as part of the 1885 North-West Territories election. This was the first major election held in the North-West Territories. The election grouped together a number of old districts that had been coming up for renewal on their three-year cycle and by-elections in new districts that were created by a population boom of settlers moving into the territory.
{| class="wikitable" align=right
| colspan="4" align=center|1885 North-West Territories election
|-
| He would not run for re-election instead choosing to campaign for a seat in the House of Commons of Canada. Dr. Porter attempted to win a seat by running for office a second time. Porter was challenged by Captain Owen E. Hughes, a business man from Duck Lake. Hughes had been the captain of the Prince Albert militia unit that was disbanded by the Federal Government prior to the start of the North-West Rebellion. Many of his former unit, including his lieutenant, Gabriel Dumont, were among the Metis who drove the loyalist forces back at the Battle of Fish Creek.
On election day, despite increasing his popular share of the vote over the 1883 election even with lower turnout, Porter was defeated by Hughes. The race was very tight and hotly contested nearly ending in a tie vote. Hughes captured the electoral district by a margin of eight votes winning just over 51% of the popular vote.