Medicine Hat was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return members to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1905 to 1971, and again from 1979 to 2019. The electoral district was named after the city of Medicine Hat.
History
The electoral district of Medicine Hat has existed in two iterations. The Medicine Hat electoral district was one of the original 25 electoral districts contested in the 1905 Alberta general election after Alberta became a province in September 1905. The district was carried over from the old Medicine Hat electoral district which had returned a single member to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories from 1888 to 1905. The former member for the Northwest Territories seat, William Finlay was elected in the 1st Alberta general election. Upon the electoral district's formation, it covered a large portion of rural southeast Alberta. The district shrunk until it became an urban only riding containing the City of Medicine Hat.
In 1921 Medicine Hat was given a second MLA. In 1921 The Medicine Hat MLAs were elected using plurality block voting. In 1926 STV was used to elect Medicine Hat MLAs. From 1930 to 1956, the district used instant-runoff voting to elect its MLA.
The district was abolished in the 1971 electoral district re-distribution to become part of Medicine Hat-Redcliff, which was abolished in 1979 and once again became the Medicine Hat electoral district.
Under the 2004 Alberta electoral boundary re-distribution, the constituency covered the portion of the city north of the South Saskatchewan River, the Trans-Canada Highway and Carry Drive. The rest of the city and surrounding area was part of the Cypress-Medicine Hat constituency.
The 2010 electoral boundary re-distribution saw minor changes made to align the riding with new boundaries of Medicine Hat.
The Medicine Hat electoral district was dissolved in the 2017 electoral boundary re-distribution, and portions of the district would incorporate the Brooks-Medicine Hat to the North, and Cypress-Medicine Hat to the South for the 2019 Alberta general election.
Boundary history
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="width:100%;"
!colspan=4|(1) Medicine Hat 1905 boundaries
|-
!colspan=4|Bordering districts
|-
!North
!East
!West
!South
|-
|Lacombe and Vermilion
|Saskatchewan boundary
|Cardson, Gleichen, Innisfail, Lethbridge, Red Deer and Rosebud
|Montana boundary
|-
|colspan=2 align=center|riding map goes here
|colspan=2 align=center|map in relation to other districts in Alberta goes here
|-
!colspan=4|Legal description from An Act to establish and provide for the Government of the Province of Alberta 1905.
|-
|colspan=4|The electoral division of Medicine Hat, bounded as follows:– Commencing at the intersection of the eastern boundary of the said province of Alberta by the north boundary of the 38th township; thence westerly along the north boundary of the 38th townships to the meridian between the 10th and 11th ranges, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the meridian between the 10th and 11th ranges to the southern boundary of the said province of Alberta; thence easterly along the said southern boundary of the province of Alberta to the southeast corner thereof; thence northerly along the eastern boundary of the said province of Alberta to the point of commencement.
|-
|colspan=4|Note: Original electoral boundaries
|}
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="width:100%;"
!colspan=4|68 Medicine Hat 2003 boundaries
|-
!colspan=4|Bordering districts
|-
!North
!East
!West
!South
|-
|colspan=4 align=center|Cypress-Medicine Hat
|-
|colspan=4 align=center|200px
|-
!colspan=4|Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.
|-
|colspan=4|Starting at the intersection of the west Medicine Hat city boundary with the north Medicine Hat city boundary; then 1. generally east and southeast along the city boundary to the northeasterly extension of Carry Drive; 2. southwest along the extension and Carry Drive and its southwesterly extension to the Trans Canada highway; 3. northwest along the Trans Canada highway to the left bank of the South Saskatchewan River; 4. west along the left bank to the west Medicine Hat city boundary; 5. generally north, east and north to the starting point.
|-
|colspan=4|Note:
|}
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="width:100%;"
!colspan=4|72 Medicine Hat 2010 boundaries
|-
!colspan=4|Bordering districts
|-
!North
!East
!West
!South
|-
|colspan=4 align=center|Cypress-Medicine Hat
|-
|colspan=2 align=center|200px
|colspan=2 align=center|200px
|-
!colspan=4|Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2010, Electoral Divisions Act.
|-
|colspan=4|
|-
|colspan=4|Note:
|}
Representation history
{| class="wikitable collapsible" align=right
!colspan=8|Members of the Legislative Assembly for Medicine Hat
|-
!Assembly
!Years
!colspan=4|Member
!colspan=2|Party
|-
|colspan=8 align=center|See Medicine Hat (N.W.T.) 1888–1905
|-
|1st
|1905–1909
|rowspan=2 |
|rowspan=2 colspan=3|William Finlay
|rowspan=2 colspan=2|Liberal
|-
|rowspan=3|2nd
|1909–1910
|-
|1910
|
|colspan=6|Vacant
|-
|1910–1913
||
|colspan=3|Charles Mitchell
|colspan=2|Liberal
|-
|3rd
|1913–1917
|rowspan=2 |
|rowspan=2 colspan=3|Nelson Spencer
|rowspan=2 colspan=2|Conservative
|-
|4th
|1917–1921
|-
|rowspan=5|5th
|1921
|rowspan=3 |
|rowspan=3|William <br />Johnston
|rowspan=3|Dominion<br />Labor
||
|Perren Baker
|UFA
|-
|1921
|
|colspan=2|Vacant
|-
|1921–1925
|rowspan=3 |
|rowspan=3|Perren Baker
|rowspan=3|UFA
|-
|1925
|
|colspan=2|Vacant
|-
|1925–1926
|rowspan=2 |
|rowspan=2|Charles<br />Pingle
|rowspan=2|Liberal
|-
|rowspan=3|6th
|1926–1928
|rowspan=3 |
|rowspan=3|J.J. Hendricks
|rowspan=3|Conservative
|-
|1928
|
|colspan=6|Vacant
|-
|1928–1930
|rowspan=2 |
|rowspan=2|Hector Lang
|rowspan=2|Liberal
|-
|7th
|1930–1935
|-
|8th
|1935–1940
|rowspan=5 |
|colspan=3 rowspan=5|John Robinson
|rowspan=5 colspan=2|Social Credit
|-
|9th
|1940–1944
|-
|10th
|1944–1948
|-
|11th
|1948–1952
|-
|rowspan=3|12th
|1952–1953
|-
|1953
|
|colspan=6|Vacant
|-
|1953–1955
|rowspan=3 |
|colspan=3 rowspan=3|Elizabeth Robinson
|rowspan=3 colspan=2|Social Credit
|-
|13th
|1955–1959
|-
|rowspan=3|14th
|1959–1960
|-
|1960–1961
|
|colspan=6|Vacant
|-
|1961–1963
|rowspan=3 |
|colspan=3 rowspan=3|Harry Leinweber
|rowspan=3 colspan=2|Social Credit
|-
|15th
|1963–1967
|-
|16th
|1967–1971
|-
|colspan=8 align=center|See Medicine Hat-Redcliff 1971-1979
|-
|19th
|1979–1982
|rowspan=9 |
|colspan=3 rowspan=4|Jim Horsman
|colspan=2 rowspan=9|Progressive<br />Conservative
|-
|20th
|1982–1986
|-
|21st
|1986–1989
|-
|22nd
|1989–1993
|-
|23rd
|1993–1997
|colspan=3 rowspan=5|Rob Renner
|-
|24th
|1997–2001
|-
|25th
|2001–2004
|-
|26th
|2004–2008
|-
|27th
|2008–2012
|-
| rowspan=2|28th
|2012–2014
||
|rowspan=2 colspan=3|Blake Pedersen
|colspan=2|Wildrose
|-
|2014–2015
||
|colspan=2|Progressive<br />Conservative
|-
|29th
|2015–2019
||
| colspan=3 |Bob Wanner
|colspan=2|New Democratic
|-
|colspan=8 align=center|See Cypress-Medicine Hat and Brooks-Medicine Hat 2019–
|}
The provincial electoral district of Medicine Hat has a long history that goes back to 1888 under the old Medicine Hat, North-West Territories electoral district. The district was carried over when the province of Alberta was created in 1905.
The first election in 1905 saw former North-West Territories Assembly member William Finlay win the district in a hotly contested race. Finlay was re-elected in 1909 and resigned in 1910 so cabinet minister Charles Mitchell could have a seat in the Legislature.
Mitchell held the district for one term before being defeated by Conservative Nelson Spencer in the 1913 election. Spencer's win was considered an upset. Spencer was automatically re-elected under Chapter 38 of the Elections Act in 1917 for serving in the Canadian Army during World War I. He retired from the Legislature in 1921 and moved to British Columbia.
The Liberal government passed a law in 1921 that turned Medicine Hat into a two-member district. The seats were won in the 1921 general election by United Farmer of Alberta candidate Perren Baker and Dominion Labour Party candidate William Johnston. Baker was confirmed to a cabinet post by acclamation in a ministerial by-election on December 9, 1921.
Johnson died in 1925, vacating his seat. The subsequent by-election saw former Speaker of the Legislature Charles Pingle win the district for the Liberal party, defeating a Liberal and a Conservative.
The district also returned two members in 1926. This time they were elected through Single transferable voting. Baker moved to the Cypress electoral district. Pingle stood for re-election. Liberal Pingle and Conservative J.J. Hendricks were elected in this election. This was the first — and only — election held in this district using STV.
Before the next general election the vote district was re-drawn smaller and only given one member and the method of election was changed to Instant-runoff voting. From 1930 to 1956, the district used instant-runoff voting to elect its MLA.
Bob Wanner was elected as a New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate in 2015.
Legislature election results
1905
1909
1910 by-election
1913
1917
1921
1921 by-election
Due to laws existing in the Legislative Assembly Act a series of ministerial by-elections were needed to confirm members appointed to the Greenfield government. Seven by-elections in total were called for an election day of December 9, 1921. This was set for one week after the 1921 Canadian federal election.
The by-election writ was dropped on November 16, 1921, United Farmers incumbent Perren Baker who had been appointed as Minister of Education ran unopposed and was acclaimed at the nomination deadline held on December 2, 1921. The timing of the by-elections was deliberately chosen to coincide with the federal election to ensure that opposition candidates would be unlikely to oppose the cabinet ministers.
|colspan=4 align=center|Turnout 74.56%
|colspan=2 align=center|Swing compared to 1921
|-
!colspan=2 style="width: 10px;"|
|Affiliation
|Candidate
|1st
|%
|2nd
|%
|Party
|-
|colspan=2 |
|Liberal
|Charles Pingle
|1,640
|41.48%
|1,914
|55.17%
||5.89%
|-
||
||
|Farmer-Labor
|William McCombs
|1,302
|32.94%
|1,555
|44.83%
||-31.47%<sup>1</sup>
|-
|colspan=2 |
|Conservative
|Joseph Hendrick
|1,011
|25.58%
|colspan=2 bgcolor="#F2F2F2"|
|colspan=2 align=center|*
|-
|colspan=4 align="right"|Total
|3,953
|100%
|3,469
|colspan=3|100%
|-
|align="right" colspan=4|Exhausted Ballots
|colspan=2|0
|colspan=4|484
|-
|colspan=4 align="right"|Rejected, spoiled and declined
|colspan=6|Unknown
|-
|align=center colspan=10|5,302 eligible electors
|-
|colspan=2 |
|colspan=5|Liberal pickup from Dominion Labor
|colspan=3|Swing compared to 1921 18.68%
|}
- William McCombs was a candidate jointly nominated by the United Farmers of Alberta and the Dominion Labor Party. The party percent change is reflected from the combined party percentages in the 1921 general election.
1926
Two Members elected through STV.
Pingle and Hendricks both elected.
1928 by-election
{| class="wikitable"
| colspan=3 align="center" |May 1, 1928 by-election results
|colspan=6 align=center|Turnout 66.05%
|colspan=2 align=center|1st Count Swing
|-
!style="width: 10px;"|
|Affiliation
|Candidate
|1st
|%
|2nd
|3rd
|4th
|%
|Party
|Personal
|Liberal
|Hector Lang
|1,355
|39.90%
|1,405
|1,603
|1,604
|59.12%
||-4.18%
|align=center|*
|Conservative
|Joseph Hendrick
|941
|27.71%
|986
|1,106
|1,109
|40.88%
|colspan=2 align=center| -8.11%
|Dominion Labor
|William McCombs
|810
|23.85%
|844
|colspan=3 bgcolor="#F2F2F2"|
|3.74%
|align=center|*
|Independent
|B.J. Bott
|290
|8.54%
|colspan=4 bgcolor="#F2F2F2"|
|align=center colspan=2|*
|-
|colspan=3 align="right"|Total
|3,396
|100%
|3,235
|2,709
|2,713
|colspan=3|100%
|-
|align="right" colspan=3|Exhausted Ballots
|colspan=2|0
|161
|529
|colspan=4|-4
|-
|colspan=3 align="right"|Rejected, spoiled and declined
|colspan=8|106
|-
|align=center colspan=11|5,302 eligible electors
|colspan=7|Liberal hold
|colspan=3|1st Count Swing -6.15%
|}
1930
1935
1940
1944
1948
1952
1953 by-election
{| class="wikitable"
| colspan=3 align=center|December 21, 1953 by-election results
| colspan=2|Turnout 28.44%
|colspan=2 align=center|Swing
|-
!style="width: 10px;"|
|Affiliation
|Candidate
|Votes
|%
|Party
|Personal
|Social Credit
|Elizabeth Robinson
|2,462
|76.89%
|2.19%
|align=center|*
||Co-operative Commonwealth
|E.W. Horne
|740
|23.11%
|colspan=2 align=center|*
|-
|colspan=3 align="right"|Total
|3,202
|colspan=3|100%
|-
|colspan=3 align="right"|Rejected, spoiled and declined
|colspan=4|200
|-
| align="center" colspan=7 |11,964 Eligible Electors
|colspan=4|Social Credit hold
|colspan=2|Swing 12.65%
|}
1955
1959
1961 by-election
1963
1967
1979
1982
1986
1989
1993
1997
2001
2004
2008
2012
2015
Senate nominee election results
2004
{| class="wikitable"
|colspan=5 align=center|2004 Senate nominee election results: Medicine Hat
|colspan=2|Turnout 41.25%
|-
!style="width: 10px;"|
|Affiliation
|Candidate
|Votes
|% votes
|% ballots
|Rank
|Progressive Conservative
|Betty Unger
|3,427
|15.30%
|43.92%
|2
|Progressive Conservative
|Bert Brown
|3,420
|15.27%
|43.84%
|1
|Progressive Conservative
|Cliff Breitkreuz
|2,256
|10.07%
|28.92%
|3
|Progressive Conservative
|David Usherwood
|2,245
|10.02%
|28.78%
|6
|Independent
|Link Byfield
|2,230
|9.96%
|28.58%
|4
|Progressive Conservative
|Jim Silye
|2,215
|9.89%
|28.39%
|5
|Alberta Alliance
|Michael Roth
|1,972
|8.80%
|25.28%
|7
|Alberta Alliance
|Vance Gough
|1,780
|7.95%
|22.82%
|8
|Alberta Alliance
|Gary Horan
|1,607
|7.17%
|20.60%
|10
|Independent
|Tom Sindlinger
|1,249
|5.57%
|16.01%
|9
|-
|colspan=3 align="right"|Total votes
|22,401
|colspan=3|100%
|-
|colspan=3 align="right"|Total ballots
|7,802
|colspan=3|2.87 votes per ballot
|-
|colspan=3 align="right"|Rejected, spoiled and declined
|colspan=4|2,819
|}Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot
Plebiscite results
1948 electrification lebiscite
District results from the first province wide plebiscite on electricity regulation.
{| class="wikitable"
!|Option A
!|Option B
|-
|Are you in favour of the generation and distribution of electricity being continued by the Power Companies?
|Are you in favour of the generation and distribution of electricity being made a publicly owned utility administered by the Alberta Government Power Commission?
|-
!|5,168 81.03%
!|1,214 18.97%
|-
!colspan=2|Province wide result: Option A passed.
|}
1957 liquor plebiscite
{| class="wikitable" align=right
|colspan=4 align=center|1957 Alberta liquor plebiscite results: Medicine Hat
|-
!colspan=4|Question A: Do you approve additional types of outlets for the<br /> sale of beer, wine and spirituous liquor subject to a local vote?
|-
|style="width: 20px;"|
!Ballot choice
!Votes
!%
|-
|bgcolor=green|
|Yes
|2,728
|50.04%
|-
|bgcolor=red|
|No
|2,724
|49.96%
|-
|align=right colspan=2|Total votes
|5,452
|100%
|-
|align=right colspan=2|Rejected, spoiled and declined
|colspan=2|98
|-
!colspan=4|12,586 eligible electors, turnout 44.10%
|}
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. 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.
Student vote results
2004
{| class="wikitable" align=right
!Participating schools
|-
|Crescent Heights High School
|-
|Crestwood Elementary School
|-
|McCoy High School
|-
|Medicine Hat High School
|-
|River Heights Elementary
|-
|Southview School
|}
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.
{| class="wikitable"
| colspan=5 align="center"|2004 Alberta student vote results
|-
!style="width: 10px;"|
|Affiliation
|Candidate
|Votes
|%
|Progressive Conservative
|Rob Renner
|586
|42.71%
|Liberal
|Karen Charlton
|361
|26.31%
|NDP
|Diana Arnott
|209
|15.23%
|Alberta Alliance
|Scott Cowan
|109
|7.94%
|Social Credit
|Jonathan Lorentzen
|107
|7.81%
|-
|colspan=3 align="right"|Total
|1,372
|100%
|-
|colspan=3 align="right"|Rejected, spoiled and declined
|colspan=2|25
|}
See also
- List of Alberta provincial electoral districts
- Canadian provincial electoral districts
- Medicine Hat (federal electoral district), a federal electoral district since 1908
References
Further reading
External links
- Elections Alberta
- The Legislative Assembly of Alberta