Beaver River (provincial electoral district)

Beaver River was a provincial electoral district in Alberta mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1913 to 1952.[1] It was created in 1913 from the western half of Pakan, and abolished in 1952 when it and the northern parts of Athabasca were replaced by Lac La Biche.

Beaver River
Alberta electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of Alberta
District created1913
District abolished1952
First contested1913
Last contested1948

Representation history

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Members of the Legislative Assembly for Beaver River
Assembly Years Member Party
See Pakan 1909-1913
3rd 1913–1917 Wilfrid Gariépy Liberal
4th 1917–1921
5th 1921–1926 Joseph Dechêne
6th 1926–1930 John Delisle United Farmers
7th 1930–1935 Henry Dakin Liberal
8th 1935–1940 Lucien Maynard Social Credit
9th 1940–1944
10th 1944–1948
11th 1948–1952 Harry Lobay
See Lac La Biche 1952-1971

Beaver River's first MLA was Liberal Wilfrid Gariépy, a Quebec-born settler whose residency would be the subject of controversy toward the end of his second term. He did not run for a third, choosing instead to return to Trois-Rivières. Liberal Joseph Dechêne won the riding in 1921, but would go on to defeat in 1926. He later became MLA for neighbouring St. Paul.

John Delisle picked Beaver River up for the United Farmers of Alberta, serving only one term. In the 1930 election, a judicial recount declared him narrowly defeated by Liberal Henry Dakin, who would also serve only one term.

In the 1935 Social Credit sweep, Lucien Maynard won Beaver River by a landslide. He easily won re-election twice more, retiring for the 1948 election.

Social Credit kept the riding, with Harry Lobay narrowly beating his Liberal challenger and serving out the riding's last term. It was replaced in 1952, but Lobay would go on to serve another term as MLA for the new riding of Lac La Biche.

Election results

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1910s

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1913 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes %
Liberal Wilfrid Gariépy 457 61.67%
Conservative Ambrose Gray 284 38.33%
Total 741
Liberal pickup new district.
Source(s)
Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1913 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Alberta provincial by-election, December 15, 1913
Ministerial by-election upon appointment as Minister of Municipal Affairs
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Wilfrid Gariépy Acclaimed
Total N/A
Rejected, spoiled and declined N/A
Eligible electors / turnout N/A N/A
Liberal hold Swing
Source(s)
"By-elections". Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
1917 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Wilfrid Gariépy 1,134 64.07% 2.39%
Conservative Ambrose Gray 636 35.93% -2.39%
Total 1,770
Rejected, spoiled and declined N/A
Eligible electors / turnout 2,689 65.82%
Liberal hold Swing 2.39%
Source(s)
Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1917 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1920s

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1921 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Joseph Miville Dechêne 1,560 62.33% -1.74%
United Farmers H. Montambault 943 37.67%
Total 2,503
Rejected, spoiled and declined N/A
Eligible electors / turnout 3,510 71.31%
Liberal hold Swing -1.74%
Source(s)
Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1921 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
1926 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
United Farmers John Delisle 1,168 54.15% 16.47%
Liberal Joseph Miville Dechêne 989 45.85% -16.47%
Total 2,157
Rejected, spoiled and declined N/A
Eligible electors / turnout 3,370 64.01%
United Farmers gain from Liberal Swing -8.18%
Source(s)
Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1926 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1930s

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1930 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
United Farmers John Delisle 1,028 48.13% -6.02%
Liberal Henry H. Dakin 1,021 47.80% 1.95%
Independent Luc Lebel 87 4.07%
Total 2,136
Rejected, spoiled and declined 119
Eligible electors / turnout 3,431 65.72%
Liberal gain Swing 21.95%
Source(s)
Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1930 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Totals and swing for 1930 are based on the initial count; a judicial recount sided in favour of Dakin.
1935 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Social Credit Lucien Maynard 1,751 53.96%
Liberal Henry H. Dakin 775 23.88% -21.97%
United Farmers John Delisle 572 17.63% -36.52%
Conservative Walter Allen 147 4.53%
Total 3,245
Rejected, spoiled and declined N/A
Eligible electors / turnout 4,857 66.81%
Social Credit gain from Swing -11.06%
Source(s)
Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1935 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1940s

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1940 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Social Credit Lucien Maynard 2,555 57.06%
Independent Liberal A. Crowther 1,136 25.37%
Co-operative Commonwealth John Hannochko 669 14.94%
Independent Farmer J. Bibby 118 2.64%
Total 4,478
Rejected, spoiled and declined 201
Eligible electors / turnout 6,646 70.40%
Social Credit hold Swing 0.81%
Source(s)
Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1940 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
1944 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Social Credit Lucien Maynard 2,747 60.57% 3.51%
Co-operative Commonwealth John Hannochko 1,403 30.94% 16.00%
Labor–Progressive Stanley Dumka 385 8.49%
Total 4,535
Rejected, spoiled and declined 159
Eligible electors / turnout 6,757 69.47%
Social Credit hold Swing -1.03%
Source(s)
Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1944 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
1948 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
First count
Social Credit Harry Lobay 1,992 41.05% -19.52%
Liberal Cecil Belleville 1,579 32.54%
Co-operative Commonwealth John Hannochko 1,282 26.42% -4.52%
Total 4,853
Ballot transfer results
Social Credit Harry Lobay 2,117 55.49% 14.44%
Liberal Cecil Belleville 1,698 44.51%
Co-operative Commonwealth John Hannochko Eliminated
Total 3,815
Rejected, spoiled and declined 265
Eligible electors / turnout 7,423 68.95%
Social Credit hold Swing -26.03%
Source(s)
Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1948 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

Overall swing is based on first count. Second-round swing reflects increase in vote share from the first count.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Election results for Beaver River". abheritage.ca. Wayback Machine: Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved June 8, 2020.

Further reading

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