Whitecourt (provincial electoral district)

Whitecourt was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using first-past-the-post balloting from 1971 to 1993.[1]

Whitecourt
Alberta electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of Alberta
District created1971
District abolished1993
First contested1971
Last contested1989

Boundary history

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Member of the Legislative Assembly for Whitecourt
Assembly Years Member Party
See Lac Ste. Anne 1909–1971
17th 1971–1975 Peter Trynchy Progressive
Conservative
18th 1975–1979
19th 1979–1982
20th 1982–1986
21st 1986–1989
22nd 1989–1993
See Whitecourt-Ste. Anne 1993–2019

The district replaced Lac Ste. Anne for the 1971 election, with only minor boundary changes from the previous district. Its boundaries again remained mostly unchanged when replaced by Whitecourt-Ste. Anne in 1993, although the area around Fox Creek was transferred to Grande Prairie-Smoky.

Representation history

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The district's only MLA was Progressive Conservative Peter Trynchy. He entered the Legislature upon winning the seat in the 1971 election and served eight terms all together, six as MLA for Whitecourt and two in Whitecourt-Ste. Anne, finally retiring in 2001.

Election results

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1970s

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1971 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes %[2]
Progressive Conservative Peter Trynchy 3,096 49.53%
Social Credit Clyde Feero 2,125 33.99%
New Democratic Robert Price 929 14.86%
Liberal Arthur Yates 101 1.62%
Total valid votes 6,251
Rejected, spoiled and declined 43
Electors / Turnout 9,514 66.16%
Progressive Conservative pickup new district.


1975 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%[2]
Progressive Conservative Peter Trynchy 3,921 71.42% +21.89%
New Democratic John Udchitz 893 16.27% +1.41%
Social Credit Rig Godwin 676 12.31% -21.68%
Total valid votes 5,490
Rejected, spoiled and declined 21
Electors / Turnout 8,683 63.47% -2.69%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing +10.24%
1979 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%[2]
Progressive Conservative Peter Trynchy 3,834 59.08% -12.34%
New Democratic Ken Forscutt 1,442 22.22% +5.95%
Social Credit George Richardson 1,214 18.71% +6.40%
Total valid votes 6,490
Rejected, spoiled and declined 162
Electors / Turnout 10,488 63.42% -0.05%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -9.15%

1980s

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The 1982 election saw the rise of the separatist Western Canada Concept, which failed to win any seats. Their result in Whitecourt was the fourth-best in the province, despite Social Credit candidate George Richardson's status as party leader. Trynchy still won an outright majority of votes, benefitting from a surge in turnout.

1982 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%[2]
Progressive Conservative Peter Trynchy 4,635 51.71% -7.37%
Western Canada Concept Andy Lee 2,276 25.39%
New Democratic Dick Davies 1,220 13.61% -8.61%
Social Credit George Richardson 685 7.64% -11.07%
Liberal John Powers 147 1.64%
Total valid votes 8,963
Rejected, spoiled and declined 44
Electors / Turnout 12,441 72.40% +8.98%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -16.38%
1986 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%[2]
Progressive Conservative Peter Trynchy 4,038 54.15% +2.44%
Representative Merv Zadderey 1,611 21.60% +13.96%
New Democratic Dick Davies 1,349 18.09% +4.48%
Liberal Rick Allen 459 6.16% +4.52%
Total valid votes 7,457
Rejected, spoiled and declined 11
Electors / Turnout 13,254 56.35% -16.05%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -5.76%

Representative Party swing in 1986 is calculated from Social Credit results in 1982.

1989 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%[2]
Progressive Conservative Peter Trynchy 3,877 49.93% -4.22%
Liberal Jurgen Preugschas 2,432 31.32% +25.16%
New Democratic Gwen Symington 1,456 18.75% +0.66%
Total valid votes 7,765
Rejected, spoiled and declined 33
Electors / Turnout 13,795 56.53% +0.18%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -14.69%

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Election results for Whitecourt". abheritage.ca. Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Election results for Whitecourt". Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved January 16, 2017.

Further reading

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