Spirit River-Fairview

Spirit River-Fairview was a provincial electoral district in northwestern Alberta, Canada mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 1971 to 1986.[1]

Spirit River-Fairview
Alberta electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of Alberta
District created1971
District abolished1986
First contested1971
Last contested1984

History

Spirit River-Fairview electoral district was created prior to the 1971 Alberta general election by merger of the Spirit River and Dunvegan electoral districts. The district was abolished in 1986 and recreated into Dunvegan.

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 on October 19, 1984.[2]

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

1971 general election
1971 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticGrant Notley2,40038.74%+3.43%
Social CreditAdolph Fimrite2,24636.26%-5.58%
Progressive ConservativeDon Moore1,43923.23%
IndependentMichael Zuk1101.78%
Total valid votes[3] 6,195
Rejected, spoiled, and declined 45
Electors / Turnout 7,70580.99% +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.

1975 general election
1975 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticGrant Notley3,01750.83%+12.09%
Progressive ConservativeAlex Woronuk2,91849.17%+25.94%
Total valid votes 5,935
Rejected, spoiled, and declined 49
Electors / Turnout 7,38081.08% +0.09%
New Democratic hold Swing -6.93%

1979 general election
1979 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticGrant Notley3,65754.19%+3.36%
Progressive ConservativeJim Reynolds2,66839.53%-9.64%
Social CreditAubrey Milner3565.27%
LiberalTerry Fletcher681.01%
Total valid votes 6,749
Rejected, spoiled, and declined 17
Electors / Turnout 8,45880.00% -1.08%
New Democratic hold Swing +6.50%

1982 general election
1982 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticGrant Notley3,44344.16%-10.03%
Progressive ConservativeDoug Snider3,26041.82%+2.29%
Western Canada ConceptDan Fletcher1,09314.02%
Total valid votes 7,796
Rejected, spoiled, and declined 38
Electors / Turnout 9,47682.67% +2.67%
New Democratic hold Swing -6.16%

1985 by-election
Alberta provincial by-election, February 21, 1985
Upon the death of Grant Notley on October 19, 1984
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticJim Gurnett2,50936.69%-7.47%
Progressive ConservativeVerna Block2,04729.93%-11.89%
Western Canada ConceptDan Fletcher1,71325.05%+11.03%
Confederation of RegionsElmer Knutson3114.55%–
LiberalRick Nicholson1622.37%–
Social CreditRay Nielson791.16%–
HeritageMike Pawlus180.26%–
Total valid votes 6,839––
Rejected, spoiled, and declined 11––
Electors / Turnout 10,54564.96% -17.71%
New Democratic hold Swing +2.21%
Source(s)
Source: "Official By-election Results". Elections Alberta. December 11, 1985. Retrieved March 19, 2020.

Also see

References
  1. "Election results for Spirit River-Fairview". abheritage.ca. Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on 8 December 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  2. Nelson, Chris (May 7, 2015). "The sad forgotten hero of Grant Notley aircraft tragedy". National Post. Postmedia News. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  3. "Alberta Heritage Foundation: Results for Spirit River-Fairview". Archived from the original on 2010-12-08. Retrieved 2016-08-30.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)

Further reading

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