Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting.

The district had in recent years been favourable to the election of Progressive Conservative candidates, a trend broken when Tany Yao won it for the Wildrose. Yao joined the United Conservative Party when the Wildrose merged with the PCs.

Geography Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo is a largely rural riding in the northeast corner of Alberta. Municipally, the riding consists of the northern part of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and almost all of Improvement District No. 24. The riding is home to the bulk of industrial activity relating to the Athabasca oil sands.

The major urban centre in the region, Fort McMurray, is split between this riding and Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, with the northern neighbourhood of Timberlea falling within the boundaries of Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo. Other communities in the riding include the hamlets of Fort Chipewyan, Fort Fitzgerald, and Fort McKay.

Three First Nation band governments are based in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo: Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Fort McKay First Nation, and Mikisew Cree First Nation. Smith's Landing First Nation is based outside of the riding but has several reserves within its boundaries. All of these bands are signatories of Treaty 8.

In addition to Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche to the south, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo also borders the riding of Lesser Slave Lake to the southwest, the riding of Peace River to the west, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the province of Saskatchewan to the east.

History The electoral district was created in the 2004 electoral boundary re-distribution by merging the electoral district of Fort McMurray with a portion of Athabasca-Wabasca residing in the Municipal district of Wood Buffalo.

The decade that went by since the district was created saw significant population growth due to exploration and development of the oil sands. The 2010 electoral boundary re-distribution resulted in the splitting of the district in two along north south lines creating Fort McMurray-Conklin in the eastern half.

Boundary history 54 Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo 2003 boundariesBordering districtsNorthEastWestSouthnonenoneLesser Slave Lake, Peace RiverLac La Biche-St. Paulriding map goes hereLegal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.Starting at the intersection of the east boundary of Rge. 10 W5 and the north boundary of the Province; then 1. east along the north boundary of the Province to the east boundary of the Province; 2. south along the east boundary of the Province to the north boundary of Twp. 73, Rge. 1 W4 (north boundary of the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range [CLAWR]); 3. west along the north boundary of the CLAWR to the east boundary of Sec. 21, Twp. 73, Rge. 9 W4; 4. north along the east boundary of Secs. 21, 28 and 33 in the Twp. and Secs. 4, 9, 16, 21, 28 and 33 in Twp. 74, Rge. 9 W4 to the north boundary of Twp. 74; 5. west along the north boundary of Twp. 74 to the east boundary of Rge. 10; 6. north along the east boundary of Rge. 10 to the north boundary of Twp. 80; 7. west along the north boundary of Twp. 80 to the east boundary of Rge. 13 W4; 8. south along the east boundary of Rge. 13 to the north boundary of Sec. 13 in the Twp.; 9. west along the north boundary of Secs. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 in the Twp. to the east boundary of Rge. 14 W4; 10. north along the east boundary of Rge. 14 to the north boundary of Twp. 80; 11. west along the Twp. to the intersection with the right bank of the Athabasca River; 12. downstream along the right bank of the Athabasca River to the intersection with the east boundary of Rge. 18 W4 in Twp. 86; 13. north along the east boundary of Rge. 18 to the north boundary of Twp. 95; 14. west along the north boundary of Twp. 95 to the east boundary of Rge. 20 W4; 15. north along the east boundary of Rge. 20 to the north boundary of Twp. 96; 16. west along the north boundary of Twp. 96 to the 5th meridian; 17. north along the 5th meridian to the north boundary of Twp. 111; 18. east along the north boundary of Twp. 111 to the east boundary of Rge. 23 W4; 19. north along the east boundary of Rge. 23 to the north boundary of Twp. 112; 20. west along the north boundary of Twp. 112 to the 5th meridian (Wood Buffalo National Park boundary); 21. north, west and north along the park boundary to the starting point.Note: 59 Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo 2010 boundariesBordering districtsNorthEastWestSouthNorthwest Territories boundaryFort McMurray-ConklinLesser Slave Lake and Peace RiverFort McMurray-ConklinLegal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2010, Electoral Divisions Act.Note: Boundary descriptions were not used in the 2010 redistribution

Representation history + Members of the Legislative Assembly for Fort McMurray-Wood BuffaloAssemblyYearsMemberPartySee Athabasca-Wabasca 1993–2004, Fort McMurray, 1986–2004 and Lesser Slave Lake 1971–200426th2004–2008Guy BoutilierProgressive Conservative27th2008–20092009–2010Independent2010Independent Wildrose Alliance2010–2011Wildrose Alliance2011–2012Wildrose28th2012–2013Mike AllenProgressive Conservative2013–2014Independent2014–2015Progressive Conservative29th2015–2017Tany YaoWildrose2017–2019United Conservative30th2019–202331st2023–

The electoral district was created in the 2003 boundary redistribution. The first election held that year saw Fort McMurray incumbent Progressive Conservative MLA Guy Boutilier win the new seat with a landslide over four other candidates to pick it up for his party.

Boutilier was appointed as Minister of Environment by Premier Ralph Klein in 2004. In 2006 he was shuffled to Minister of International Relations. He ran for a second term as a cabinet minister in the 2008 general election. That election saw him win another big majority.

On July 18, 2009, Boutilier was ejected from caucus by Premier Ed Stelmach after speaking out against the government over a broken promise to put a seniors care facility in Fort McMurray. He sat as an Independent until joining the Wildrose Alliance caucus as an Independent member on June 24, 2010. On October 25, 2010, he became a full member of the caucus.

However, Boutilier was defeated in 2012 by PC Mike Allen. Allen was also ejected from PC caucus in 2013 after being caught in a prostitution sting while on an official trip to Minnesota, but was readmitted to caucus in 2014.

In the 2015 election, Allen was defeated by Wildrose candidate Tany Yao. When the Wildrose and PC parties merged in 2017, Yao joined the new United Conservative Party along with the rest of the Wildrose caucus.

Yao running as a member of the United Conservative Party would once again defeat NDP candidate Stephen Drover in the 2019 general election by a healthy margin of 7,140 votes.

Legislative election results

2004

2008

2012

2015

2019

2023

Senate nominee election results

2004 2004 Senate nominee election results: Fort McMurray-Wood BuffaloTurnout 26.45%AffiliationCandidateVotes% votes% ballotsRankIndependentLink Byfield1,5099.36%29.61%4Michael Roth1,3388.30%26.25%7IndependentTom Sindlinger1,2337.64%24.19%9Gary Horan1,1777.30%23.09%10Vance Gough1,1767.28%23.07%8Total votes16,131100%Total ballots5,0973.17 votes per ballotRejected, spoiled and declined1,839Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot

Nomination contests UCP Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo nomination contest: December 4, 2022 Candidate Round 1 Round 2 Votes % Votes % Zulkifl Mujahid18838.621251.0 Tany Yao15231.220449.0 Keith Plowman14730.2EliminatedTotal487100.0416100.0

Note: Zulkifl Mujahid was later removed as the UCP candidate and incumbent Tany Yao was appointed as the candidate in April 2023.

Student vote results

2004 Participating schoolsBeacon Hill SchoolDr. K.A. Clark SchoolFather Mercredi Catholic High SchoolFort McMurray Christian SchoolFort McMurray Composite High SchoolTimberlea Public 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.

2004 Alberta student vote resultsAffiliationCandidateVotes%NDPDave Malka22421.35%IndependentReginald Normore19918.97%LiberalRussell Collicott16315.54%Total1,049100%Rejected, spoiled and declined40

2012 2012 Alberta student vote resultsAffiliationCandidateVotes%LiberalAmy McBain%NDPDenise Woollard%Total 100%

See also List of Alberta provincial electoral districts Canadian provincial electoral districts

References

External links Elections Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta Demographics for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo