Rocky Mountain House (electoral district)

Rocky Mountain House was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1940 to 2012.

History The district was one of 83 current districts mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting since 1959. Prior to that Single Transferable Vote was in use but no contest in this district went to a second round of counting.

The district, which was located in central western rural Alberta, was created from parts of four electoral districts in the 1940 boundary redistribution. It is named after the town of Rocky Mountain House.

The district elected Progressive Conservative MLAs since 1971. Prior to that it was represented by Alf Hooke. It was only held by four representatives.

The district was replaced in the 2010 Alberta electoral boundary re-distribution with Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.

Boundary history 73 Rocky Mountain House 2003 boundariesBordering districtsNorthEastWestSouthDrayton Valley-Calmar, West YellowheadInnisfail-Sylvan Lake, Lacombe-Ponoka, Olds-Didsbury-Three HillsWest YellowheadBanff-Cochraneriding map goes heremap in relation to other districts in Alberta goes hereLegal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.Starting at the intersection of the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5 and the north boundary of Twp. 44; then 1. east along the north boundary to the west boundary of O’Chiese Indian Reserve No. 203; 2. north, east and south along the boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 44; 3. east along the north boundary to the right bank of the North Saskatchewan River; 4. downstream along the right bank to the east boundary of Rge. 8 W5; 5. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 44; 6. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 5, Twp. 45, Rge. 4 W5; 7. north along the east boundary of Secs. 5, 8 and 17 to the north boundary of Sec. 16 in the Twp.; 8. east along the north boundary of Secs. 16, 15, 14 and 13 in the Twp. and east along the north boundary of Secs. 18, 17 and 16 in Twp. 45, Rge. 3 W5 to the intersection with Highway 20; 9. southeast along Highway 20 to the north boundary of Twp. 42; 10. west along the north boundary of Twp. 42 to the east boundary of Rge. 3 W5; 11. south along the east boundary of Rge. 3 W5 to the north boundary of Twp. 41; 12. east along the north boundary of Twp. 41 to the east shore of Gull Lake; 13. south along the east shore of Gull Lake to the north boundary of Twp. 40; 14. east along the north boundary of Twp. 40 to the east boundary of Rge. 28 W4; 15. south along the east boundary of Rge. 28 W4 to the right bank of the Blind Man River (at Sec. 12, Twp. 39, Rge. 28 W4); 16. upstream along the right bank of the Blind Man River to the east boundary of Sec. 15 in Twp. 39, Rge. 28 W4; 17. south along the east boundary of Sec. 15 to the north boundary of Sec. 10; 18. west along the north boundary of Secs. 10, 9 and 8 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 and 7 in Twp. 39, Rge. 1 to the east boundary of Rge. 2 W5; 19. north along the east boundary of Rge. 2 W5 to the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 13 in Twp. 39, Rge. 2 W5; 20. west along the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 13 to the east boundary of Sec. 14 in the Twp.; 21. south along the east boundary of Secs. 14, 11 and 2 to the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 2 in the Twp.; 22. west along the north boundary of the south half of Secs. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 6 in the Twp.; 23. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 38 (Highway 11); 24. west along the north boundary of Twp. 38 (Highway 11) to the right bank of the Medicine River; 25. downstream along the right bank to the east boundary of Sec. 26 in Twp. 38, Rge. 3 W5; 26. south along the east boundary of Sec. 26 to the north boundary of Sec. 23; 27. west along the north boundary of Sec. 23 to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 23 in the Twp.; 28. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 23 in the Twp.; 29. west along the north boundary of the south half to the east boundary of Sec. 22 in the Twp.; 30. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 15 in the Twp.; 31. west along the north boundary of Secs. 15, 16, 17 and 18 in the Twp. to the east boundary of Rge. 4 W5; 32. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 25 in Twp. 36, Rge. 4 W5; 33. west along the north boundary of Secs. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 in the Twp. to the east boundary of Rge. 5 W5; 34. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 6 in Twp. 36, Rge. 4 W5; 35. east along the north boundary of Secs. 6, 5 and 4 to the east boundary of Sec. 4 in the Twp.; 36. south along the east boundary of Sec. 4 in the Twp. and the east boundary of Secs. 33, 28, 21, 16, 9 and 4 in Twp. 35 and the east boundary of Secs. 33 and 28 in Twp. 34, Rge. 4 W5 to the north boundary of Sec. 22 in the Twp.; 37. east along the north boundary of Secs. 22 and 23 to the east boundary of Sec. 23 in the Twp.; 38. south along the east boundary of Secs. 23 and 14 to the north boundary of Sec. 12 in the Twp.; 39. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 4 W5; 40. south along the east boundary to Highway 27; 41. westerly along Highway 27 to Highway 22; 42. south along Highway 22 to the north boundary of Twp. 30; 43. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 6 W5; 44. north along the east boundary of Rge. 6 to the north boundary of Sec. 12 in Twp. 31; 45. west along the north boundary of Secs. 12, 11 and 10 to the east boundary of Sec. 16; 46. north along the east boundary of Secs. 16, 21, 28 and 33 to the north boundary of Twp. 31; 47. west along the north boundary of Twp. 31 to the intersection with the right bank of the Red Deer River; 48. upstream along the right bank to the intersection with the east boundary of Rge. 8 W5; 49. south along the east boundary of Rge. 8 to the north boundary of Twp. 30; 50. west along the north boundary of Twp. 30 to the east boundary of Banff National Park; 51. in a generally northwesterly direction along the park boundary to the intersection with Rge. 19 W5; 52. project a line southwest from the east boundary of Rge. 19 to the Alberta-British Columbia boundary at its intersection with the north boundary of Twp. 32; 53. in a generally westerly and northerly direction along the Alberta-British Columbia boundary to the intersection with the south Jasper National Park boundary; 54. in a northeasterly direction along the park boundary to the right bank of the Brazeau River; 55. downstream along the right bank to the north boundary of Twp. 43; 56. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5; 57. north along the east boundary to the starting point.Note:

Members of the Legislative Assemblyfor Rocky Mountain HouseSee Edson 1913-1940, Innisfail 1905-1940,Red Deer 1905-1940 and Lacombe 1905-1940AssemblyYearsMemberParty9th1940–1944Alfred HookeSocial Credit10th1944–194811th1948–195212th1952–195513th1955–195914th1959–196315th1963–196716th1967–197117th1971–1975Helen HunleyProgressive Conservative18th1975–197919th1979–1982John Campbell20th1982–198621st1986–198922nd1989–1993Ty Lund23rd1993–199724th1997–200125th2001–200426th2004–200827th2008–2012See Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre 2012-present

Electoral history The electoral district of Rocky Mountain House was created from parts of four different districts in the 1940 boundary re-distribution. The first election held that year saw Social Credit incumbent Alfred Hooke switch from the Red Deer provincial electoral district. He won his second term in office easily defeating two other candidates on the first ballot.

Hooke would be appointed to the first of his many cabinet portfolios as Provincial Secretary by Premier Ernest Manning in 1943. He would run for a third term and his first with ministerial advantage in the 1944 general election winning a larger majority. In 1945 Hooke also became the Minister of Economic Affairs.

The 1948 general election saw Hooke win his fourth straight term in office and third in the district, with a landslide over Co-operative Commonwealth candidate Ray Schmidt. Hooke won re-election five more times in 1952, 1955, 1959, 1963, and 1967.

Pundits had been predicting that Hooke would be defeated in the 1967 general election after a rift grew in the Social Credit party when national Social Credit leader Robert Thompson nominated an independent candidate to run against Hooke. He won the election easily. Hooke served in cabinet until 1968 when Harry Strom became Premier. He was not invited back to cabinet and retired at dissolution of the assembly in 1971.

The second representative in the district was elected in the 1971 general election. Progressive Conservative candidate Helen Hunley defeated Social Credit Harvey Staudinger to pick up the seat for her party. She was appointed to the first cabinet of Premier Peter Lougheed after the election. Hunley was re-elected in the 1975 defeating Staudinger for the second time with a larger victory. She remained in cabinet and retired from the legislature at dissolution in 1979. Hunley would be appointed remained in politics as she was appointed Lieutenant Governor in 1985.

Hunley was replaced in the legislature by Progressive Conservative candidate John Campbell in the 1979 general election. He won election twice more in 1982 and 1986 with large majorities.

The last representative in the district is Progressive Conservative MLA Ty Lund. Lund won the seat in the 1989 election for the first time with a landslide margin to hold the seat for his party. He was re-elected with a bigger majority in the 1993 election. Premier Ralph Klein appointed Lund to cabinet for the first time on September 15, 1994, as Minister of Environment.

He was re-elected four more times in 1997, 2001, 2004, and 2008. He kept serving various cabinet portfolio's until Premier Ed Stelmach took office in 2006.

The riding is notable for the electoral performances of Social Credit candidate Lavern Ahlstrom, who would later lead the party. Despite the party's minor status in recent times, Ahlstrom consistently polled well above his party's average in the elections he contested.

Legislative election results

1940

1944

1948

1952

1955

1959

1963

1967

1971

1975

1979

1982

1986

1989

1993

1997

2001

2004

2008

Senate nominee election results

2004 2004 Senate nominee election results: Rocky Mountain HouseTurnout 47.26% AffiliationCandidateVotes% votes% ballotsRankProgressive ConservativeBert Brown4,25515.59%48.00%1Progressive ConservativeBetty Unger3,96114.51%44.69%2IndependentLink Byfield2,99610.97%33.80%4Progressive ConservativeCliff Breitkreuz2,88110.55%32.50%3Progressive ConservativeJim Silye2,74810.07%31.00%5Progressive ConservativeDavid Usherwood2,4619.02%27.76%6IndependentTom Sindlinger1,4445.28%16.29%9Total votes27,300100%Total ballots8,8643.08 votes per ballotRejected, spoiled and declined1,337 Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot

Plebiscite results

1948 dlectrification plebiscite District results from the first province-wide plebiscite on electricity regulation.

Option AOption BAre 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?2,210     45.63%2,633     54.37%Province wide result: Option A passed.

1957 liquor plebiscite