West Yellowhead is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 current ridings mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting.
The district in its early history was a swing riding, changing party hands often. More recently, support has gone to electing candidates from the Progressive Conservatives, who have held the district with sizable majorities since 1997. The current representative is UCP Martin Long who was first elected in the 2019 provincial election.
Geography West Yellowhead is a predominantly rural riding located in northwest and west-central Alberta. The landscape includes the Rocky Mountains of Jasper National Park, their foothills, and large expanses of boreal forest, some of which has been cleared for agriculture.
There are no cities in the riding. The only urban municipalities within its boundaries are three large towns: Edson, Hinton, and Whitecourt. Other population centres include Jasper, incorporated as a specialized municipality, and Grande Cache, a former town that became a hamlet in 2019.
West Yellowhead also includes the entirety of three rural municipalities (Improvement District No. 12, Improvement District No. 25, and Yellowhead County) and parts of two others (the Municipal District of Greenview No. 16 and Woodlands County).
No First Nation band governments are based in the riding. However, the riding does includes three reserves (Alexis Cardinal River Indian Reserve 234, Alexis Elk River Indian Reserve 233, and Alexis Whitecourt Indian Reserve 232) that are associated with the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, a signatory of Treaty 6. The unrecognized Aseniwuche Winewak Nation also has several settlements in the riding, in the Grande Cache area.
West Yellowhead borders seven other electoral districts: Grande Prairie-Wapiti and Central Peace-Notley to the north, Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock to the northeast, Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland and Drayton Valley-Devon to the east, and Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre and Banff-Kananaskis to the south. The riding's western boundary is the Alberta-British Columbia border.
History The district was created in the 1986 boundary redistribution from most of the old Edson electoral district. Since it was created, the district has remained almost unchanged. The 2010 boundary redistribution did not change the riding from 2003.
Boundary history 81 West Yellowhead 2003 boundariesBordering districtsNorthEastWestSouthGrande Prairie-Smoky and Grande Prairie-WapitiDrayton Valley-Calmar and Whitecourt-Ste. AnneBritish Columbia boundaryRocky Mountain Houseriding map goes hereLegal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.Starting at the intersection of the west boundary of the Province and the north boundary of Twp. 58; then 1. east along the north boundary to the left bank of the Smoky River; 2. downstream along the left bank to its most westerly intersection with the north boundary of Twp. 62; 3. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 25 W5; 4. south along the east boundary to the right bank of the Berland River; 5. downstream along the right bank of the Berland River to the right bank of the Athabasca River; 6. downstream along the right bank of the Athabasca River to the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5; 7. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 58; 8. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 18 W5; 9. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 57; 10. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 16 W5; 11. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 47; 12. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 15 W5; 13. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 44; 14. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5; 15. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 43; 16. west along the north boundary to the right bank of the Brazeau River; 17. upstream along the right bank to the Jasper National Park boundary; 18. in a generally southwesterly direction along the park boundary to the Alberta-British Columbia boundary; 19. in a generally northwesterly direction along the boundary to the starting point.Note: 85 West Yellowhead 2010 boundariesBordering districtsNorthEastWestSouthGrande Prairie-Smoky and Grande Prairie-WapitiDrayton Valley-Devon and Whitecourt-Ste. AnneBritish Columbia boundaryRimbey-Rocky Mountain House-SundreLegal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2010, Electoral Divisions Act.Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.Note: The district remained unchanged in 2010.
Electoral history Members of the Legislative Assembly for West YellowheadAssemblyYearsMemberPartySee: Edson 1913-198621st1986–1989Ian ReidProgressive Conservative22nd1989–1993Jerry DoyleNew Democrat23rd1993–1997Duco Van BinsbergenLiberal24th1997–2001Ivan StrangProgressive Conservative25th2001–200426th2004–200827th2008–2012Robin Campbell28th2012–201529th2015–2019Eric RosendahlNew Democrat30th2019–2023Martin LongUnited Conservative31st2023–present The electoral district was created in the 1986 general election. The first election held that year saw a tight race between incumbent Progressive Conservative MLA Ian Reid who had previously represented the Edson electoral district and New Democrat candidate Phil Oakes. Reid barely hung onto win to pick up the new district for his party.
The 1989 election would see Reid defeated by New Democrat candidate Jerry Doyle in another close race. Doyle would only last a single term in office as he was defeated by Liberal candidate Duco Van Binsbergen in the 1993 general election.
The Progressive Conservatives would regain the seat in the 1997 general election as candidate Ivan Strang defeated Van Binsbergen. Strang was re-elected in the 2001 election with a solid majority. He won a third term in the 2004 general election taking less than half the popular vote but winning a comfortable plurality over the opposition candidates which polled an evenly dived vote. He would retire from office in 2008.
Progressive Conservative Robin Campbell was elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012. Campbell lost to Eric Rosendahl of the New Democratic Party when the NDP were voted into government on May 4, 2015.
Legislative election results
2023
2019
2015
2012
2008
2004
2001
1997
1993
1989
1986
Senate nominee election results
2004 2004 Senate nominee election results: West YellowheadTurnout 46.49% AffiliationCandidateVotes% votes% ballotsRankIndependentLink Byfield2,02510.23%30.13%4Michael Roth1,5407.78%22.91%7Gary Horan1,4347.25%21.33%10Vance Gough1,4157.15%21.05%8IndependentTom Sindlinger1,3526.83%20.11%9Total votes19,787100%Total ballots6,7222.94 votes per ballotRejected, spoiled and declined1,510 Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot
Student vote results
2004 Participating schoolsCrescent Valley SchoolEcole Mountain View SchoolGerard Redmond Community Catholic SchoolHarry Collinge High SchoolHoly Redeemer Catholic Jr/Sr High SchoolParkland Composite High SchoolPine Grove Middle SchoolYellowhead Koinonia Christian 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 results AffiliationCandidateVotes%NDPBarry Madsen44824.86%LiberalRob Jolly34118.92%Monika Schaefer1498.27%Total1,802100%Rejected, spoiled and declined62
2012 2012 Alberta student vote results AffiliationCandidateVotes%NDPBarry Madsen578.73%LiberalMichael Martyna497.50%Total653100%
See also List of Alberta provincial electoral districts Canadian provincial electoral districts
References
External links Website of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta