The Edmonton provincial electoral district was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return members to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1905 to 1917 and from 1921 to 1959. It was known as Edmonton City from 1905 to 1909.
The electoral district was created when Alberta became a province, replacing the territorial electoral district of the same name. With varying boundaries and varying number of seats, it was in use from 1905 to 1917 and again from 1921 to 1959. In 1917 and since 1956, the city (small as it was in former times) was broken up into separate single-member constituencies bearing different names.
After Alberta became a province, the Edmonton provincial district was created in 1905 to encompass residents of the city of Edmonton, which at the time was located solely on the north side of the North Saskatchewan River. In 1917 it was broken up into two single-seat districts. The Edmonton district was created in 1921 to cover both sides of the river. By that time, the southside City of Strathcona and the northside City of Edmonton had merged into the City of Edmonton.
the Edmonton provincial constituency was represented by multiple members from 1909 to 1959, using either block voting or single transferable voting (STV). The only exception was the period 1917-1921, when the city-wide district was broken up into separate districts.
From 1905 to 1926, each Edmonton voter could cast as many votes as the number of seats in the district. In 1909 and 1913, Edmonton voters could cast up to two votes each. (In 1917, Edmonton was divided into three single-member districts, under the names Edmonton East, West and South (covering the former city of Strathcona); each voter could cast just one vote.) In 1921 a city-wide district was again created, and Edmonton voters could cast up to five votes, the same number as seats. From 1926 to 1959, with its district magnitude set at five, six or seven, Edmonton used STV in general elections, where each voter cast one transferable vote (ranked voting).
By-elections were decided using first-past-the-post voting, except those conducted from 1924 to 1955 when instant runoff voting was used.
History Three methods of electing representatives were used over the years in the Edmonton district.
First past the post election of a single member was used in 1905, 1917 and from 1959 to present (and in all by-elections up to 1924 and after 1956).
The Edmonton constituency was divided into two single-member constituencies for the provincial election of 1917: Edmonton East and Edmonton West. The adjacent constituency of Edmonton South had been renamed from the old constituency of Strathcona.
The three Edmonton districts were merged to form the Edmonton constituency in 1921, and block voting was established in 1921, to elect five members in the constituency. Block voting (voters able to cast as many votes as there were seats) was used in 1909 and 1913, each voter casting up to two votes, and up to five votes in 1921.
As a semblance of proportional representation, the UFA government brought in ranked voting for all constituencies starting in 1924. It maintained Edmonton, Calgary, and Medicine Hat as multi-member constituencies, with seats now filled through single transferable voting, which at the time was called the Hare system or simply proportional representation.A Report on Alberta Elections, 1905-1982 Under STV, each voter cast just one vote but could also mark secondary preferences as backup contingency votes. Instant-runoff voting was used outside those multi-member districts and was also used in all provincial by-elections during this period.
Edmonton elected five members 1921–1930, then six members in 1930, 1935 and 1940, then five members in 1944 and 1948. The Edmonton district elected seven seats in 1952 and 1955.
In 1959 the Social Credit government broke up the Calgary and Edmonton constituencies and replaced single transferable voting with first-past-the-post in single-member districts. Nine constituencies were created in Edmonton: Edmonton Centre, Edmonton North, Edmonton Norwood, Edmonton North East, Edmonton North West, Jasper West, Strathcona Centre, Strathcona East, and Strathcona West.
The first woman elected to a provincial seat in Edmonton was Liberal Nellie McClung in 1921. The next woman was not elected in Edmonton until Mary Lemessurier in 1979. Other women candidates ran in Edmonton during that period, including during the time STV was used, but none were elected.
No Labour, CCF, or NDP or UFA MLA was elected in Edmonton from 1905 to 1982, except for Lionel Gibbs and Elmer Roper who were elected during the time when PR was used.A Report on Alberta Elections (1982)
Expansion of seats and districts in Edmonton The first table shows at a glance, the number of seats available by general election in the Edmonton district. The second table shows the number of districts in Edmonton, when the Edmonton district was broken up.
Seats Year19051909-1913192119261930193519401944194819521955Seats12556655577
After 1956, all Alberta MLAs were elected in single member districts so since then the number of districts has been the same as the number of seats as shown in the next table.
Districts Year1905-191319171921-19551959196319671971197519791982198619891993199720012004Districts1*319101116161818171718191918 Southside Edmonton (Strathcona) was independent from Edmonton until 1912. The area that is present-day Edmonton was spread over many districts, such as Strathcona, Leduc, Sturgeon, and St. Albert. Gradually the city has grown to take in previously rural land.Rek Municipal elections in EdmontonA Report on Alberta Elections
For the 1913 election, Edmonton South Provincial electoral district was created from the old Strathcona constituency to elect one MLA. The Edmonton constituency elected two members by the block vote system.
Edmonton party composition at a glance The representation elected from 1926 to 1955 can be seen to be more mixed and balanced than representation elected both before and after that period. Not shown in the table below is the fact that in 1917 a Liberal and a Conservative were elected. Prior to 1926, Edmonton elected its members using first past the post or block voting. District-level proportional representation (Single transferable voting) was used from 1924 to 1955. Since 1955, Edmonton has been divide into single-member districts and has elected its MLAs through first past the post. Affiliation 1905 1909 1913 1921 1926 1930 1935 1940 1944 1948 1952 1955 FPTPBlock votingBlock votingBlock votingSTVSTVSTVSTVSTVSTVSTVSTV Liberal1225113123 Conservative 23111Social Credit222333Co-operative Commonwealth Federation111Labour1111Veteran's & Active Force1Independent Citizen's Association/People's League31Independent Total 1 2 2 5 5 6 6 5 5 5 7 7
(Note: candidates of the Independent Citizens Association were members of the Unity League, an anti-SC coalition of Liberals, Conservatives and others.)
By-elections From 1924 to 1955, by-elections in Alberta were conducted using instant-runoff voting.
An Edmonton by-election held in 1924 elected a Liberal, replacing Liberal cabinet minister John R. Boyle.A Report on Alberta Elections, page 177
A 1931 by-election in Edmonton elected a Conservative, replacing the deceased Conservative MLA C.Y. Weaver.
In 1942, Elmer Roper was elected in a by-election, replacing anti-SC People's League MLA D.M. Duggan.
Edmonton by-elections held in 1936 and 1937 saw Liberals elected to replace Liberals who had resigned or deceased respectively, so there was no change in party composition.
Election results
1905 Cross was elected as the sole member for the Edmonton district.
1909 This election was conducted using block voting, where each Edmonton voter could cast up to two votes. The two most popular candidates were elected.
(John Galbraith was an labour-activist lawyer. He ran for an aldermanic seat in 1907 and also was author of the futuristic utopian-socialist novel In the New Capital (originally 1897; Penumbra Press reprint 1999).Edmonton Bulletin, Dec. 7, 1907, p. 10
1912 by-election
1913 In the 1913 Alberta general election Premier Arthur Sifton, his lieutenant Charles Wilson Cross and Liberal candidate Alexander Grant MacKay each won nominations in two electoral districts. The Calgary Herald (a Conservative newspaper) surmised that Sifton and Cross were so scared of the electorate they felt they might not win if they ran in just one district. It accused Premier Sifton of having little confidence in his ability to return his government to power. Charles Cross was elected in both districts and sat as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for both Edmonton and Edson.
In this election Edmonton elected two MLAs. The election was conducted using block voting, where each Edmonton voter could cast up to two votes.
(Note: Blayney was a temperance candidate.)Edmonton Bulletin, April 18, 1913, p. 1
1921 This election was conducted using block voting, where each Edmonton voter could cast up to five votes. All in all, 75,758 votes were cast by the approximately 18,000 voters who voted in this election. The percentages shown in the table below indicate the proportion of the voters casting votes who cast votes in the candidate's favour. About a third of the voters casting all five of their votes for the five Liberal candidates accrue a total of 150 "percent" of the votes while the candidates still only receive the support of a third of the voters. With the rest of the votes split among other parties, the Liberals with possibly only a third of the voter support did take all the Edmonton seats in this election.
1924 by-election The first election in Alberta to use ranked voting took place in Edmonton on October 27, following the resignation of Edmonton MLA J.R. Boyle. The by-election winner was determined using Instant-runoff voting, which had just been adopted for election of a single member in a by-election.
W.T. Henry got the most votes in the first count but no candidate received a majority so subsequent counts were held using second choices of the lower-ranking candidates, Independent G.V. Pelton and Labour's H.M. Bartholomew. Henry was elected on the third count, with 5472 votes to A.F. Ewing's 5448.Edmonton Bulletin, Oct. 31, 1924, p. 1
The Labour candidate H.M. Bartholomew, a Communist Party member, showed a strong third place showing, almost exceeding the Conservative candidate on the second count.
The Edmonton Bulletin criticized the new electoral system, saying that the winner was not announced until four days after the election. It wondered whether it might take even longer when several members were being elected and where dozens of candidate were in the field. The writer admitted the "delay may not be materially important but it does lessen popular interest in the election." It saw inconsistency in that the second choices of Pelton's and Bartholomew's supporters were counted while those of Ewing's and Henry's supporters were not counted (although each vote was only counted for one candidate at the end). It also bemoaned that 1359 voters had had their ballot declared spoiled, and pointed out the "delusion" that representation by someone who was not the voter's first choice was any kind of real representation."Confusion worse confounded", Edmonton Bulletin, November 3, 1924, p. 3