Brooks-Medicine Hat 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. It was contested for the first time in the 2019 Alberta election and is presently represented by Premier Danielle Smith.
 Alberta electoral district | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Brooks-Medicine Hat within Alberta (2017 boundaries). | |||
| Provincial electoral district | |||
| Legislature | Legislative Assembly of Alberta | ||
| MLA |
United Conservative | ||
| District created | 2017 | ||
| First contested | 2019 | ||
| Last contested | 2023 | ||
| Demographics | |||
| Population (2016)[1] | 51,070 | ||
| Area (km²) | 13,742 | ||
| Pop. density (per km²) | 3.7 | ||
| Census division(s) | 1, 2 | ||
| Census subdivision(s) | Bassano, Brooks, Cypress County, Duchess, Medicine Hat, Newell County, Redcliff, Rosemary | ||
Geography
editThe district is located in southeastern Alberta, containing the entirety of Newell County and the northern portions of Cypress County and Medicine Hat. It is named for its two largest communities, Medicine Hat and Brooks, and also contains CFB Suffield. Within the city of Medicine Hat, its border with Cypress-Medicine Hat runs southeast along Highway 1, then northeast along Highway 41A until the railroad tracks, then east along the South Saskatchewan River.
History
edit| Brooks-Medicine Hat | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assembly | Years | Member | Party | |
| Riding created from Cypress-Medicine Hat, Medicine Hat and Strathmore-Brooks |
||||
| 30th | 2019–2022 | Michaela Frey | United Conservative | |
| 2022–2023 | Danielle Smith | |||
| 31st | 2023–Present | |||
The district was created in 2017 when the Electoral Boundaries Commission endeavoured to reduce the number of ridings in southern Alberta, owing to slow population growth in the region.[2] The district was created from the eastern half of Strathmore-Brooks, the northern third of Cypress-Medicine Hat, and some of the northern neighbourhoods previously part of Medicine Hat.[2] Based on Statistics Canada information, in 2017, the Brooks-Medicine Hat electoral district had a population of 51,070, which was 9 per cent above the provincial average of 46,803 for a provincial electoral district.[2]
In the 2019 Alberta general election, United Conservative Party (UCP) candidate Michaela Frey[a] was elected with 61 per cent of the vote, defeating New Democratic Party candidate Lynn MacWilliam with 18 per cent of the vote and four other candidates. Independent candidate Todd Beasley was previously removed from the UCP constituency nomination contest by the party after making comments on social media describing Islam as an "evil cult".[3][4] On October 7, 2022, Frey resigned her seat in the Legislative Assembly to allow the newly elected leader of the United Conservative Party and premier, Danielle Smith, to seek a seat in legislature.[5] Smith was elected on November 8, 2022.[6]
Electoral results
edit2023
edit| 2023 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| United Conservative | Danielle Smith | 13,315 | 66.49 | +11.98 | ||||
| New Democratic | Gwendoline Dirk | 5,477 | 27.35 | +0.61 | ||||
| Alberta Party | Barry Morishita | 1,233 | 6.16 | -10.37 | ||||
| Total | 20,025 | 99.54 | – | |||||
| Rejected and declined | 92 | 0.46 | ||||||
| Turnout | 20,117 | 56.85 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 35,385 | |||||||
| United Conservative hold | Swing | -1.82 | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Elections Alberta[7] | ||||||||
2022 by-election
edit| Alberta provincial by-election, 8 November 2022 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| United Conservative | Danielle Smith | 6,919 | 54.51 | -6.15 | ||||
| New Democratic | Gwendoline Dirk | 3,394 | 26.74 | +8.85 | ||||
| Alberta Party | Barry Morishita | 2,098 | 16.53 | +9.60 | ||||
| Alberta Independence | Bob Blayone | 225 | 1.77 | +0.80 | ||||
| Wildrose Independence | Jeevan Mangat | 56 | 0.44 | – | ||||
| Total valid votes | 12,692 | |||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 45 | |||||||
| Turnout | 12,695 | 35.51 | -30.27 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 35,872 | |||||||
| United Conservative hold | Swing | -7.48 | ||||||
Source(s)
Source:Elections Alberta[8] | ||||||||
2019
edit| 2019 Alberta general election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| United Conservative | Michaela Glasgo | 13,606 | 60.66 | -11.42 | $57,924 | |||
| New Democratic | Lynn MacWilliam | 4,012 | 17.89 | -5.33 | $16,573 | |||
| Independent | Todd Beasley | 2,759 | 12.30 | – | $36,347 | |||
| Alberta Party | Jim Black | 1,554 | 6.93 | +4.30 | $10,750 | |||
| Liberal | Jamah Bashir Farah | 281 | 1.25 | +0.05 | $500 | |||
| Alberta Independence | Collin Pacholek | 218 | 0.97 | – | $1,751 | |||
| Total | 22,430 | 99.53 | – | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 105 | 0.47 | ||||||
| Turnout | 22,535 | 65.78 | – | |||||
| Eligible electors | 34,257 | |||||||
| United Conservative notional hold | Swing | -3.05 | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Elections Alberta[9][10][11] Note: Expenses is the sum of "Election Expenses", "Other Expenses" and "Transfers Issued". The Elections Act limits "Election Expenses" to $50,000. United Conservative Party change is calculated from combined Wildrose and Progressive Conservative totals. | ||||||||
2015
edit| Redistributed results, 2015 Alberta election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildrose | 8,886 | 48.40 | ||
| Progressive Conservative | 4,348 | 23.68 | ||
| New Democratic | 4,263 | 23.22 | ||
| Alberta Party | 482 | 2.63 | ||
| Liberal | 220 | 1.20 | ||
| Green | 82 | 0.45 | ||
| Others | 78 | 0.42 | ||
Notes
edit- ^ elected as Michaela Glasgo
References
edit- ^ Statistics Canada: 2016
- ^ a b c Alberta. Electoral Boundaries Commission (October 2017). Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries, and Names for Alberta. Final Report to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta (PDF) (Report). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-1-988620-04-6. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 4, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
- ^ Ward, Rachel (July 16, 2018). "Disqualified UCP candidate stands behind calling Islam an 'evil cult'". CBC News.
- ^ Gallant, Collin (March 13, 2019). "Shunned by UCP, Beasley to run as independent". Medicine Hat News.
- ^ White, Ryan (October 7, 2022). "Brooks-Medicine Hat UCP MLA tenders resignation, encourages Smith to run". CTV News. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
- ^ Herring, Jason (November 9, 2022). "Premier Danielle Smith wins byelection that gives her seat in Alberta legislature". National Post. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
- ^ "52 - Brooks-Medicine Hat". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
- ^ "By-Election November 8, 2022 - 52 - Brooks-Medicine Hat". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- ^ "52 - Brooks-Medicine Hat, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
- ^ Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume II (PDF) (Report). Vol. 2. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 218–224. ISBN 978-1-988620-12-1. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
- ^ Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume III Election Finances (PDF) (Report). Vol. 3. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 68–82. ISBN 978-1-988620-13-8. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.