Lac La Biche-McMurray was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using first-past-the-post balloting from 1971 to 1986.[1]

Lac La Biche-McMurray
Alberta electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of Alberta
District created1971
District abolished1986
First contested1971
Last contested1982

It replaced the district of Lac La Biche with minimal boundary changes in 1971, and when abolished in 1986, was replaced by Athabasca-Lac La Biche and Fort McMurray. It differed from the current Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche riding in that it included the entire city of Fort McMurray.

Representation history

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Members of the Legislative Assembly for Lac La Biche-McMurray
Assembly Years Member Party
See Lac La Biche 1952-1971
17th 1971–1972 Damase
Bouvier
Social Credit
1972–1975 Independent
18th 1975–1979 Ron Tesolin Progressive
Conservative
19th 1979–1982 Norm Weiss
20th 1982–1986
See Fort McMurray 1986–2004 and Athabasca-
Lac La Biche
1986–1993

The riding's first MLA was Dan Bouvier, newly-minted member for Lac La Biche. Elected under the Social Credit banner, he resigned from caucus a year later "in the interest of [his] constituents".[2] He did not run again in the 1975 election.

The riding was then picked up by the governing Progressive Conservatives, with Ron Tesolin winning by a large margin over four rivals. He served only one term as MLA, but Norm Weiss held the riding for the PCs for two more terms.

Lac La Biche-McMurray was then abolished for the 1986 election and replaced with Fort McMurray, where Weiss would go on to serve two more terms, and Athabasca-Lac La Biche, which would be picked up by the New Democrats.

Boundary history

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Electoral results

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1971

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1971 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Social Credit Damase Bouvier 2,679 53.37% -3.50%
Progressive Conservative Elmer Roy 1,927 38.39% +12.93%
New Democratic Kenneth Orchard 414 8.25% +4.01%
Total valid votes 5,020
Rejected, spoiled, and declined 38
Electors / turnout 8,198 61.70%
Social Credit notional hold Swing -8.22%
Source(s)
Source: "Lac La Biche-McMurray Official Results 1971 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1975

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1975 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Ron Tesolin 2,859 53.05% +14.66%
Independent Mike Chandi 737 13.68%
Liberal Jean Davidson 703 13.05%
Social Credit Ken Cochrane 560 10.39% -42.98%
New Democratic Ronald Morgan 530 9.83% +1.59%
Total valid votes 5,389
Rejected, spoiled, and declined 38
Electors / turnout 9,842 55.14% -6.56%
Progressive Conservative gain from Independent Swing +0.49%
Source(s)
Source: "Lac La Biche-McMurray Official Results 1975 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1979

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In the late 70's, the population of Lac La Biche-McMurray inflated alongside the economic boom in the Athabasca oil sands, seen in the near-doubling of eligible electors for the 1979 election.

1979 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Norm Weiss 3,431 49.91% -3.14%
New Democratic Claire Williscroft 1,777 25.85% +16.02%
Social Credit Conrad Sehn 1,347 19.59% +9.20%
Liberal Denise Diesel 320 4.65% -8.40%
Total valid votes 6,875
Rejected, spoiled, and declined 31
Electors / turnout 17,015 40.59% -14.55%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -9.58%
Source(s)
Source: "Lac La Biche-McMurray Official Results 1979 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1982

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1982 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Norm Weiss 6,844 57.37% +7.46%
New Democratic Dermond Travis 3,481 29.18% +3.33%
Western Canada Concept Jim Williams 1,021 8.59%
Liberal Roland Woodward 584 4.90% +0.25%
Total valid votes 11,930
Rejected, spoiled, and declined 133
Electors / turnout 23,569 51.18% +10.59%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing +2.07%
Source(s)
Source: "Lac La Biche-McMurray Official Results 1982 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

References

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  1. ^ "Election results for Lac La Biche-McMurray". abheritage.ca. Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  2. ^ "New House Leader for SoCreds". Montreal Gazette. Edmonton. September 17, 1973. Retrieved August 23, 2016.

Further reading

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