Bow Valley (provincial electoral district)

Bow Valley

Alberta electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Alberta
District created	1913
District abolished	1940
District re-created	1971
District re-abolished	1997
First contested	1913
Last contested	1993

Bow Valley was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1913 to 1940, and again from 1971 to 1997.

History

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Bow Valley
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
See Gleichen electoral district from 1905-1913 and Lethbridge District from 1909-1913
3rd	1913–1913		George Lane	Liberal
	1913–1917		Charles Richmond Mitchell
4th	1917–1921
5th	1921–1926
6th	1926–1930		Joseph Tweed Shaw
7th	1930–1935		John Mackintosh	Independent
8th	1935–1940		Wilson E. Cain	Social Credit
See Edson electoral district from 1940-1971 and Bow Valley-Empress electoral district from 1940-1971
17th	1971–1975		Fred Mandeville	Social Credit
18th	1975–1979
19th	1979–1982
20th	1982–1986		Tom Musgrove	Progressive Conservative
21st	1986–1989
22nd	1989–1993
23rd	1993–1997		Lyle Oberg
See Strathmore-Brooks electoral district from 1996-2019, Drumheller-Chinook electoral district from 1996-2004 and Cypress-Medicine Hat electoral district from 1996-Present

The Bow Valley electoral district was formed in 1913 from the Gleichen and Lethbridge District electoral districts. Bow Valley would be abolished prior to the 1940 Alberta general election, primarily forming Bow Valley-Empress electoral district, and a small portion added to Edson electoral district.

Bow Valley was revived in the 1970 electoral district re-distribution from the Bow Valley-Empress electoral district.

In the 1996 electoral district re-distribution, the Bow Valley electoral district was abolished and the territory was divided among Strathmore-Brooks, Drumheller-Chinook and Cypress-Medicine Hat electoral districts. The Electoral Boundaries Commission drafted the report with the intention of the Strathmore-Brooks electoral district retaining the name "Bow Valley".

Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs)

The 1926 Alberta general election would be the first held under single transferable vote in rural districts. Liberal leader Joseph Tweed Shaw came in second in the first count to United Farmers of Alberta candidate Ben S. Plumer. However, as per the rules of Instant-runoff voting, Plumer was not declared elected because he did not have a majority of the votes. After the least popular candidate was eliminated and his votes transferred, Shaw accumulated a majority and was declared elected. Shaw won the district by one vote.

Election results

1913

1913 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	George Lane	396	61.78%
	Conservative	Harold William Hounsfield Riley	245	38.22%
Total			641
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1913 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1913 by-election

Alberta provincial by-election, June 12, 1913
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Charles Richmond Mitchell	Acclaimed
Called due to resignation of G. Lane to provide seat
Source: "By-elections for the Period of 1905 – 1973". Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 30, 2015.

1917

1917 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Richmond Mitchell	604	58.13%	-3.65%
	Conservative	Edmund F. Purcell	435	41.87%	3.65%
Total			1,039	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			1,466	70.87%	11.58%
	Liberal hold		Swing		-3.65%
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1917 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1921

1921 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Richmond Mitchell	1,694	72.30%	14.17%
	United Farmers	George A. Love	649	27.70%	–
Total			2,343	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			2,669	N/A	N/A
	Liberal hold		Swing		14.17%
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1921 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1926

The leader in first count was not elected in the end after transfer of votes belonging to the least-popular candidate.

1926 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Tweed Shaw	847	35.94%	1,048	-36.36%
	United Farmers	Ben S. Plumer	869	36.87%	1,047	9.17%
	Conservative	Edmund F. Purcell	641	27.20%	–	–
Total			2,357	–	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			188	–	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			3,750	67.87%	–	–
	Liberal hold		Swing		-22.77%
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1926 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Instant-runoff voting requires a candidate to receive a plurality (greater than 50%) of the votes. As no candidate received a plurality of votes, the bottom candidate was eliminated and their 2nd place votes were applied to both other candidates until one received a plurality.

1930

1930 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	John Mackintosh	1,253	56.65%	–
	United Farmers	L.P. Schooling	959	43.35%	6.49%
Total			2,212	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			189	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			2,936	81.78%	13.91%
	Independent gain from Liberal		Swing		7.11%
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1930 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1935

1935 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Wilson E. Cain	1,776	59.76%	–
	Liberal	David Nelson	591	19.89%	–
	United Farmers	J. M. Wheatley	401	13.49%	-29.86%
	Independent	John Mackintosh	204	6.86%	-49.78%
Total			2,972	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			127	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			3,606	85.94%	4.16%
	Social Credit gain from Independent		Swing		13.29%
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1935 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1971

1971 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Fred Mandeville	3,584	68.16%	–
	Progressive Conservative	Don Murray	1,674	31.84%	–
Total			5,258	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			39	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			6,877	77.02%	–
	Social Credit pickup new district.
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1971 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1975

1975 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Fred Mandeville	2,992	58.89%	-9.28%
	Progressive Conservative	Jim C. George	1,906	37.51%	5.68%
	New Democratic	Syd Evans	183	3.60%	–
Total			5,081	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			14	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			7,981	63.84%	-13.18%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-7.48%
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1975 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1979

1979 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Fred Mandeville	4,123	59.81%	0.92%
	Progressive Conservative	Paul Bartlett	2,484	36.03%	-1.48%
	New Democratic	Ron Wickson	201	2.92%	-0.69%
	Liberal	Brian Nearing	86	1.25%	–
Total			6,894	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			21	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			10,076	68.63%	4.79%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		1.20%
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1979 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1982

1982 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Tom N. Musgrove	4,541	60.34%	24.31%
	Independent	Murray Erickson	2,719	36.13%	–
	New Democratic	Bradley Neubauer	266	3.53%	0.62%
Total			7,526	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			35	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			10,985	68.83%	0.20%
	Progressive Conservative gain from Social Credit		Swing		0.22%
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1982 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1986

1986 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Tom N. Musgrove	3,395	57.88%	-2.46%
	Representative	Martha Andrews	1,220	20.80%	–
	Liberal	Bud Olson	1,046	17.83%	–
	New Democratic	Vanore Voaklander	205	3.49%	-0.04%
Total			5,866	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			6	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			12,287	47.79%	-21.04%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		6.43%
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1986 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1989

1989 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Tom N. Musgrove	3,405	60.46%	2.58%
	Liberal	George Timko	1,561	27.72%	9.89%
	New Democratic	Larry D. Kern	666	11.83%	8.33%
Total			5,632	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			12	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			11,486	49.14%	1.35%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-2.17%
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1989 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1993

1993 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Lyle Oberg	5,403	61.25%	0.79%
	Liberal	Peter Hansen	2,424	27.48%	-0.24%
	New Democratic	Richard Knutson	558	6.33%	-5.50%
	Social Credit	Reuben Huber	436	4.94%	–
Total			8,821	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			17	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			14,327	61.69%	12.55%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		0.52%
Source(s) Source: "Bow Valley Official Results 1993 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

See also

• List of Alberta provincial electoral districts

Further reading

• Office of the Chief Electoral Officer; Legislative Assembly Office (2006). A Century of Democracy: Elections of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 1905-2005. The Centennial Series. Edmonton, AB: Legislative Assembly of Alberta. ISBN 0-9689217-8-7. Retrieved May 25, 2020.

External links

• Elections Alberta
• The Legislative Assembly of Alberta