Edmonton-Strathcona (provincial electoral district)

This article is about one of two modern provincial electoral districts. For other uses, see Strathcona (disambiguation) § Canadian electoral districts.

Edmonton-Strathcona

Alberta electoral district
Edmonton-Strathcona within the City of Edmonton, 2017 boundaries.
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Alberta
MLA	Rachel Notley New Democratic
District created	1971
First contested	1971
Last contested	2023

Edmonton-Strathcona is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. It shares the same name as the federal electoral district of Edmonton Strathcona.

The boundaries of Edmonton-Strathcona include the neighbourhoods of Garneau, Strathcona, Queen Alexandra, Pleasantview, Allendale, Malmo Plains, Empire Park, Bonnie Doon and Idylwylde, and encompasses the historic district of Old Strathcona.

History

The electoral district has existed since 1971, it was created from Strathcona Centre. The boundaries have changed repeatedly.

The 2010 boundary redistribution made some changes to the boundaries. The northwestern corner of the riding had some small alterations with Edmonton-Riverview. The parcel of land that comprised the east portion of the riding to give it its distinctive ell shape was expanded from Whyte Avenue south to 63 Avenue in land that was part of Edmonton-Mill Creek the eastern border was expanded out to run on the Mill Creek Ravine with Edmonton-Gold Bar.

In the 2015 provincial election, it was the only riding in the province that did not have a Wildrose Party candidate.

Boundary history

41 Edmonton-Strathcona 2003 boundaries
Bordering districts
North	East	West	South
Edmonton-Gold Bar and Edmonton-Centre	Edmonton-Mill Creek and Edmonton-Mill Woods	Edmonton-Riverview	Edmonton-Rutherford
riding map goes here
Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.
Starting at the intersection of the northerly extension of 111 Street with the right bank of the North Saskatchewan River; then 1. generally northeast along the right bank of the North Saskatchewan River to Connors Road; 2. generally southeast along Connors Road to 90 Avenue; 3. east along 90 Avenue to 75 Street; 4. south along 75 Street to Whyte Avenue (82 Avenue); 5. west along Whyte Avenue (82 Avenue) to Gateway Boulevard; 6. south along Gateway Boulevard to Whitemud Drive; 7. west along Whitemud Drive to the centre line of 111 Street; 8. north along the centre line of 111 Street to 61 Avenue; 9. east along 61 Avenue to 109 Street; 10. north along 109 Street to University Avenue; 11. northwest along University Avenue to 112 Street; 12. north along 112 Street to 87 Avenue; 13. east along 87 Avenue to 111 Street; 14. north along 111 Street and its northerly extension to the starting point.
Note:

45 Edmonton-Strathcona 2010 boundaries
Bordering districts
North	East	West	South
Edmonton-Centre and Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood	Edmonton-Gold Bar and Edmonton-Mill Creek	Edmonton-Riverview	Edmonton-Mill Woods and Edmonton-Rutherford
Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2010, Electoral Divisions Act.
Note:

Representation history

Edmonton-Strathcona
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Riding created from Strathcona Centre
17th	1971–1975		Julian Koziak	Progressive Conservative
18th	1975–1979
19th	1979–1982
20th	1982–1986
21st	1986–1989		Gordon Wright	New Democratic
22nd	1989–1990
	1990–1990			Vacant
	1990–1993		Barrie Chivers	New Democratic
23rd	1993–1997		Al Zariwny	Liberal
24th	1997–2001		Raj Pannu	New Democratic
25th	2001–2004
26th	2004–2008
27th	2008–2012		Rachel Notley
28th	2012–2015
29th	2015–2019
30th	2019–2023
31st	2023–Present

The electoral district was created from the constituency of Strathcona-Centre and was first contested in 1971. Changing from a long history of electing Social Credit MLAs in the area, the constituency elected Conservative Julian Koziak from the Conservative landslide of 1971 to a local NDP breakthrough in 1986. In that period, the Conservative candidate was usually elected by a minority of the valid votes, the other votes were split between the SC, Liberal, NDP and other candidates.

Since 1975, the constituency has been one of the more left-leaning ridings in Edmonton and has held by either the NDP (1986–1993, 1997–present) or the Liberals (1993–1997) without interruption since 1986.

The election of 1971 saw a hotly contested three-way race as incumbent Social Credit MLA J. Donovan Ross ran for his sixth term in office. He had served as MLA for the predecessor district Strathcona Centre starting in 1959 and previously as an MLA for the multi-member Edmonton constituency starting in 1952. He was defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate Julian Koziak who won just under half the votes in the constituency. Partly on the strength of a clean sweep of Edmonton, the Tories pushed out Social Credit to win government for the first time. The out-going SC MLA came in second. This was the last good showing of the SC in the district as it drifted off the scene. NDP candidate Timothy Christian polled a strong vote, carrying on the strong showing of the NDP that had previously been shown in that part of Edmonton since the formation of the Alberta NDP in 1962.

Koziak ran for his second term in 1975 and faced a hotly contested race against future NDP MLA Gordon Wright. Koziak was reelected after increasing his share of the vote to 54%, and was appointed to the provincial cabinet by Peter Lougheed in 1975. Koziak and Wright would face each other four more times. Although this was during the height of the Lougheed government's popularity, Wright managed to narrow the margin each time. By 1982 Wright received only 500 fewer votes than Koziak, while Koziak won with about 48 percent of the votes cast.

The 1986 election, which saw the NDP win a record number of seats (16) in the province (up to that time), established the constituency as a stronghold for the NDP. On his sixth attempt for the seat, Wright won in resounding fashion, defeating Koziak by almost 17 points. He won his second term in 1989 with a reduced majority and died a year later on October 18, 1990, leaving the seat vacant. A by-election was held in December 1990 and returned NDP candidate Barrie Chivers with a large majority.

Chivers ran for a second term in office in the 1993 election. He was defeated by Liberal candidate Al Zariwny, who won the riding with just under 40% of the vote. The Liberals swept Edmonton that year, due in part to a massive surge under its leader Laurence Decore, a former Edmonton mayor.

Zariwny did not stand for a second term in office in 1997 and the riding returned NDP candidate Raj Pannu by 58 votes over Liberal candidate Mary McDonald. That race was split almost three ways, with Pannu winning with just 31% of the vote. The third-placing candidate, Progressive Conservative John Logan, finished just 176 votes behind Pannu.

The NDP chose Pannu to be leader of the party in 2000. He ran for a second term a year later in 2001 under the slogan Raj Against the Machine. He was re-elected with a large majority, winning over half the vote. Pannu ceded the leadership of the NDP to Brian Mason in 2004. He ran for his second term in office and won the highest vote count in Edmonton-Strathcona history, with over 60%. Pannu retired from public life at dissolution of the Legislature in 2008.

The current MLA is Rachel Notley who was first elected in the 2008 election. She was re-elected in the 2012 provincial election with the highest share of the vote of any MLA in Alberta, and subsequently became the Premier of Alberta following the results of the 2015 provincial election after succeeding Brian Mason as the leader of the NDP.

Legislative election results

Elections in the 1970s

1971 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Julian Koziak	4,541	49.97%	–
	Social Credit	Joseph Donovan Ross	2,973	32.71%	–
	New Democratic	Timothy Christian	1,574	17.32%	–
Total			9,088	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			46	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			13,051	69.99%	–
	Progressive Conservative pickup new district.
Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Strathcona Official Results 1971 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1975 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Julian Koziak	3,996	54.45%	4.48%
	New Democratic	Gordon S.B. Wright	2,108	28.72%	11.40%
	Social Credit	Betty Horch	768	10.46%	-22.25%
	Liberal	Arthur Yates	415	5.65%	–
	Communist	Kimball Cariou	28	0.38%	–
	Constitutional Socialist	Harry Garfinkel	24	0.33%	–
Total			7,339	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			32	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			13,268	55.55%	-14.43%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		4.24%
Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Strathcona Official Results 1975 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1979 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Julian Koziak	5,464	44.99%	-9.46%
	New Democratic	Gordon S.B. Wright	4,808	39.59%	10.87%
	Social Credit	E.J.C. Charman	927	7.63%	-2.83%
	Liberal	George Walton	739	6.08%	0.43%
	Independent PC	Gerry Ball	155	1.28%	–
	Communist	Joseph Hill	52	0.43%	0.05%
Total			12,145	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			14	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			17,995	67.57%	12.01%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-10.16%
Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Strathcona Official Results 1979 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

Elections in the 1980s

1982 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Julian Koziak	7,105	47.90%	2.91%
	New Democratic	Gordon S.B. Wright	6,643	44.78%	5.19%
	Western Canada Concept	Randy Coombes	743	5.01%	–
	Reform	Murray W. Scambler	279	1.88%	–
	Communist	Joe Hill	64	0.43%	0.00%
Total			14,834	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			51	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			20,216	73.63%	6.06%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-1.14%
Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Strathcona Official Results 1982 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1986 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Gordon S.B. Wright	6,443	54.15%	9.37%
	Progressive Conservative	Julian Koziak	4,467	37.54%	-10.35%
	Liberal	Peter Schneider	788	6.62%	–
	Representative	Shane Gordon Venner	102	0.86%	–
	Western Canada Concept	Dexter B. Dombro	72	0.61%	-4.40%
	Communist	Robin Boodle	26	0.22%	-0.21%
Total			11,898	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			25	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			20,815	57.28%	-16.35%
	New Democratic gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		6.75%
Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Strathcona Official Results 1986 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1989 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Gordon S.B. Wright	6,696	52.08%	-2.07%
	Progressive Conservative	Jack Scott	3,724	28.96%	-8.58%
	Liberal	Philip Lister	2,437	18.95%	12.33%
Total			12,857	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			48	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			21,696	59.48%	2.20%
	New Democratic hold		Swing		8.26%
Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Strathcona Official Results 1989 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Source: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. p. 369. ISBN 0-9689217-8-7. Retrieved May 25, 2020. Note:Alberta Heritage Community Foundation incorrectly lists Philip Lister's vote total as 4,237, when it was 2,437.

Elections in the 1990s

December 17, 1990 by-election results			Turnout 48.51%		Swing
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	%	Party	Personal
	New Democratic	Barrie Chivers	4,927	52.76%	7.08%
	Liberal	Nadene Thomas	2,252	24.11%	-1.82%
	Progressive Conservative	Eric Young	1,512	16.19%	-9.22%
	Greens	Betty Paschen	424	4.54%
	Social Credit	Robert Alford	224	2.40%
Total			9,339
Rejected, spoiled and declined			24
Eligible electors / Turnout			19,252	%
	NDP hold				Swing 4.45%

1993 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Al Zariwny	6,542	39.40%	15.30%
	New Democratic	Barrie Chivers	5,121	30.85%	-21.91%
	Progressive Conservative	Don Grimble	4,071	24.52%	8.33%
	Social Credit	Patrick D. Ellis	460	2.77%	0.37%
	Greens	Elizabeth Paschen	253	1.52%	-3.02%
	Natural Law	E. Benjamin Toane	108	0.65%	–
	Communist	Naomi J. Rankin	47	0.28%	–
Total			16,602	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			60	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			26,440	63.02%	14.38%
	Liberal gain from New Democratic		Swing		18.61%
Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Strathcona Official Results 1993 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1997 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Raj Pannu	4,272	31.84%	0.99%
	Liberal	Mary MacDonald	4,214	31.41%	-8.00%
	Progressive Conservative	John Logan	4,096	30.53%	6.01%
	Social Credit	John Forget	552	4.11%	1.34%
	Greens	Myles Kitagawa	236	1.76%	0.24%
	Natural Law	Eshwar Jagdeo	47	0.35%	-0.30%
Total			13,417	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			41	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			23,886	56.34%	-6.68%
	New Democratic gain from Liberal		Swing		-4.06%
Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Strathcona Official Results 1997 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

Elections in the 2000s

2001 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Raj Pannu	6,998	50.61%	18.77%
	Progressive Conservative	John Logan	4,749	34.35%	3.82%
	Liberal	Jim Jacuta	1,944	14.06%	-17.35%
	Alberta First	James Lakinn	136	0.98%	–
Total			13,827	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			20	27	10
Eligible electors / turnout			24,381	56.84%	0.49%
	New Democratic hold		Swing		7.92%
Source(s) Source: Elections Alberta (March 12, 2001). "Edmonton-Strathcona official results 2001 Alberta general election" (PDF). Retrieved October 6, 2020.

2004 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Raj Pannu	7,463	60.66%	10.04%
	Progressive Conservative	Shannon Stubbs	2,266	18.42%	-15.93%
	Liberal	Steven Leard	1,854	15.07%	1.01%
	Green	Adrian Cole	288	2.34%	–
	Alberta Alliance	Jeremy Burns	273	2.22%	–
	Social Credit	Kelly Graham	160	1.30%	–
Total			12,304	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			77	10	2
Eligible electors / turnout			24,830	49.87%	-6.96%
	New Democratic hold		Swing		12.99%
Source(s) Source: Elections Alberta (November 22, 2004). "Edmonton-Strathcona Statement of Official Results 2004 Alberta general election" (PDF). Retrieved October 6, 2020.

2008 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Rachel Notley	5,862	49.32%	−11.33%
	Progressive Conservative	T.J. Keil	3,031	25.50%	7.09%
	Liberal	Tim Vant	2,452	20.63%	5.56%
	Green	Adrian Cole	540	4.54%	2.20%
Total			11,885	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			36	17	26
Eligible electors / turnout			30,390	39.31%	−10.56%
	New Democratic hold		Swing		−9.21%
Source(s) Source: "41 – Edmonton-Strathcona, 2008 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. The Report on the March 3, 2008 Provincial General Election of the Twenty-seventh Legislative Assembly. Elections Alberta. pp. 336–339.

Elections in the 2010s

2012 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Rachel Notley	9,496	62.58%	+13.25%
	Progressive Conservative	Emerson Mayers	3,038	20.02%	−5.48%
	Wildrose	Meagen LaFave	1,788	11.78%	–
	Liberal	Ed Ramsden	670	4.42%	−16.22%
	Evergreen	Terry Noel	183	1.21%	−3.33%
Total			15,175	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			80	55	28
Eligible electors / turnout			28,079	54.43%	15.12%
	New Democratic hold		Swing		9.37%
Source(s) Source: "45 – Edmonton-Strathcona, 2012 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2015 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Rachel Notley	13,592	82.42%	+19.84%
	Progressive Conservative	Shelley Wegner	2,242	13.59%	−6.43%
	Liberal	Steve Kochan	658	3.99%	−0.43%
Total			16,492	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			78	42	71
Eligible electors / turnout			32,976	50.46%	−3.96%
	New Democratic hold		Swing		13.13%
Source(s) Source: "45 - Edmonton-Strathcona, 2015 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2019 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Rachel Notley	14,724	72.27%	−10.14%
	United Conservative	Kulshan Gill	3,481	17.09%	3.58%
	Alberta Party	Prem Pal	1,139	5.59%	–
	Progressive Conservative	Gary Horan	297	1.46%	−12.14%
	Liberal	Samantha Hees	239	1.17%	−2.82%
	Green	Stuart Andrews	227	1.11%	–
	Alberta Independence	Ian Smythe	86	0.42%	–
	Alberta Advantage	Don Edward Meister	62	0.30%	–
	Communist	Naomi J. Rankin	61	0.30%	–
	Wildrose	Dale Doan	57	0.28%	–
	Independent	Gord McLean	49	0.24%	–
Total valid ballots cast			20,422	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			111	60	17
Eligible electors / turnout			31,695	65.03%	14.56%
	New Democratic hold		Swing		−6.82%
Source(s) Source: "44 - Edmonton-Strathcona, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2023

2023 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Rachel Notley	13,980	79.73	+7.63
	United Conservative	Emad El-Zein	3,032	17.29	+0.25
	Green	Robert Gooding-Townsend	324	1.85	+0.74
	Buffalo	Andrew Jacobson	106	0.60	–
	Wildrose Loyalty Coalition	Robert Nielsen	93	0.53	–
Total			17,535	99.01	–
Rejected and declined			168	0.99
Turnout			17,703	58.36
Eligible voters			30,333
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+3.69
Source(s) Source: Elections Alberta

Senate nominee election results

2004 Alberta Senate nominee election: Edmonton-Strathcona
Party		Candidate	Votes	% votes	% ballots	Place
	Independent	Link Byfield	3,780	16.52	47.76	4
	Progressive Conservative	Betty Unger	3,381	14.77	42.72	2
	Independent	Tom Sindlinger	3,221	14.07	40.70	9
	Progressive Conservative	Bert Brown	2,123	9.28	26.83	1
	Progressive Conservative	Cliff Breitkreuz	2,084	9.11	26.33	3
	Alberta Alliance	Michael Roth	1,924	8.41	24.31	7
	Progressive Conservative	David Usherwood	1,667	7.28	21.06	6
	Alberta Alliance	Vance Gough	1,663	7.27	21.06	8
	Alberta Alliance	Gary Horan	1,627	7.11	20.56	10
	Progressive Conservative	Jim Silye	1,418	6.18	17.92	5
Total valid votes / Total valid ballots			22,888	7,914
Rejected, spoiled and declined			4,335
Registered voters / Turnout			24,830	31.87
Source(s) "Senate Nominee Election 2004 Tabulation of Official Results" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2010.

2012 Alberta Senate nominee election: Edmonton-Strathcona
Party		Candidate	Votes	% votes	% ballots	Place
	Evergreen	Elizabeth Johannson	3,463	13.47	31.49	7
	Progressive Conservative	Doug Black	3,246	12.63	29.52	1
	Independent	Ian Urquhart	2,959	11.51	26.91	10
	Progressive Conservative	Scott Tannas	2,508	9.76	22.81	2
	Progressive Conservative	Mike Shaikh	2,399	9.33	21.82	3
	Independent	Len Bracko	1,985	7.72	18.05	8
	Independent	David Fletcher	1,770	6.89	16.10	9
	Independent	Paul Frank	1,354	5.27	12.31	11
	Independent	William Exelby	1,328	5.17	12.08	12
	Wildrose	Raymond Germain	1,256	4.89	11.42	5
	Wildrose	Rob Gregory	1,241	4.83	11.29	4
	Wildrose	Vitor Marciano	1,120	4.36	10.19	6
	Independent	Perry Chahal	1,077	4.19	9.79	13
Total valid votes / Total valid ballots			25,706	10,996
Rejected, spoiled and declined			3,947
Registered voters / Turnout			28,079	39.16
Source(s) Elections Alberta. "Senate Nominee Election Tabulation of Official Results" (PDF). Retrieved December 16, 2017.

Student vote results

Participating schools
Strathcona High 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
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	%
	NDP	Raj Pannu	350	37.35%
	Liberal	Stephen Leard	279	29.78%
	Progressive Conservative	Shannon Stubbs	177	18.89%
	Green	Adrian Cole	73	7.79%
	Alberta Alliance	Jeremy Burns	37	3.95%
	Social Credit	Kelly Graham	21	2.24%
Total			937	100%
Rejected, spoiled and declined			1

2012 Alberta student vote results
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	%
	NDP	Rachel Notley	588	32.54%
	Progressive Conservative	Emerson Mayers	461	25.51%
	Liberal	Ed Ramsden	413	22.86%
	Wildrose	Meagen LeFave	205	11.34%
	Evergreen	Terry Noel	140	7.75%
Total			1,807	100%

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