Bruce (Alberta provincial electoral district)

Bruce was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1940 to 1963.[1]

Bruce

Alberta electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Alberta
District created	1940
District abolished	1963
First contested	1940
Last contested	1959

History

The Bruce electoral district was formed from the Vegreville, Sedgewick, Camrose electoral districts prior to the 1940 Alberta general election. The Acadia electoral district would be abolished and the Vermilion and Vegreville-Bruce electoral districts would be formed in its place prior to the 1963 Alberta general election.

Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs)

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Bruce
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
See Vegreville electoral district from 1909-1940 Sedgewickelectoral district from 1909-1940 and Camrose electoral district from 1909-1940
9th	1940–1944		James L. McPherson	Social Credit
10th	1944–1948
11th	1948–1952		Earl M. Hardy	Social Credit
12th	1952–1955
13th	1955–1959
14th	1959–1963
See Vermilion electoral district from 1963-1971 and and Vegreville-Bruce electoral district from 1963-1971

Election results

1940 general election

1940 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
First Count
	Social Credit	James L. McPherson	2,018	48.01%	–
	Independent	B. C. Gilpin	1,433	34.09%	–
	Co-operative Commonwealth	E. A. Moen	752	9.19%	–
Total			4,203	–	–
Ballot Transfer Results
	Social Credit	James L. McPherson	2,203	55.30%	–
	Independent	B. C. Gilpin	1,781	44.70%	–
Total			3,984	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			122	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			6,027	71.76%	–
	Social Credit pickup new district.
Source(s) Source: "Bruce Official Results 1940 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

1944 general election

1944 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	James L. McPherson	2,024	53.76%	-5.75%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	S. Lefsrud	1,274	33.84%	24.65%
	Independent	B. C. Gilpin	467	12.40%	-21.69%
Total			3,765	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			97	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			5,745	67.22%	-4.54%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		9.96%
Source(s) Source: "Bruce Official Results 1944 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1948 general election

1948 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Earl M. Hardy	2,248	57.01%	3.25%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Beauchamp B. Starky	1,080	27.39%	-6.45%
	Liberal	Alfred Lefsrud	615	15.60%	–
Total			3,943	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			191	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			6,456	64.03%	-3.19%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		4.85%
Source(s) Source: "Bruce Official Results 1948 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1952 general election

1952 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Earl M. Hardy	2,157	52.32%	-4.70%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Sigurd Lefsrud	1,210	29.35%	1.96%
	Liberal	Edwin F. Watson	756	18.34%	2.74%
Total			4,123	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			278	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			6,478	67.94%	3.90%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-3.33%
Source(s) Source: "Bruce Official Results 1952 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1955 general election

1955 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
First Count
	Social Credit	Earl M. Hardy	1,978	43.27%	-8.95%
	Liberal	Clare M. Liden	1,525	33.36%	15.04%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Nancy Zaseybida	998	16.85%	-12.50%
	Conservative	Oliver H. Gunderson	70	1.18%	–
Total			4,571	–	–
Ballot Transfer Results
	Social Credit	Earl M. Hardy	2,105	50.87%	–
	Liberal	Clare M. Liden	2,033	49.13%	–
Total			4,138	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			261	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			6,507	74.26%	6.32%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-5.00%
Source(s) Source: "Bruce Official Results 1955 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1959 general election

1959 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Earl M. Hardy	2,324	55.22%	-39.72%
	Progressive Conservative	Clifford G. Patterson	833	19.79%	–
	Liberal	Clare L. Liden	534	12.69%	-56.31%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Edward I. Thompson	518	12.31%	-4.55%
Total			4,209	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			8	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			6,441	65.47%	-8.79%
	Social Credit hold		Swing		11.23%
Source(s) Source: "Bruce Official Results 1959 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

Plebiscite results

1957 liquor plebiscite

1957 Alberta liquor plebiscite results: Bruce[2]
Question A: Do you approve additional types of outlets for the sale of beer, wine and spirituous liquor subject to a local vote?
Ballot Choice		Votes	%
	No	1,691	63.31%
	Yes	980	36.69%
Total Votes		2,671	100%
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined		21
6,108 Eligible Electors, Turnout 44.07%

On October 30, 1957 a stand-alone plebiscite was held province wide in all 50 of the then current provincial electoral districts in Alberta. The government decided to consult Alberta voters to decide on liquor sales and mixed drinking after a divisive debate in the Legislature. The plebiscite was intended to deal with the growing demand for reforming antiquated liquor control laws.[3]

The plebiscite was conducted in two parts. Question A asked in all districts, asked the voters if the sale of liquor should be expanded in Alberta, while Question B asked in a handful of districts within the corporate limits of Calgary and Edmonton asked if men and woman were allowed to drink together in establishments.[2]

Province wide Question A of the plebiscite passed in 33 of the 50 districts while Question B passed in all five districts. Bruce voted against the proposal by an overwhelming margin. The voter turnout in the district was almost equal to the province wide average of 46%.[2]

Official district returns were released to the public on December 31, 1957.[2] The Social Credit government in power at the time did not considered the results binding.[4] However the results of the vote led the government to repeal all existing liquor legislation and introduce an entirely new Liquor Act.[5]

Municipal districts lying inside electoral districts that voted against the Plebiscite such as Bruce were designated Local Option Zones by the Alberta Liquor Control Board and considered effective dry zones, business owners that wanted a license had to petition for a binding municipal plebiscite in order to be granted a license.[6]

See also

• Alberta provincial electoral districts

References

1. "Election results for Bruce". abheritage.ca. Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
2. Alberta Gazette. 53 (December 31 ed.). Government of Alberta. 1957. pp. 2, 247–2, 249.
3. "Albertans Vote 2 to 1 For More Liquor Outlets". Vol L No 273. The Lethbridge Herald. October 31, 1957. pp. 1–2.
4. "No Sudden Change In Alberta Drinking Habits Is Seen". Vol L No 267. The Lethbridge Herald. October 24, 1957. p. 1.
5. "Entirely New Act On Liquor". Vol LI No 72. The Lethbridge Herald. March 5, 1968. p. 1.
6. "Bill 81". Alberta Bills 12th Legislature 1st Session. Government of Alberta. 1958. p. 40.

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 25 May 2020.

External links

• Elections Alberta
• The Legislative Assembly of Alberta