Lac La Biche-McMurray

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
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Alberta
District created	1971
District abolished	1986
First contested	1971
Last contested	1982

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

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

Lac La Biche-McMurray 1970 Boundaries
Bordering Districts
North	East	West	South
N/A	N/A	Lesser Slave Lake, Peace River, Athabasca	Redwater-Andrew, St. Paul, Bonnyville
Legal description from The Legislative Assembly Act, S.A. 1970, c. 34
"The boundary whereof is as follows: Commencing at the north-east corner of the Province; thence southerly along the east boundary of the Province to the north boundary of township 72; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 9, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of township 63; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 10, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the said east boundary to the left bank of the Beaver River; thence upstream along the said left bank to the north boundary of section 32 in township 62, range 10, west of the 4th meridian; thence westerly along the north boundary of township 62 to the east boundary of range 14, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of township 61; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 18, west of the 4th meridian; thence northerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of township 76; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 22, west of the 4th meridian; thence northerly along the said east boundary to the south shore of Pelican Lake; thence in a general northwesterly and north-easterly direction along the shore of the westerly portion of the said Pelican Lake to the north boundary of township 78; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of township 79, range 22, west of the 4th meridian; thence northerly along the east boundary of range 22, west of the 4th meridian to the north boundary of township 84; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the 5th meridian; thence northerly along the said 5th meridian to the north boundary of township 120; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 10, west of the 5th meridian; thence northerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of the Province; thence easterly along the said north boundary to the point of commencement."
Note:

Lac La Biche-McMurray 1977 Boundaries
Bordering Districts
North	East	West	South
N/A	N/A	Lesser Slave Lake, Peace River, Athabasca	Redwater-Andrew, St. Paul, Bonnyville
Legal description from The Legislative Assembly Act, S.A. 1977, c. 28
"—The boundary whereof is as follows: Commencing at the north-east corner of the Province; thence southerly along the east boundary of the Province to the north boundary of township 72; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 9, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of township 63; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 10, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the said east boundary to the left bank of the Beaver River; thence upstream along the said left bank to the north boundary of section 32 in township 62, range 10, west of the 4th meridian; thence westerly along the north boundary of township 62 to the east boundary of range 14, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of township 61; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 18, west of the 4th meridian; thence northerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of township 76; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 22, west of the 4th meridian; thence northerly along the said east boundary to the south shore of Pelican Lake; thence in a general northwesterly And north-easterly direction along the shore of the westerly portion of the said Pelican Lake to the north boundary of township 78; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of township 79, range 22, west of the 4th meridian; thence northerly along the east boundary of range 22, west of the 4th meridian to the north boundary of township 84; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the 5th meridian; thence northerly along the said 5th meridian to the north boundary of township 120; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 10, west of the 5th meridian; thence northerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of the Province; thence easterly along the said north boundary to the point of commencement."
Note:

Electoral results

1971 general election

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 general election

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 general election

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 general election

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

1. "Election results for Lac La Biche-McMurray". abheritage.ca. Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on 8 December 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
2. "New House Leader for SoCreds". Montreal Gazette. Edmonton. 1973-09-17. Retrieved 2016-08-23.

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