Peace River South

Peace River South is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. It was created under the name South Peace River by the Constitution Amendment Act, 1955, which split the old riding of Peace River into northern and southern portions for the 1956 B.C. election. Its current name has been in use since 1991.

Peace River South (1991–)
South Peace River (1956–1991)

British Columbia electoral district
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
MLA	Mike Bernier Liberal
District created	1955
First contested	1956
Last contested	2013

Demographics

Population, 2001	28,097
Population change, 1996–2001	-9.2%
Area (km²)	32,085
Population density (people per km²)	0.94

Geography

As of the 2017 provincial election, Peace River South comprises the southern portion of the Peace River Regional District, located in eastern British Columbia. The electoral district is bordered by Alberta in the east. Communities in the electoral district consist of Dawson Creek, Chetwynd, Tumbler Ridge and Pouce Coupe.[1]

History

Member of Legislative Assembly

This riding has elected the following Members of the Legislative Assembly:

History

Assembly	Years	Member		Party
Peace River prior to 1956
South Peace River
25th	1956–1960		Stanley Carnell	Social Credit
26th	1960–1963
28th	1963–1966
28th	1966–1969		Donald M. Phillips
29th	1969–1972		Donald Albert Marshall
	1972			Progressive Conservative
30th	1972–1975		Donald M. Phillips	Social Credit
31st	1975–1979
32nd	1979–1983
33rd	1983–1986
34th	1986–1991		Jack Weisgerber
Peace River South
35th	1991–1995		Jack Weisgerber	Social Credit
	1995–1996			Reform
36th	1996–1997
	1997–2001			Independent
37th	2001–2005		Blair Lekstrom	Liberal
38th	2005–2009
39th	2009–2010
	2010–2011			Independent
	2011–2013			Liberal
40th	2013–2017		Mike Bernier
41st	2017–present

Its most recent Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is Mike Bernier. He was first elected in 2013 and represents the British Columbia Liberal Party.

Election results

Peace River South, 1991–present

2017 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Mike Bernier	6,637	75.97	$26,175
	New Democratic	Stephanie Goudie	2,099	24.03	$8,179
Total valid votes			8,736	100.00
Total rejected ballots			131	1.48
Turnout			8,867	49.97
Source: Elections BC[2]

2013 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Mike Bernier	4,373	46.73	-16.35	$107,254
	Conservative	Kurt Zane Peats	2,546	27.21	-	$26,829
	New Democratic	Darwin Wren	1,988	21.24	-5.79	$36,616
	Independent	Tyrel Andrew Pohl	451	4.82	-	$2,668
Total valid votes			9,358	100.00
Total rejected ballots			37	0.39
Turnout			9,395	49.89
	Liberal hold		Swing		–21.78
Source: Elections BC[3]

2011 British Columbia sales tax referendum
Side		Votes	%
	Yes	4,073	58.82
	No	2,852	41.18

2009 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Blair Lekstrom	4,801	63.08	+5.34	$83,241
	New Democratic	Pat Shaw	2,057	27.03	–5.73	$13,686
	Green	Grant Fraser	553	7.00	–2.50	$350
	Independent	Donna Young	220	2.89	–	$1,976
Total valid votes			7,611	100.0
Total rejected ballots			44	0.57
Turnout			7,655	44.0
	Liberal hold		Swing		+5.54

2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum
Side		Votes	%
	FPTP	4,884	66.31
	BC-STV	2,481	33.69

2005 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Blair Lekstrom	5,810	57.74	–6.46	$67,507
	New Democratic	Pat Shaw	3,296	32.76	+25.07	$19,318
	Green	Ariel Lade	956	9.50	+5.42	$200
Total valid votes			10,062	100.0
Total rejected ballots			71	0.71
Turnout			10,133	56.3
	Liberal hold		Swing		–15.76

2005 British Columbia electoral reform referendum
Side		Votes	%
	Yes	5,279	54.24
	No	4,453	45.76

2001 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Blair Lekstrom	6,393	64.20	+33.35	$58,198
	Social Credit	Grant Mitton	1,726	17.33	+13.64	$12,655
	New Democratic	Elmer Kabush	767	7.69	–23.19	$865
	Marijuana	Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek	444	4.45	–	$3,288
	Green	Stacey Dean Lajeunesse	407	4.08	+2.89	$100
	Unity	Garret Golhof	225	2.25	–	$1,540
Total valid votes			9,962	100.0
Total rejected ballots			34	0.34
Turnout			9,996	62.37
	Liberal gain from Reform		Swing		+9.86

1996 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Reform	Jack Weisgerber	3,901	31.89	–5.32	$15,351
	New Democratic	Patrick Michiel	3,778	30.88	–0.10	$19,349
	Liberal	Brian Haddow	3,774	30.85	+2.55	$22,822
	Social Credit	Aime Girard	452	3.69	–33.52	$7,548
	Progressive Democrat	Wade Alexander Allan	183	1.50	–	$100
	Green	Shane Hartnell	145	1.19	–2.32	$100
Total valid votes			12,233	100.0
Total rejected ballots			49	0.40
Turnout			12,282	62.60
	Reform gain from Social Credit		Swing		+16.00

1991 British Columbia general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Social Credit	Jack Weisgerber	4,617	37.21	$24,824
	New Democratic	Anne Matheson	3,844	30.98	$16,578
	Liberal	Marcheta D. N. Leoppky	3,512	28.30	$3,345
	Green	Hermann E. Bruns	435	3.51	$1,394
Total valid votes			12,408	100.0
Total rejected ballots			308	2.42
Turnout			12,716	69.72

Question A: Recall
Side		Votes	%
	Yes	9,706	86.15
	No	1,561	13.85

Question B: Ballot Initiatives
Side		Votes	%
	Yes	9,759	88.86
	No	1,223	11.14

South Peace River, 1956–1991

References

1. "Peace River South Electoral District" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
2. "Statement of Votes – 41st Provincial General Election – May 9, 2017" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
3. "Statement of Votes - 40th Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 17 May 2017.

External links

• BC Stats Profile - 2001 (pdf)
• Results of 2001 election (pdf)
• 2001 Expenditures
• Results of 1996 election
• 1996 Expenditures
• Results of 1991 election
• 1991 Expenditures
• Website of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia