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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Calgary Centre (provincial Electoral District)

Calgary Centre was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting from 1959 to 1971.

History

The original Centre Calgary district was first created during a brief period when the Calgary riding was split three ways. The other two districts were Calgary South and Calgary North.

The second incarnation was during the re-distribution of 1959 when Alberta moved from Single Transferable Vote to First Past the Post.

The riding was last contested in the 1967 Alberta general election, after which the Alberta Legislature passed the 1970 An Act to amend The Election Act and The Legislative Assembly Act to redraw provincial electoral districts. Calgary Centre and Calgary Victoria Park were split between Calgary-Buffalo, Calgary-Mountain View, Calgary-Bow, Calgary-Millican and Calgary-North Hill.

The riding covered the Downtown Calgary.

1959 redistribution

The historic 1959 redistribution of the provincial ridings of Calgary and Edmonton marked the transition back to First Past the Post. From 1926 to 1959 Calgary and Edmonton, elected members with Single Transferable Vote. The rest of the province had an option of how to count ballots to elect members in single seat ridings.

The redistribution created seven ridings in Calgary, two of those still exist today. Calgary and Edmonton were becoming too large to be a single riding.

The other six ridings were Calgary Bowness, Calgary West, Calgary Glenmore, Calgary North, Calgary North East, Calgary South East.

Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs)

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary Centre
Assembly Years Member Party
See Calgary electoral district from 1921-1959
14th  1959–1963     Frederick C. Colborne Social Credit
15th  1963–1967
16th  1967–1971
See Calgary-West electoral district from 1971-Present,
Calgary-Millican electoral district from 1971-1993
and Calgary-Buffalo electoral district from 1971-Present

Election results

1959

1959 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Social Credit Fred C. Colborne 4,824 53.79% 0.00%
Progressive Conservative Runo Berglund 2,642 29.46% 0.00%
Liberal Gordan Arnell 1,154 12.87% 0.00%
Co-operative Commonwealth Grant McHardy 349 3.89% 0.00%
Total 8,969
Rejected, spoiled and declined 16
Eligible electors / turnout 16,884 53.22%
Source(s)
Source: "Calgary-Centre Official Results 1959 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1963

1963 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Social Credit Fred C. Colborne 4,395 61.63% 7.85%
Liberal E. Virgil Anderson 1,878 26.34% 13.47%
New Democratic Mrs. Melba Cochlan 757 10.62%
Communist Dave Raichman 101 1.42%
Total 7,131
Rejected, spoiled and declined 48
Eligible electors / turnout 17,567 40.87%
Social Credit hold Swing 5.48%
Source(s)
Source: "Calgary-Centre Official Results 1963 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1967

1967 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Social Credit Fred C. Colborne 3,873 40.85% -20.78%
Progressive Conservative Chuck Cook 3,359 35.43%
Liberal John Starchuk 1,275 13.45% -12.89%
New Democratic Mrs. Margaret Hanley 973 10.26% -0.35%
Total 9,480
Rejected, spoiled and declined 90
Eligible electors / turnout 17,554 54.52%
Social Credit hold Swing -14.94%
Source(s)
Source: "Calgary-Centre Official Results 1967 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Election results for Calgary Centre". abheritage.ca. Wayback Machine: Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  2. ^ The Election Act, RSA 1970, c. 117

Further reading

51°02′53″N 114°04′19″W / 51.048°N 114.072°W / 51.048; -114.072