Spirit River-Fairview

Spirit River-Fairview was a provincial electoral district in Northwestern Alberta. In 1971 the district created by a merger of the Spirit River and Dunvegan electoral districts. The district was abolished in 1986 and recreated into Dunvegan.

History

Boundary history

Spirit River-Fairview was created in 1971 out of Dunvegan and the north half of Spirit River. It contained the communities of Spirit River, Fairview and Rycroft, and extended northward past the Chinchaga River. Its boundaries remained unchanged until it was abolished in 1986 and replaced by the second incarnation of Dunvegan.

Representation history

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Spirit River-Fairview
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
See Spirit River 1940-1971 and Dunvegan 1959-1971
17th	1971 - 1975		Grant Notley	New Democrat
18th	1975 - 1979
19th	1979 - 1982
20th	1982 - 1984
	1984 - 1985		Vacant
	1985 - 1986		Jim Gurnett	New Democrat
See Dunvegan 1986-2004

Spirit River-Fairview's first MLA was NDP leader Grant Notley. He is the father of premier Rachel Notley, who was seven years old when he was first elected. Notley was the only New Democrat elected in 1971, and would remain the party's only MLA until 1982. He served as leader of the opposition until his untimely death in a plane crash in 1984.

The resulting by-election in 1985 saw the NDP hold Spirit River-Fairview, with Jim Gurnett serving as MLA for the remainder of the term, after which the riding was abolished. This makes Spirit River-Fairview the only rural riding in Alberta to have elected only New Democrats to the Legislative Assembly.

Election results

1970s

Alberta general election, 1971
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	New Democratic	Grant Notley	2,400	38.74%	+3.43%
	Social Credit	Adolph Fimrite	2,246	36.26%	-5.58%
	Progressive Conservative	Don Moore	1,439	23.23%
	Independent	Michael Zuk	110	1.78%
Total valid votes^[1]			6,195
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			45
Electors / Turnout			7,705	80.99%	+13.90%
	New Democratic notional gain from Social Credit		Swing		+4.51%

Swing is calculated from the 1967 result in Dunvegan, which had similar boundaries.

Alberta general election, 1975
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	New Democratic	Grant Notley	3,017	50.83%	+12.09%
	Progressive Conservative	Alex Woronuk	2,918	49.17%	+25.94%
Total valid votes			5,935
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			49
Electors / Turnout			7,380	81.08%	+0.09%
	New Democratic hold		Swing		-6.93%

Alberta general election, 1979
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	New Democratic	Grant Notley	3,657	54.19%	+3.36%
	Progressive Conservative	Jim Reynolds	2,668	39.53%	-9.64%
	Social Credit	Aubrey Milner	356	5.27%
	Liberal	Terry Fletcher	68	1.01%
Total valid votes			6,749
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			17
Electors / Turnout			8,458	80.00%	-1.08%
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+6.50%

1980s

Alberta general election, 1982
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	New Democratic	Grant Notley	3,443	44.16%	-10.03%
	Progressive Conservative	Doug Snider	3,260	41.82%	+2.29%
	Western Canada Concept	Dan Fletcher	1,093	14.02%
Total valid votes			7,796
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			38
Electors / Turnout			9,476	82.67%	+2.67%
	New Democratic hold		Swing		-6.16%

Alberta provincial by-election, October 19, 1984 upon the death of Grant Notley
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	New Democratic	Jim Gurnett	2,509	36.69%	-7.47%
	Progressive Conservative	Verna Block	2,047	29.93%	-11.89%
	Western Canada Concept	Dan Fletcher	1,713	25.05%	+11.03%
	Confederation of Regions	Elmer Knutson	311	4.55%
	Liberal	Rick Nicholson	162	2.37%
	Social Credit	Ray Nielson	79	1.16%
	Heritage	Mike Pawlus	18	0.26%
Total valid votes			6,839
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			11
Electors / Turnout			10,545	64.96%	-17.71%
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+2.21%

References

↑ "Alberta Heritage Foundation: Results for Spirit River-Fairview". Retrieved 2016-08-30.

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