Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo
Alberta electoral district
Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo within Alberta, 2017 boundaries
Provincial electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of Alberta
MLA
 
 
 
Tany Yao
United Conservative
District created2003
First contested2004
Last contested2023

Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting.

The district had in recent years been favourable to the election of Progressive Conservative candidates, a trend broken when Tany Yao won it for the Wildrose. Yao joined the United Conservative Party when the Wildrose merged with the PCs.

Geography

Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo is a largely rural riding in the northeast corner of Alberta. Municipally, the riding consists of the northern part of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and almost all of Improvement District No. 24. The riding is home to the bulk of industrial activity relating to the Athabasca oil sands.

The major urban centre in the region, Fort McMurray, is split between this riding and Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, with the northern neighbourhood of Timberlea falling within the boundaries of Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo. Other communities in the riding include the hamlets of Fort Chipewyan, Fort Fitzgerald, and Fort McKay.

Three First Nation band governments are based in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo: Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Fort McKay First Nation, and Mikisew Cree First Nation. Smith's Landing First Nation is based outside of the riding but has several reserves within its boundaries. All of these bands are signatories of Treaty 8.

In addition to Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche to the south, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo also borders the riding of Lesser Slave Lake to the southwest, the riding of Peace River to the west, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the province of Saskatchewan to the east.

History

The electoral district was created in the 2004 electoral boundary re-distribution by merging the electoral district of Fort McMurray with a portion of Athabasca-Wabasca residing in the Municipal district of Wood Buffalo.[1]

The decade that went by since the district was created saw significant population growth due to exploration and development of the oil sands. The 2010 electoral boundary re-distribution resulted in the splitting of the district in two along north south lines creating Fort McMurray-Conklin in the eastern half.[2]

Boundary history

Representation history

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo
Assembly Years Member Party
See Athabasca-Wabasca 1993–2004, Fort McMurray, 1986–2004
and Lesser Slave Lake 1971–2004
26th 2004–2008 Guy Boutilier Progressive Conservative
27th 2008–2009
2009–2010 Independent
2010 Independent Wildrose Alliance
2010–2011 Wildrose Alliance
2011–2012 Wildrose
28th 2012–2013 Mike Allen Progressive Conservative
2013–2014 Independent
2014–2015 Progressive Conservative
29th 2015–2017 Tany Yao Wildrose
2017–2019 United Conservative
30th 2019–2023
31st 2023–

The electoral district was created in the 2003 boundary redistribution. The first election held that year saw Fort McMurray incumbent Progressive Conservative MLA Guy Boutilier win the new seat with a landslide over four other candidates to pick it up for his party.

Boutilier was appointed as Minister of Environment by Premier Ralph Klein in 2004. In 2006 he was shuffled to Minister of International Relations. He ran for a second term as a cabinet minister in the 2008 general election. That election saw him win another big majority.

On July 18, 2009 Boutilier was ejected from caucus by Premier Ed Stelmach after speaking out against the government over a broken promise to put a seniors care facility in Fort McMurray.[5] He sat as an Independent until joining the Wildrose Alliance caucus as an Independent member on June 24, 2010. On October 25, 2010 he became a full member of the caucus.[6]

However, Boutilier was defeated in 2012 by PC Mike Allen. Allen was also ejected from PC caucus in 2013 after being caught in a prostitution sting while on an official trip to Minnesota, but was readmitted to caucus in 2014.[7]

In the 2015 election, Allen was defeated by Wildrose candidate Tany Yao. When the Wildrose and PC parties merged in 2017, Yao joined the new United Conservative Party along with the rest of the Wildrose caucus.

Yao running as a member of the United Conservative Party would once again defeat NDP candidate Stephen Drover in the 2019 general election by a healthy margin of 7,140 votes.

Legislature results

2004 general election

2004 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Progressive ConservativeGuy C. Boutilier4,43363.19%
LiberalRussell W. (Russ) Collicott1,80225.69%
New DemocraticDave Malka4626.59%
Alberta AllianceEugene Eklund2243.19%
IndependentReginald (Reg) Normore941.34%
Total 7,015
Rejected, spoiled and declined 12411
Eligible electors / turnout 26,61826.40%
Progressive Conservative pickup new district.
Source(s)
Source: Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2005). Report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the General Enumeration and General Election of the Twenty-sixth Legislative Assembly (Report). Edmonton: Alberta Legislative Assembly, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer. pp. 302–305.
"Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo Statement of Official Results 2004 Alberta general election" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Retrieved April 10, 2020.

2008 general election

2008 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Progressive ConservativeGuy C. Boutilier4,51963.41+0.21
LiberalRoss Jacobs1,75824.67-1.02
New DemocraticMel Kraley5507.72+1.13
GreensReginald (Reg) Normore3004.21+2.87
Total 7,12799.62
Rejected, spoiled and declined 270.38-0.39
Turnout 7,15419.84-6.71
Eligible electors 36,054
Progressive Conservative hold Swing +0.62
Source(s)
Source: "54 - Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, 2008 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
The Report on the March 3, 2008 Provincial General Election of the Twenty-seventh Legislative Assembly (PDF). Elections Alberta. pp. 414–417. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2012 general election

2012 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Progressive ConservativeMike Allen3,60948.99%–14.42%
Wildrose AllianceGuy C. Boutilier3,16442.95%
New DemocraticDenise Woollard3725.05%–2.67%
LiberalAmy McBain2223.01%–21.65%
Total 7,367
Rejected, spoiled and declined 55320
Eligible electors / turnout 21,84333.98%+14.14%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing –16.35%
Source(s)
Source: "59 - Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, 2012 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Chief Electoral Officer (2012). The Report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the 2011 Provincial Enumeration and Monday, April 23, 2012 Provincial General Election of the Twenty-eighth Legislative Assembly (PDF) (Report). Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 352–355. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.

2015 general election

2015 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
WildroseTany Yao3,83540.03%-2.92%
New DemocraticStephen Drover2,91530.42%25.38%
Progressive ConservativeMike Allen2,48625.95%-23.04%
LiberalRobin Le Fevre3453.60%0.59%
Total 9,581
Rejected, spoiled and declined 37345
Eligible electors / turnout 22,94041.95%+7.97%
Wildrose gain from Progressive Conservative Swing 1.78%
Source(s)
Source: "59 - Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, 2015 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Chief Electoral Officer (2016). 2015 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer (PDF) (Report). Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 325–326.

2019 general election

2019 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
United ConservativeTany Yao10,26971.06%5.00%
New DemocraticStephen Drover3,12921.65%-8.77%
Alberta PartyMarcus Erlandson8045.56%
Alberta IndependenceMichael Keller2491.72%
Total 14,451
Rejected, spoiled and declined 433413
Eligible electors / turnout 22,49764.48%22.54%
United Conservative hold Swing 6.93%
Source(s)
Source: "61 - Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume II (PDF) (Report). Vol. 2. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 275–278. ISBN 978-1-988620-12-1. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
Change and swing for UCP candidate is based on the combination of Wildrose and PC candidate results.

2023 general election

2023 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
United ConservativeTany Yao6,48367.7-3.36
New DemocraticTanika Chaisson1,88419.7-1.95
IndependentFunky Banjoko6256.5
IndependentZulkifl Mujahid3313.5
Alberta PartyBradley Friesen2552.7-2.86
Total 10,455100
Rejected and declined 860.5
Turnout 9,57841.60
Eligible voters 23,219
United Conservative hold Swing -1.41
Source(s)

Senate nominee results

2004 Senate nominee election district results

2004 Senate nominee election results: Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo[9] Turnout 26.45%
Affiliation Candidate Votes % Votes % Ballots Rank
Progressive ConservativeBetty Unger2,56015.87%50.23%2
Progressive ConservativeBert Brown2,21813.75%43.52%1
Progressive ConservativeCliff Breitkreuz1,88211.67%36.92%3
Progressive ConservativeDavid Usherwood1,68310.43%33.02%6
  Independent Link Byfield 1,509 9.36% 29.61% 4
Progressive ConservativeJim Silye1,3558.40%26.58%5
Alberta Alliance Michael Roth 1,338 8.30% 26.25% 7
  Independent Tom Sindlinger 1,233 7.64% 24.19% 9
Alberta Alliance Gary Horan 1,177 7.30% 23.09% 10
Alberta Alliance Vance Gough 1,176 7.28% 23.07% 8
Total Votes 16,131 100%
Total Ballots 5,097 3.17 Votes Per Ballot
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined 1,839

Voters had the option of selecting 4 Candidates on the Ballot

2012 Senate nominee election district results

Student Vote results

2004 election

Participating Schools[10]
Beacon Hill School
Dr. K.A. Clark School
Father Mercredi Catholic High School
Fort McMurray Christian School
Fort McMurray Composite High School
Timberlea Public School

On November 19, 2004 a Student Vote was conducted at participating Alberta schools to parallel the 2004 Alberta general election results. The vote was designed to educate students and simulate the electoral process for persons who have not yet reached the legal majority. The vote was conducted in 80 of the 83 provincial electoral districts with students voting for actual election candidates. Schools with a large student body that reside in another electoral district had the option to vote for candidates outside of the electoral district then where they were physically located.

2004 Alberta Student Vote results[11]
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
Progressive ConservativeGuy Boutilier40038.13%
  NDP Dave Malka 224 21.35%
  Independent Reginald Normore 199 18.97%
  Liberal Russell Collicott 163 15.54%
Alberta AllianceEugene Eklund636.01%
Total 1,049 100%
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined 40

2012 election

2012 Alberta Student Vote results
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
Progressive ConservativeMike Allen%
WildroseGuy Boutilier
  Liberal Amy McBain %
  NDP Denise Woollard %
Total 100%

See also

References

  1. Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (February 2003). "Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries, and Names for Alberta. Final Report to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta". Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  2. Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (June 2010). "Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries, and Names for Alberta. Final Report to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. ISBN 978-0-9865367-1-7. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  3. Electoral Divisions Act, S.A. 2003, c. E-4.1
  4. "Bill 28 Electoral Divisions Act" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. 2010.
  5. Braid, Don (July 17, 2009). "Bold critique of Stelmach endangers Alberta Tory MLA". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on July 18, 2009. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
  6. Bennett, Dean (June 25, 2010). "Former Alberta cabinet minister joins Wildrose Alliance". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
  7. "Alberta MLA Mike Allen back in PC Caucus". Global News. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
  8. "61 - Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  9. "Senate Nominee Election 2004 Tabulation of Official Results" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
  10. "School by School results". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  11. "Riding by Riding Results - the Candidates". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved April 19, 2008.

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