Victoria was one of the original 25 provincial electoral districts in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, named for Fort Victoria on the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventual ...

. It was mandated to return a single member to the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...

by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

method until 1917, and by

instant-runoff voting Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of ranked preferential voting method. It uses a majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referred to as ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the Un ...

from 1926 until it was abolished in 1940.

History

Boundary history

The Victoria electoral district was one of the original 25 electoral districts contested in the

1905 Alberta general election The 1905 Alberta general election was the first general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on November 9, 1905, to elect twenty-five members of the Alberta legislature to the 1st Alberta Legislative Assembly, shortly after the provi ...

upon Alberta joining

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

in September 1905. The district was carried over from the old

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

electoral district which returned a single member to the

Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories (with Northwest hyphenated as North-West until 1906), is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a uni ...

from 1894 to 1905. The old electoral district had covered the part of the

District of Alberta The District of Alberta was one of four districts of the Northwest Territories created in 1882. It was styled the Alberta Provisional District to distinguish it from the District of Keewatin which had a more autonomous relationship from the N ...

directly north and east of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. The new province moved Victoria's boundary further east to the Fourth Meridian, to reflect the change in Alberta's shape, while the northwest part of Victoria became the new district of

Sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretace ...

Jack Shera John "Jack" William Shera was a Canadian politician who served as a Member of the legislative assembly, Member of the North-West Legislative Assembly from 1898 until 1905, representing the district of Victoria (N.W.T. electoral district), Victor ...

the incumbent from the Northwest Territories Legislature who was first elected in 1898 Northwest Territories general election was defeated in the 1905 general election by

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Francis A. Walker. In 1909, the area north of the

was split off to create the

Pakan district Pakan District is an administrative district in Sarikei Division, Sarawak, Malaysia, covering an area of . The town of Pakan is the capital of the Pakan district, located 45 km from the town of Sarikei Sarikei is a town, and the capital of ...

, named for the town at Fort Victoria. This greatly reduced Victoria's size and moved its namesake outside of its boundaries. It covered approximately the same area as the present-day

Lamont County Lamont County is a municipal district in central Alberta, Canada, located in Census Division No. 10, northeast of Edmonton. The county contains 27 Townships. Its municipal office is located in the Town of Lamont. History In March 1944, th ...

, along with

Fort Saskatchewan Fort Saskatchewan is a city along the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta, Canada. It is northeast of Edmonton, the provincial capital. It is part of the Edmonton census metropolitan area and one of 24 municipalities that constitute the Edmont ...

. Victoria disappeared in 1940 when it was merged with Whitford to create Willingdon.

Representation history

Victoria's first MLA was Francis A. Walker, defeating incumbent N.W.T. MLA

. He served as a backbencher with the

government for all four terms it was in power. In 1917, he was returned to the Legislature by

acclamation An acclamation is a form of election that does not use a ballot. It derives from the ancient Roman word ''acclamatio'', a kind of ritual greeting and expression of approval towards imperial officials in certain social contexts. Voting Voice vot ...

because the province declared all active servicemen in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

re-elected. However, in 1921 William Fedun, a Ukrainian immigrant, narrowly defeated Walker to capture Victoria for the upstart

United Farmers of Alberta The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is an association of Alberta farmers that has served different roles in its 100-year history – as a lobby group, a successful political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. As a political party, it forme ...

, which formed government after the election. He chose to retire after one term. UFA candidate

Rudolph Hennig Rudolph Hennig (May 5, 1886 – February 28, 1969) was a politician from Alberta, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1926 to 1935 as a member of the United Farmers of Alberta. Political career Hennig first ran for the ...

again narrowly won Victoria in 1926 on the second count, despite another strong challenge from Walker. He served one term but did not win the UFA nomination in the next election. 1930 saw the closest election yet in Victoria, with UFA candidate

Peter Miskew Peter Alexander Miskew (27 November 1899 – 9 September 1965) was a politician and lawyer from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1930 to 1935 sitting with the United Farmers caucus in government a ...

defeating his Liberal opponent by less than 100 votes. However, Miskew would almost immediately cross the floor to the Liberal opposition. When the United Farmers were swept out of power in 1935,

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

candidate

Samuel Calvert Samuel Wesley Calvert (September 16, 1867 – March 11, 1956) was a soldier and politician. He served as mayor of Chipman, Alberta, and as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935 to 1940 sitting with the Social Credit caucus i ...

, another WWI veteran, easily captured Victoria for his party. After his first term, Victoria was abolished in time for the 1940 election, and Calvert chose to retire from politics.

Election results

1900s

The returning officer for the 1905 election in Victoria was Albert Ernest Archer. In 1909, no candidates stood against Francis Walker, and he was declared

acclaimed An acclamation is a form of election that does not use a ballot. It derives from the ancient Roman word ''acclamatio'', a kind of ritual greeting and expression of approval towards imperial officials in certain social contexts. Voting Voice vot ...

1910s

''1913 swing is calculated from the 1905 election.'' In 1917, because Walker was an active serviceman in

, he was automatically re-elected by acclamation for a second time.

1920s

''1921 swing is calculated from the 1913 election.'' For the 1926 election, the UFA government introduced

alternative vote Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of Ranked voting, ranked preferential Electoral system, voting method. It uses a Majority rule, majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referr ...

in rural constituencies. Since no candidate won a majority in the first round, second preferences were included. , - !colspan=6, Final count , - , , colspan=2, No preference , align=378 ''Final count swing represents vote share increase from the initial count. Overall swing is calculated from the initial count.''

1930s

References

External links

Elections AlbertaThe Legislative Assembly of Alberta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Victoria (Alberta Provincial Electoral District) Former provincial electoral districts of Alberta