Central Peace-Notley is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district was 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. It was contested for the first time in the 2019 Alberta election.

Central Peace-Notley
Alberta electoral district
Central Peace-Notley within Alberta (2017 boundaries)
Provincial electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of Alberta
MLA
 
 
 
Todd Loewen
United Conservative
District created2017
First contested2019
Last contested2023
Demographics
Population (2016)[1]28,993
Area (km²)47,311
Pop. density (per km²)0.61

The riding takes its name from its central location in the Peace River Country and from Grant Notley, who represented the region in the Legislature from 1971 to 1984 while serving as leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party.

Geography

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Central Peace-Notley is a largely rural riding located in northwestern Alberta.

There are no cities in the riding. Urban municipalities include the towns of Fairview, Falher, Fox Creek, McLennan, Spirit River, and Valleyview. They also include the villages of Berwyn, Donnelly, Girouxville, Hines Creek, and Rycroft.

Central Peace-Notley also covers the entirety of six rural municipalities (Birch Hills County, Clear Hills County, the Municipal District of Fairview No. 136, the Municipal District of Smoky River No. 130, the Municipal District of Spirit River No. 133, and Saddle Hills County) and portions of two others (the Municipal District of Greenview No. 16 and the Municipal District of Peace No. 135)

The riding contains one of the Treaty 6 reserves of the Alexander First Nation (Alexander 134A) and the Treaty 8 reserves of the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, Duncan's First Nation (Duncans 151A) and Horse Lake First Nation (Clear Hills 152C). In addition to a large Indigenous community, the riding is also home to many Franco-Albertans, especially in the Smoky River area.

Clockwise from the north, Central Peace-Notley borders Peace River, Lesser Slave Lake, Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock, West Yellowhead, Grande Prairie-Wapiti, and the province of British Columbia.

History

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Central Peace-Notley
Assembly Years Member Party
Riding created from Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley and Grande Prairie-Smoky
30th  2019–2021     Todd Loewen United Conservative
 2021–2022     Independent
 2022–2023     United Conservative
31st  2023–Present

The district was created in 2017 when the Electoral Boundaries Commission recommended renaming Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley and expanding its borders to include the portion of Grande Prairie-Smoky east of the County of Grande Prairie. The district also lost the area around Grimshaw to the district of Peace River.[2]

Central Peace-Notley along with Lesser Slave Lake are one of two electoral districts in Alberta allowed to have a population between 25 percent and 50 percent below the provincial average, as it satisfies all five conditions laid out in the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act.[3] Central Peace-Notley was created in 2017 with a population of 28,993 which was 38 percent below the average population of an electoral district of 46,803.[2]

The district first elected United Conservative MLA Todd Loewen who had previously been elected to Grande Prairie-Smoky electoral district as a Wildrose candidate in 2015. Loewen defeated NDP candidate, Minister of Energy and Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley district MLA Margaret McCuaig-Boyd by 7,910 votes.[4][5] On May 13, 2021 Loewen and Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes were expelled from the United Conservative caucus and became an independent after calling on Premier Kenney to resign.[6]

Electoral results

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2023

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2023 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
United Conservative Todd Loewen 9,280 77.68 +2.51
New Democratic Megan Ciurysek 2,216 18.55 -0.95
Alberta Independence Rodney Bowen 238 1.99
Alberta Party Lynn Lekisch 166 1.39 -3.19
Solidarity Movement Nancy O'Neill 46 0.39
Total 11,946 99.42
Rejected and declined 70 0.58
Turnout 12,016 58.53
Eligible voters 20,529
United Conservative hold Swing +1.73
Source(s)

2019

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2019 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
United Conservative Todd Loewen 10,680 75.17% 10.31%
New Democratic Margaret McCuaig-Boyd 2,770 19.50% -15.66%
Alberta Party Travis McKim 651 4.58%
Liberal Wayne F. Meyer 106 0.75%
Total 14,207
Rejected, spoiled and declined 55 37 8
Eligible electors / turnout 19,745 72.46%
United Conservative notional hold Swing +17.8%
Source(s)
Source: "55 - Central Peace-Notley, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2015

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Redistributed results, 2015 Alberta election
Party Votes %
Wildrose 4,378 36.39%
New Democratic 4,230 35.16%
Progressive Conservative 3,305 27.47%
Others 118 0.98%

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Statistics Canada: 2016
  2. ^ a b Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission (October 2017). "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 978-1-988620-04-6. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  3. ^ Alberta Queen's Printer (September 17, 2012). "Electoral Boundaries Commission Act". www.qp.alberta.ca. p. 7. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  4. ^ Shokeir, Peter (April 17, 2019). "'A resounding vote': UCP's Loewen wins in Central Peace-Notley". Daily Herald Tribune. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  5. ^ O'Donnell, Sarah (April 16, 2019). "Riding profile: Central Peace-Notley". Edmonton Journal. Edmonton. Post Media. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  6. ^ Bellefontaine, Michelle (May 13, 2021). "Alberta MLAs Todd Loewen, Drew Barnes booted from UCP caucus". CBC News. Edmonton. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  7. ^ "55 - Central Peace-Notley". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
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