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Highwood (electoral district)

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Highwood
Alberta electoral district
Highwood within the Calgary Metropolitan Region, 2017 boundaries.
Provincial electoral district
LegislatureLegislative Assembly of Alberta
MLA
 
 
 
RJ Sigurdson
United Conservative
District created1979
First contested1971
Last contested2023
Demographics
Census division(s)Division No. 6
Census subdivision(s)Diamond Valley, Foothills County, Okotoks

Highwood is a provincial electoral district in southern Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 in the province mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting.

The district was created in the 1971 boundary redistribution out of the old Okotoks-High River riding and the North part of Pincher Creek-Crowsnest. The district has favoured right leaning parties since its creation. Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta candidates held the district from 1975 until 2012 when they were unseated by the Wildrose Party.

The current representative is RJ Sigurdson, who was first elected in 2019.

History

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The electoral district of Highwood was created in the 1971 boundary redistribution from the old electoral districts of Okotoks-High River and Pincher Creek-Crowsnest.

The 2010 boundary redistribution saw the riding cut down in size. Land south of the town of High River and a portion of land in the northwest of the constituency was transferred to the Livingstone-Macleod riding. A portion of land in the north east was also transferred to the Little Bow riding.[1] The boundary commission had intended to rename Highwood to bring back the Okotoks-High River name but it was quashed in an amendment to the redistribution bill in the Legislative Assembly.

The 2017 redistribution saw more of Highwood transferred to Livingstone-Macleod, this time the entire community of High River. However, the riding expanded westward, now including the town of Black Diamond. The Boundaries Commission renamed the riding Okotoks-Sheep River in their final report, but the Legislative Assembly again chose to retain the name Highwood.

Boundary history

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Representation history

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Highwood
Assembly Years Member Party
Riding created from Okotoks-High River and Pincher Creek-Crowsnest
17th  1971–1975     Edward Benoit Social Credit
18th  1975–1979     George Wolstenholme Progressive Conservative
19th  1979–1982
20th  1982–1986 Harry Alger
21st  1986–1989
22nd  1989–1993 Don Tannas
23rd  1993–1997
24th  1997–2001
25th  2001–2004
26th  2004–2008 George Groeneveld
27th  2008–2012
28th  2012–2014     Danielle Smith Wildrose
 2014–2015     Progressive Conservative
29th  2015–2017     Wayne Anderson Wildrose
 2017–2019     United Conservative
30th  2019–2023 RJ Sigurdson
31st  2023–Present

The electoral district was created in the 1971 boundary redistribution. The first election held that year saw Okotoks-High River incumbent Social Credit MLA Edward Benoit win a very closely contested race to pick up the new seat for his party.

Benoit was defeated in the 1975 election by Progressive Conservative candidate George Wolstenholme. He was re-elected to his second term in the 1979 general election and retired at dissolution of the Legislature in 1982.

The 1982 election garnered great interest as incumbent Western Canada Concept MLA Gordon Kesler tried to win re-election here after winning a by-election is his former riding of Olds-Didsbury. Progressive Conservative candidate Harry Alger defeated Kesler in a landslide. Kesler had originally promised to move into the Olds-Didsbury riding after winning election and had reneged on that promise.

Alger won his second term in the 1986 general election defeating five other candidates. He retired from provincial politics at dissolution of the legislature in 1989. His replacement was Progressive Conservative candidate Don Tannas who won election for the first time that year.

Tannas won re-election three times in the 1993, 1997 and 2001 general elections with increasing majorities every time. He retired from provincial politics at dissolution of the legislature in 2004.

The 2004 general election saw Progressive Conservative candidate George Groeneveld elected MLA. He was appointed to cabinet in 2006 as the Minister of Agriculture by Premier Ed Stelmach. In the 2008 general election he won a landslide majority. In early 2010 Groeneveld was shuffled out of cabinet and returned to the back benches.

The 2012 general election saw the riding returned to opposition control for the first time since 1975 when Wildrose leader Danielle Smith won the open seat, winning her first term in office and becoming Leader of the Official Opposition. However, after Jim Prentice took control of the governing PCs, she and most of her caucus crossed the floor to his party in 2014.

Despite Smith's high profile, she failed to win the PC nomination to stand as the party's candidate in Highwood for the 2015 election. Wildrose re-gained the seat, with Wayne Anderson becoming the new MLA. He subsequently joined the United Conservative Party when the PCs and Wildrose decided to merge.

Legislative election results

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1971

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1971 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Social Credit Edward P. Benoit 2,941 48.06%
Progressive Conservative Eldon C. Couey 2,789 45.58%
New Democratic D. Larry McKillop 389 6.36%
Total 6,119
Rejected, spoiled and declined 31
Eligible electors / turnout 7,921 77.64%
Social Credit pickup new district.
Source(s)
Source: "Highwood Official Results 1971 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1975

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1975 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative George Wolstenholme 4,037 63.87% 18.29%
Social Credit Edward P. Benoit 1,925 30.45% -17.61%
New Democratic Muriel McCreary 234 3.70% -2.66%
Liberal Melbe Cochlan 125 1.98%
Total 6,321
Rejected, spoiled and declined 22
Eligible electors / turnout 9,177 69.12% -8.52%
Progressive Conservative gain from Social Credit Swing 15.46%
Source(s)
Source: "Highwood Official Results 1975 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1979

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1979 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative George Wolstenholme 5,103 66.56% 2.69%
Social Credit Don Dixon 2,092 27.29% -3.17%
New Democratic William C. McCutcheon 281 3.67% -0.04%
Liberal Joan Cowling 191 2.49% 0.51%
Total 7,667
Rejected, spoiled and declined 24
Eligible electors / turnout 11,680 65.85% -3.27%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 2.93%
Source(s)
Source: "Highwood Official Results 1979 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1982

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1982 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Harry E. Alger 7,811 70.08% 3.52%
Western Canada Concept Gordon Kesler 2,006 18.00%
New Democratic William C. McCutcheon 465 4.17% 0.51%
Independent R.L. Snell 436 3.91%
Independent Don Tanner 245 2.20%
Alberta Reform Movement Ronald G. Arkes 183 1.64%
Total 11,146
Rejected, spoiled and declined 30
Eligible electors / turnout 14,495 77.10% 11.25%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 6.40%
Source(s)
Source: "Highwood Official Results 1982 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1986

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1986 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Harry E. Alger 5,336 66.47% -3.61%
New Democratic William C. McCutcheon 1,054 13.13% 8.96%
Representative Murray Meszaros 811 10.10%
Independent Pam McIver 633 7.88% 1.78%
Independent Norman Kientz 142 1.77% -4.34%
Independent Bill Bohdan 52 0.65% -5.46%
Total 8,028
Rejected, spoiled and declined 18
Eligible electors / turnout 15,080 53.36% -23.75%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 0.63%
Source(s)
Source: "Highwood Official Results 1986 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1989

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1989 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Don Tannas 5,481 60.26% -6.21%
Liberal Don Dearle 2,024 22.25%
New Democratic Janis Belgum 1,591 17.49% 4.36%
Total 9,096
Rejected, spoiled and declined 39
Eligible electors / turnout 16,485 55.41% 2.06%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -7.67%
Source(s)
Source: "Highwood Official Results 1989 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1993

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1993 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Don Tannas 8,063 64.88% 4.63%
Liberal Rusti-Ann Blanke 3,159 25.42% 3.17%
Social Credit John Bergen 701 5.64%
New Democratic Marg Elliot 504 4.06% -13.44%
Total 12,427
Rejected, spoiled and declined 22
Eligible electors / turnout 19,169 64.94% 9.53%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 0.73%
Source(s)
Source: "Highwood Official Results 1993 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1997

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1997 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Don Tannas 9,551 69.96% 5.07%
Liberal Howard Paulsen 1,944 14.24% -11.18%
Social Credit John Bergen 1,566 11.47% 5.83%
New Democratic Hugh Logie 592 4.34% 0.28%
Total 13,653
Rejected, spoiled and declined 35 24 3
Eligible electors / turnout 24,225 56.52% -8.43%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 8.13%
Source(s)
Source: "Highwood Official Results 1997 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (1997). Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, November, 1996 general enumeration and Tuesday, March 11, 1997 general election Twenty-fourth Legislative Assembly. Edmonton: Alberta Legislative Assembly, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer.

2001

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2001 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Don Tannas 13,321 79.89% 9.93%
Liberal Leonard Borowski 2,000 11.99% -2.24%
New Democratic Gunhild Hoogensen 773 4.64% 0.30%
Greens Julie Walker 581 3.48%
Total 16,675
Rejected, spoiled and declined 25 16 11
Eligible electors / turnout 29,806 56.07% -0.45%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 6.09%
Source(s)
Source: "Highwood Official Results 2001 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2001). The report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the 2000 provincial confirmation process and Monday, March 12, 2001, Provincial General Election of the twenty-fifth Legislative Assembly. Edmonton: Alberta Legislative Assembly, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer.

2004

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2004 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative George Groeneveld 6,737 63.59% -16.29%
Liberal Lori Czerwinski 1,846 17.42% 5.43%
Alberta Alliance Brian Wickhorst 731 6.90%
Green Sheelagh Matthews 547 5.16% 1.68%
New Democratic Catherine Whelan Costen 433 4.09% -0.55%
Separation Cory Morgan 300 2.83%
Total 10,594
Rejected, spoiled and declined 25 56 0
Eligible electors / turnout 23,519 45.15% -10.92%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -10.86%
Source(s)
Source: "00 - Highwood, 2004 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
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.

2008

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2008 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative George Groeneveld 7,715 65.11% 1.52%
Liberal Stan Shedd 1,647 13.90% -3.53%
Wildrose Alliance Daniel W. Doherty 1,405 11.86% 4.96%
Green John Barrett 691 5.83% 0.67%
New Democratic Carolyn Boulton 391 3.30% -0.79%
Total 11,849
Rejected, spoiled and declined 32 10 2
Eligible electors / turnout 28,922 41.09% -4.06%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 2.52%
Source(s)
Source: "58 - Highwood, 2008 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Chief Electoral Officer (2008). The Report on the March 3, 2008 Provincial General Election of the Twenty-Seventh Legislative Assembly (Report). Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 434–437. Retrieved April 7, 2021.

2012

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2012 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Wildrose Alliance Danielle Smith 10,094 52.59% 40.74%
Progressive Conservative John Barlow 8,159 42.51% −22.60%
Liberal Keegan Gibson 547 2.85% −11.05%
New Democratic Miles Dato 392 2.04% −1.26%
Total 19,192
Rejected, spoiled and declined 50 33 10
Eligible electors / turnout 32,659 58.95% 17.86%
Wildrose Alliance gain from Progressive Conservative Swing −20.56%
Source(s)
Source: "63 - Highwood, 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. 378–382. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.

2015

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2015 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Wildrose Wayne Anderson 8,504 41.07% -11.52%
Progressive Conservative Carrie Fischer 6,827 32.97% -9.54%
New Democratic Leslie Mahoney 3,937 19.01% 16.97%
Alberta Party Joel Windsor 892 4.31%
Green Martin Blake 360 1.74%
Social Credit Jeremy Fraser 187 0.90%
Total 20,707
Rejected, spoiled and declined 61 23 15
Eligible electors / turnout 37,239 55.81% -3.14%
Wildrose hold Swing -0.99%
Source(s)
Source: "63 - Highwood, 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.

2019

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2019 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
United Conservative R.J. Sigurdson 18,635 73.26% -0.78%
New Democratic Erik Overland 4,453 17.51% -1.51%
Alberta Party Ron Kerr 1,988 7.82% 3.51%
Alberta Independence Dan Irving 362 1.42%
Total 25,438
Rejected, spoiled and declined 208 35 9
Eligible electors / turnout 35,422 72.43% 16.62%
United Conservative hold Swing 23.83%
Source(s)
Source: "65 - Highwood, 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. 296–301. ISBN 978-1-988620-12-1. Retrieved April 7, 2021.

2023

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2023 Alberta general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
United Conservative R.J. Sigurdson 17,990 68.90 -4.36
New Democratic Jessica Hallam 7,540 28.88 +11.37
Wildrose Independence Mike Lorusso 580 2.22
Total 26,110 99.22
Rejected and declined 204 0.78
Turnout 26,314 67.31
Eligible voters 39,093
United Conservative hold Swing -7.86
Source(s)

Senate nominee election results

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2004

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2004 Senate nominee election results: Highwood[4] Turnout 43.52%
Affiliation Candidate Votes % votes % ballots Rank
Progressive Conservative Bert Brown 5,568 19.25% 61.73% 1
Progressive Conservative Betty Unger 4,045 13.99% 44.85% 2
Progressive Conservative Jim Silye 3,807 13.17% 42.21% 5
Progressive Conservative Cliff Breitkreuz 3,223 11.15% 35.73% 3
Progressive Conservative David Usherwood 2,932 10.14% 32.51% 6
  Independent Link Byfield 2,566 8.87% 28.45% 4
Alberta Alliance Vance Gough 2,046 7.08% 22.68% 8
Alberta Alliance Michael Roth 1,722 5.95% 19.09% 7
Alberta Alliance Gary Horan 1,621 5.61% 17.97% 10
  Independent Tom Sindlinger 1,388 4.79% 15.39% 9
Total votes 28,918 100%
Total ballots 9,020 3.21 votes per ballot
Rejected, spoiled and declined 1,564

Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot

2012

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Student vote results

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2004

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Participating schools[5]
Highwood High School
Foothills Composite High School
Red Deer Lake School
The Centre for Learning @Home

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[6]
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
  NDP Catherine Whelan Costen 133 29.36%
Progressive Conservative George Groeneveld 110 24.28%
  Liberal Lori Czerwinski 78 17.22%
Alberta Alliance Brian Wickhorst 58 12.80%
Green Sheelagh Matthews 37 8.17%
Separation Cory Morgan 37 8.17%
Total 453 100%
Rejected, spoiled and declined 17

2012

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2012 Alberta student vote results[7]
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
Progressive Conservative John Barlow (Canadian politician) 609 49.39%
Wildrose Danielle Smith 442 35.85%
  Liberal Keegan Gibson 118 9.57%
  NDP Miles Dato 64 5.19%
Total 1233 100%

2019

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Participating schools[8]
Big Rock Elementary
Brant Christian School
C. Ian McLaren School
Calgary Girls' School
Dr. Morris Gibson School
École Secondaire Foothills Composite High/Alberta High School Of Fine Arts
Good Shepherd School
Heritage Heights School
Holy Trinity Academy
Oilfields High School
Red Deer Lake School
Spitzee Elementary School
St. Francis Of Assist Academy
St. Marys School
Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School
Summit West Independent School
Tanbridge Academy
Turner Valley
Westmount School
École Okotoks Junior High School
École Percy Pegler ELEMENTARY

More than 1,230 schools have reported their election results, representing all 87 electoral divisions in the province. In total, 165,527 ballots were cast by student participants. Of that, 2895 votes were cast in the Highwood electoral district.[9]

2019 Alberta student vote results[10]
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
United Conservative RJ Sigurdson 1,606 55.47%
Alberta Party Ron Kerr 558 19.27%
  NDP Erik Overland 496 17.13%
  Independence Party of Alberta Dan Irving 235 8.12%
Total 2895 100%

References

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  1. ^ "Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries, and Names for Alberta" (PDF). Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission. June 2010. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 27, 2011. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  2. ^ "E‑4.1". Statutes of the Province of Alberta. Government of Alberta. 2003. pp. 46–47.
  3. ^ "65 - Highwood". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  4. ^ "Senate Nominee Election 2004 Tabulation of Official Results" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2009. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  5. ^ "School by School results". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
  6. ^ "Riding by Riding Results - the Candidates". Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on February 17, 2005. Retrieved April 19, 2008.
  7. ^ "Province-Wide Summary". Student Vote Canada. Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  8. ^ "2019 School by School results". Student Vote Canada.
  9. ^ "The Results of 2019 Student Vote". Student Vote Canada.
  10. ^ "Province-Wide Summary-2019". Student Vote Canada. Student Vote Canada.
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