Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo

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.

Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo

Alberta electoral district
Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo within Alberta, 2017 boundaries
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Alberta
MLA	Tany Yao United Conservative
District created	2003
First contested	2004
Last contested	2023

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

54 Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo 2003 boundaries^[3]
Bordering districts
North	East	West	South
none	none	Lesser Slave Lake, Peace River	Lac La Biche-St. Paul
riding map goes here
Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.
Starting at the intersection of the east boundary of Rge. 10 W5 and the north boundary of the Province; then 1. east along the north boundary of the Province to the east boundary of the Province; 2. south along the east boundary of the Province to the north boundary of Twp. 73, Rge. 1 W4 (north boundary of the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range [CLAWR]); 3. west along the north boundary of the CLAWR to the east boundary of Sec. 21, Twp. 73, Rge. 9 W4; 4. north along the east boundary of Secs. 21, 28 and 33 in the Twp. and Secs. 4, 9, 16, 21, 28 and 33 in Twp. 74, Rge. 9 W4 to the north boundary of Twp. 74; 5. west along the north boundary of Twp. 74 to the east boundary of Rge. 10; 6. north along the east boundary of Rge. 10 to the north boundary of Twp. 80; 7. west along the north boundary of Twp. 80 to the east boundary of Rge. 13 W4; 8. south along the east boundary of Rge. 13 to the north boundary of Sec. 13 in the Twp.; 9. west along the north boundary of Secs. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 in the Twp. to the east boundary of Rge. 14 W4; 10. north along the east boundary of Rge. 14 to the north boundary of Twp. 80; 11. west along the Twp. to the intersection with the right bank of the Athabasca River; 12. downstream along the right bank of the Athabasca River to the intersection with the east boundary of Rge. 18 W4 in Twp. 86; 13. north along the east boundary of Rge. 18 to the north boundary of Twp. 95; 14. west along the north boundary of Twp. 95 to the east boundary of Rge. 20 W4; 15. north along the east boundary of Rge. 20 to the north boundary of Twp. 96; 16. west along the north boundary of Twp. 96 to the 5th meridian; 17. north along the 5th meridian to the north boundary of Twp. 111; 18. east along the north boundary of Twp. 111 to the east boundary of Rge. 23 W4; 19. north along the east boundary of Rge. 23 to the north boundary of Twp. 112; 20. west along the north boundary of Twp. 112 to the 5th meridian (Wood Buffalo National Park boundary); 21. north, west and north along the park boundary to the starting point.
Note:

59 Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo 2010 boundaries^[4]
Bordering districts
North	East	West	South
Northwest Territories boundary	Fort McMurray-Conklin	Lesser Slave Lake and Peace River	Fort McMurray-Conklin
Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2010, Electoral Divisions Act.
Note: Boundary descriptions were not used in the 2010 redistribution

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.

Legislative election results

2004

v t e 2004 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Guy C. Boutilier	4,433	63.19%	–
	Liberal	Russell W. (Russ) Collicott	1,802	25.69%	–
	New Democratic	Dave Malka	462	6.59%	–
	Alberta Alliance	Eugene Eklund	224	3.19%	–
	Independent	Reginald (Reg) Normore	94	1.34%	–
Total			7,015	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			12	41	1
Eligible electors / turnout			26,618	26.40%	–
	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

v t e 2008 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Guy C. Boutilier	4,519	63.41	+0.21
	Liberal	Ross Jacobs	1,758	24.67	-1.02
	New Democratic	Mel Kraley	550	7.72	+1.13
	Greens	Reginald (Reg) Normore	300	4.21	+2.87
Total			7,127	99.62	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			27	0.38	-0.39
Turnout			7,154	19.84	-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

v t e 2012 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Mike Allen	3,609	48.99%	–14.42%
	Wildrose Alliance	Guy C. Boutilier	3,164	42.95%	–
	New Democratic	Denise Woollard	372	5.05%	–2.67%
	Liberal	Amy McBain	222	3.01%	–21.65%
Total			7,367	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			55	32	0
Eligible electors / turnout			21,843	33.98%	+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. (PDF) from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.

2015

v t e 2015 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Wildrose	Tany Yao	3,835	40.03%	-2.92%
	New Democratic	Stephen Drover	2,915	30.42%	25.38%
	Progressive Conservative	Mike Allen	2,486	25.95%	-23.04%
	Liberal	Robin Le Fevre	345	3.60%	0.59%
Total			9,581	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			37	34	5
Eligible electors / turnout			22,940	41.95%	+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

v t e 2019 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Conservative	Tany Yao	10,269	71.06%	5.00%
	New Democratic	Stephen Drover	3,129	21.65%	-8.77%
	Alberta Party	Marcus Erlandson	804	5.56%	–
	Alberta Independence	Michael Keller	249	1.72%	–
Total			14,451	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			43	34	13
Eligible electors / turnout			22,497	64.48%	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

v t e 2023 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Conservative	Tany Yao	6,483	67.7	-3.36
	New Democratic	Tanika Chaisson	1,884	19.7	-1.95
	Independent	Funky Banjoko	625	6.5	–
	Independent	Zulkifl Mujahid	331	3.5	–
	Alberta Party	Bradley Friesen	255	2.7	-2.86
Total			10,455	100	–
Rejected and declined			86	0.5
Turnout			9,578	41.60
Eligible voters			23,219
	United Conservative hold		Swing		-1.41
Source(s) Source: Elections Alberta^[8]

Senate nominee election results

2004

2004 Senate nominee election results: Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo^[9]					Turnout 26.45%
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	% votes	% ballots	Rank
	Progressive Conservative	Betty Unger	2,560	15.87%	50.23%	2
	Progressive Conservative	Bert Brown	2,218	13.75%	43.52%	1
	Progressive Conservative	Cliff Breitkreuz	1,882	11.67%	36.92%	3
	Progressive Conservative	David Usherwood	1,683	10.43%	33.02%	6
	Independent	Link Byfield	1,509	9.36%	29.61%	4
	Progressive Conservative	Jim Silye	1,355	8.40%	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 four candidates on the ballot

2012

Student vote results

2004

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 Conservative	Guy Boutilier	400	38.13%
	NDP	Dave Malka	224	21.35%
	Independent	Reginald Normore	199	18.97%
	Liberal	Russell Collicott	163	15.54%
	Alberta Alliance	Eugene Eklund	63	6.01%
Total			1,049	100%
Rejected, spoiled and declined			40

2012

2012 Alberta student vote results
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Mike Allen		%
	Wildrose	Guy Boutilier
	Liberal	Amy McBain		%
	NDP	Denise Woollard		%
Total				100%

See also

• List of Alberta provincial electoral districts

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). . 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. (PDF). Elections Alberta. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
10. . Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
11. . Student Vote Canada. Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved April 19, 2008.

External links

• Elections Alberta
• The Legislative Assembly of Alberta
• Demographics for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo