Beaver River (provincial electoral district)

Beaver River was a provincial electoral district in Alberta mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1913 to 1952.[1] It was created in 1913 from the western half of Pakan, and abolished in 1952 when it and the northern parts of Athabasca were replaced by Lac La Biche.

Beaver River

Alberta electoral district
Defunct provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Alberta
District created	1913
District abolished	1952
First contested	1913
Last contested	1948

Representation history

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Beaver River

Assembly	Years	Member		Party
See Pakan 1909-1913
3rd	1913–1917		Wilfrid Gariépy	Liberal
4th	1917–1921
5th	1921–1926		Joseph Dechêne
6th	1926–1930		John Delisle	United Farmers
7th	1930–1935		Henry Dakin	Liberal
8th	1935–1940		Lucien Maynard	Social Credit
9th	1940–1944
10th	1944–1948
11th	1948–1952		Harry Lobay
See Lac La Biche 1952-1971

Beaver River's first MLA was Liberal Wilfrid Gariépy, a Quebec-born settler whose residency would be the subject of controversy toward the end of his second term. He did not run for a third, choosing instead to return to Trois-Rivières. Liberal Joseph Dechêne won the riding in 1921, but would go on to defeat in 1926. He later became MLA for neighbouring St. Paul.

John Delisle picked Beaver River up for the United Farmers of Alberta, serving only one term. In the 1930 election, a judicial recount declared him narrowly defeated by Liberal Henry Dakin, who would also serve only one term.

In the 1935 Social Credit sweep, Lucien Maynard won Beaver River by a landslide. He easily won re-election twice more, retiring for the 1948 election.

Social Credit kept the riding, with Harry Lobay narrowly beating his Liberal challenger and serving out the riding's last term. It was replaced in 1952, but Lobay would go on to serve another term as MLA for the new riding of Lac La Biche.

Election results

1910s

1913 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wilfrid Gariépy	457	61.67%	–
	Conservative	Ambrose Gray	284	38.33%	–
Total			741	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			1,179	62.85%	–
	Liberal pickup new district.
Source(s) Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1913 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

Alberta provincial by-election, December 15, 1913 Ministerial by-election upon appointment as Minister of Municipal Affairs
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wilfrid Gariépy	Acclaimed	–	–
Total			N/A	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			N/A	N/A	–
	Liberal hold		Swing		–
Source(s) "By-elections". Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 26, 2020.

1917 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wilfrid Gariépy	1,134	64.07%	2.39%
	Conservative	Ambrose Gray	636	35.93%	-2.39%
Total			1,770	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			2,689	65.82%	–
	Liberal hold		Swing		2.39%
Source(s) Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1917 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1920s

1921 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Miville Dechêne	1,560	62.33%	-1.74%
	United Farmers	H. Montambault	943	37.67%	–
Total			2,503	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			3,510	71.31%	–
	Liberal hold		Swing		-1.74%
Source(s) Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1921 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1926 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Farmers	John Delisle	1,168	54.15%	16.47%
	Liberal	Joseph Miville Dechêne	989	45.85%	-16.47%
Total			2,157	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			3,370	64.01%	–
	United Farmers gain from Liberal		Swing		-8.18%
Source(s) Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1926 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1930s

1930 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Farmers	John Delisle	1,028	48.13%	-6.02%
	Liberal	Henry H. Dakin	1,021	47.80%	1.95%
	Independent	Luc Lebel	87	4.07%	–
Total			2,136	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			119	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			3,431	65.72%	–
	Liberal gain		Swing		21.95%
Source(s) Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1930 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Totals and swing for 1930 are based on the initial count; a judicial recount sided in favour of Dakin.

1935 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Lucien Maynard	1,751	53.96%	–
	Liberal	Henry H. Dakin	775	23.88%	-21.97%
	United Farmers	John Delisle	572	17.63%	-36.52%
	Conservative	Walter Allen	147	4.53%	–
Total			3,245	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			N/A	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			4,857	66.81%	–
	Social Credit gain from		Swing		-11.06%
Source(s) Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1935 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1940s

1940 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Lucien Maynard	2,555	57.06%	–
	Independent Liberal	A. Crowther	1,136	25.37%	–
	Co-operative Commonwealth	John Hannochko	669	14.94%	–
	Independent Farmer	J. Bibby	118	2.64%	–
Total			4,478	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			201	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			6,646	70.40%	–
	Social Credit hold		Swing		0.81%
Source(s) Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1940 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1944 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	Lucien Maynard	2,747	60.57%	3.51%
	Co-operative Commonwealth	John Hannochko	1,403	30.94%	16.00%
	Labor–Progressive	Stanley Dumka	385	8.49%	–
Total			4,535	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			159	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			6,757	69.47%	–
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-1.03%
Source(s) Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1944 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1948 Alberta general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
First count
	Social Credit	Harry Lobay	1,992	41.05%	-19.52%
	Liberal	Cecil Belleville	1,579	32.54%	–
	Co-operative Commonwealth	John Hannochko	1,282	26.42%	-4.52%
Total			4,853	–	–
Ballot transfer results
	Social Credit	Harry Lobay	2,117	55.49%	14.44%
	Liberal	Cecil Belleville	1,698	44.51%	–
	Co-operative Commonwealth	John Hannochko	Eliminated	–	–
Total			3,815	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			265	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			7,423	68.95%	–
	Social Credit hold		Swing		-26.03%
Source(s) Source: "Beaver River Official Results 1948 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Instant-runoff voting requires a candidate to receive a plurality (greater than 50%) of the votes. As no candidate received a plurality of votes, the bottom candidate was eliminated and their 2nd place votes were applied to both other candidates until one received a plurality

Overall swing is based on first count. Second-round swing reflects increase in vote share from the first count.

See also

• Alberta provincial electoral districts
• Beaver River a large river in east-central Alberta and central Saskatchewan, Canada.
• Beaver River, Alberta an unincorporated area in central Alberta, Canada within the Municipal District of Bonnyville No. 87.

References

1. "Election results for Beaver River". abheritage.ca. Wayback Machine: Heritage Community Foundation. Archived from the original on December 8, 2010. Retrieved 8 June 2020.

Further reading

• Office of the Chief Electoral Officer; Legislative Assembly Office (2006). A Century of Democracy: Elections of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 1905-2005. The Centennial Series. Edmonton, AB: Legislative Assembly of Alberta. ISBN 0-9689217-8-7. Retrieved 25 May 2020.

External links

• Elections Alberta
• The Legislative Assembly of Alberta