Spirit River-Fairview

{{Short description|Defunct provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada}} {{Use Canadian English|date=May 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox Canada electoral district | name =Spirit River-Fairview | province =Alberta | image = | caption = | prov-rep = | prov-rep-party = | prov-rep-party-link = | prov-status =defunct | prov-created =1971 | prov-abolished =1986 | prov-election-first =1971 | prov-election-last =1984 | demo-pop = | demo-census-date = | demo-pop-ref = }}

'''Spirit River-Fairview''' was a provincial electoral district in northwestern Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 1971 to 1986.<ref>{{cite web |title=Election results for Spirit River-Fairview. |url=http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/administration/year_result.php?Constit=Spirit%20River-Fairview |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/2217/20101208183724/http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/administration/year_result.php?Constit=Spirit%20River-Fairview |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 December 2010 |website=abheritage.ca |publisher=Heritage Community Foundation |access-date=22 May 2020}}</ref>

==History== Spirit River-Fairview electoral district was created prior to the 1971 Alberta general election by merger of the Spirit River and Dunvegan electoral districts. The district was abolished in 1986 and recreated into Dunvegan.

===Boundary history=== Spirit River-Fairview was created in 1971 out of Dunvegan and the north half of Spirit River. It contained the communities of Spirit River, Fairview and Rycroft, and extended northward past the Chinchaga River. Its boundaries remained unchanged until it was abolished in 1986 and replaced by the second incarnation of Dunvegan.

===Representation history=== {| class="wikitable" align=right !colspan=5|Members of the Legislative Assembly for Spirit River-Fairview |- !Assembly !Years !colspan="2"|Member !Party |- |align="center" colspan=5|''See Spirit River 1940-1971 and Dunvegan 1959-1971'' |- |17th |1971 - 1975 |rowspan=4 {{Canadian party colour|AB|NDP|background}}| |rowspan=4|Grant Notley |rowspan=4|New Democrat |- |18th |1975 - 1979 |- |19th |1979 - 1982 |- |rowspan=3|20th |1982 - 1984 |- |1984 - 1985 | |colspan=2|Vacant |- |1985 - 1986 |{{Canadian party colour|AB|NDP|background}}| |Jim Gurnett |New Democrat |- |colspan=5 align=center|''See Dunvegan 1986-2004'' |} Spirit River-Fairview's first MLA was NDP leader Grant Notley. He is the father of premier Rachel Notley, who was seven years old when he was first elected. Notley was the only New Democrat elected in 1971, and would remain the party's only MLA until 1982. He served as leader of the opposition until his untimely death in a plane crash on October 19, 1984.<ref>{{cite news |title=The sad forgotten hero of Grant Notley aircraft tragedy |url=https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/chris-nelson-the-sad-forgotten-hero-of-the-grant-notley-aircraft-tragedy |last1=Nelson |first1=Chris |access-date=2 June 2020 |work=National Post |agency=Postmedia News |date=May 7, 2015}}</ref> Notley's closest competition during his career came in 1982 with Progressive Conservative physician Doug Snider who advocated for a hospital to be built in the community.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Magnussen |first1=Hazel J. |title=A doctor's calling: a matter of conscience |date=2006 |publisher=Wembley Publishing |location=Parksville, BC |isbn=978-0-9739843-0-9 |pages=41–43 |url=https://archive.org/details/doctorscallingma00haze |url-access=registration}}</ref>

The resulting by-election in 1985 saw the NDP hold Spirit River-Fairview, with Jim Gurnett serving as MLA for the remainder of the term, after which the riding was abolished. This makes Spirit River-Fairview the only rural riding in Alberta to have elected only New Democrats to the Legislative Assembly.

==Election results==

===1971=== {{CANelec/top|AB|1971|Spirit River-Fairview|percent=yes|change=yes}} {{CANelec|AB|NDP|Grant Notley|2,400|38.74%| +3.43%}} {{CANelec|AB|Social Credit|Adolph Fimrite|2,246|36.26%| -5.58%}} {{CANelec|AB|PC|Don Moore|1,439|23.23%}} {{CANelec|AB|Independent|Michael Zuk|110|1.78%}} {{CANelec/total|Total valid votes<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/administration/year_result.php?Constit=Spirit%20River-Fairview|title=Alberta Heritage Foundation: Results for Spirit River-Fairview|access-date=2016-08-30|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/2217/20101208184240/http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/administration/year_result.php?Constit=Spirit%20River-Fairview|archive-date=2010-12-08}}</ref>|6,195}} {{CANelec/total|Rejected, spoiled, and declined|45}} {{CANelec/total|Electors / Turnout|7,705|80.99%| +13.90%}} {{CANelec/notgain|AB|NDP|Social Credit| +4.51%}} |} ''Swing is calculated from the 1967 result in Dunvegan, which had similar boundaries.''

===1975=== {{CANelec/top|AB|1975|Spirit River-Fairview|percent=yes|change=yes}} {{CANelec|AB|NDP|Grant Notley|3,017|50.83%| +12.09%}} {{CANelec|AB|PC|Alex Woronuk|2,918|49.17%| +25.94%}} {{CANelec/total|Total valid votes|5,935}} {{CANelec/total|Rejected, spoiled, and declined|49}} {{CANelec/total|Electors / Turnout|7,380|81.08%| +0.09%}} {{CANelec/hold|AB|NDP| -6.93%}} |}

===1979=== {{CANelec/top|AB|1979|Spirit River-Fairview|percent=yes|change=yes}} {{CANelec|AB|NDP|Grant Notley|3,657|54.19%| +3.36%}} {{CANelec|AB|PC|Jim Reynolds|2,668|39.53%| -9.64%}} {{CANelec|AB|Social Credit|Aubrey Milner|356|5.27%}} {{CANelec|AB|Liberal|Terry Fletcher|68|1.01%}} {{CANelec/total|Total valid votes|6,749}} {{CANelec/total|Rejected, spoiled, and declined|17}} {{CANelec/total|Electors / Turnout|8,458|80.00%| -1.08%}} {{CANelec/hold|AB|NDP| +6.50%}} |}

===1982=== {{CANelec/top|AB|1982|Spirit River-Fairview|percent=yes|change=yes}} {{CANelec|AB|NDP|Grant Notley|3,443|44.16%| -10.03%}} {{CANelec|AB|PC|Doug Snider|3,260|41.82%| +2.29%}} {{CANelec|AB|Western Canada Concept|Dan Fletcher|1,093|14.02%}} {{CANelec/total|Total valid votes|7,796}} {{CANelec/total|Rejected, spoiled, and declined|38}} {{CANelec/total|Electors / Turnout|9,476|82.67%| +2.67%}} {{CANelec/hold|AB|NDP| -6.16%}} |}

===1985 by-election=== {{Alberta provincial by-election, February 21, 1985/Spirit River-Fairview}}

== See also == * List of Alberta provincial electoral districts * Canadian provincial electoral districts * Spirit River, a town in northern Alberta * Fairview, a town in northern Alberta

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *{{cite book |author1=Office of the Chief Electoral Officer |author2=Legislative Assembly Office |author2-link=Legislative Assembly of Alberta |author-link1=Elections Alberta |title=A Century of Democracy: Elections of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 1905-2005 |date=2006 |publisher=Legislative Assembly of Alberta |series=The Centennial Series |location=Edmonton, AB |isbn=0-9689217-8-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/centennialseries04perr/mode/2up |access-date=25 May 2020}}

==External links== *[http://www.electionsalberta.ab.ca/ Elections Alberta] *[http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ The Legislative Assembly of Alberta]

Category:Former provincial electoral districts of Alberta