Banff-Cochrane

Template:Short description Template:Use Canadian English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Template other Banff-Cochrane was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1940 to 1975, and again from 1979 to 2019. The Banff-Cochrane electoral district is home to the town of Banff and the popular tourist destination Banff National Park, environmental issues tend to dominate here.

The cost of living is significantly high especially in Canmore where there is a struggle to fill low wage service sector jobs, due to the high cost of living. Bears and wildlife encounters are also common in this riding, requiring extra attention to waste disposal. The area has many ski resorts and a number of ranchers and farmers make their home in the Alberta Foothills.

The riding was first created in 1940 out of the north half of the old Rocky Mountain riding, and the Cochrane riding. From 1975 to 1979 the riding was renamed Banff but was later reversed.

History

The electoral district has existed twice. The first iteration was created in the 1940 boundary re-distribution from the electoral districts of Cochrane and Rocky Mountain. From 1940 to 1956, the district used instant-runoff voting to elect its MLA.

In 1975 the riding name was changed to Banff and it was set back to Banff-Cochrane in the 1977 re-distribution.

The 2010 electoral boundary re-distribution saw Banff-Cochrane gain the land south of Cochrane that was in the old Foothills-Rocky View electoral district.

The Banff-Cochrane electoral district was dissolved in the 2017 electoral boundary re-distribution, and portions of the district would form the newly created Banff-Kananaskis and Airdrie-Cochrane electoral districts.

Boundary history

45 Banff-Cochrane 2003 boundaries
Bordering districts
North	East	West	South
Rocky Mountain House	Foothills-Rocky View, Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, Highwood	none	Livingstone-Macleod
riding map goes here		map in relation to other districts in Alberta goes here
Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.
Starting at the intersection of the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5 and the east boundary of Banff National Park; then 1. in a generally southeasterly direction along the park boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 30; 2. east along the north boundary of the Twp. to the east boundary of Rge. 8 W5; 3. north along the east boundary of Rge. 8 W5 to the intersection with the right bank of the Red Deer River; 4. downstream along the right bank to the north boundary of Twp. 31; 5. east along the north boundary of the Twp. to the east boundary of Sec. 33 in Twp. 31, Rge. 6 W5; 6. south along the east boundary of Secs. 33, 28, 21 and 16 to the north boundary of Sec. 10 in the Twp.; 7. east along the north boundary of Secs. 10, 11 and 12 in the Twp. to the east boundary of Rge. 6; 8. south along the east boundary of Rge. 6 to the north boundary of Twp. 29, Rge. 6 W5; 9. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 34; 10. south along the east boundary of Secs. 34 and 27 to the north boundary of Sec. 23 in the Twp.; 11. east along the north boundary of Sec. 23 to the east boundary of Sec. 23; 12. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 24 in the Twp.; 13. east along the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 24 to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 24; 14. south along the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 24 to the north boundary of Sec. 13; 15. east along the north boundary of Sec. 13 to the east boundary of Rge. 6 W5; 16. south along the east boundary of Rge. 6 to the north boundary of Sec. 12, Twp. 27, Rge. 6 W5; 17. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 11; 18. south along the east boundary of Secs. 11 and 2 in Twp. 27 and the east boundary of Secs. 35, 26, and 23 in Twp. 26 to the west shore of the Ghost Lake Reservoir; 19. south along the west shore to the north boundary of Sec. 12 in the Twp.; 20. east along the north boundary of Sec. 12 to the southeast shore of the Ghost Lake Reservoir and the northeast boundary of the Stoney Indian Reserve No. 142, 143 and 144; 21. generally east and south along the Stoney Indian Reserve No. 142, 143 and 144 to the west town boundary of Cochrane (at the east boundary of Sec. 8 in Twp. 26, Rge. 4 W5); 22. north along the east boundary of Sec. 8 to the north boundary of Sec. 9; 23. east along the north boundary of Secs. 9, 10, 11 and 12 to the east boundary of Rge. 4 W5; 24. south along the east boundary of Rge. 4 W5 to the east town boundary of Cochrane; 25. south, west and north along the Cochrane town boundary to the east boundary of the Stoney Indian Reserve No. 142, 143 and 144; 26. westerly along the boundary of the Stoney Indian Reserve No. 142, 143 and 144 to the intersection with the east boundary of Rge. 6 W5; 27. south along the east boundary of Rge. 6 to the north boundary of Twp. 23 and the intersection with the east boundary of the Rocky Mountains Forest Reserve; 28. south and east along the east boundary of the Rocky Mountains Forest Reserve to the north boundary of Sec. 14 in Twp. 15, Rge. 3 W5 (Highway 532); 29. southwesterly along the boundary of the Cataract Creek Snow Vehicle Forest Land Use Zone described in Order In Council 998/79 to the east boundary of Rge. 6 W5; 30. south along the east boundary of Rge. 6 W5 to the north boundary of Twp. 13; 31. west along the north boundary of Twp. 13 to the Alberta-British Columbia boundary; 32. northwesterly along the boundary to its intersection with the north boundary of Twp. 32; 33. northeast along a projected line to the starting point.
Note:

49 Banff-Cochrane 2010 boundaries
Bordering districts
North	East	West	South
Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre	Airdrie, Chestermere-Rocky View, Livingstone-Macleod and Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills	British Columbia boundary	Livingstone-Macleod
File:BanffCochrane electoral district 2010.jpg		File:BanffCochrane in Alberta.jpg
Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2010, Electoral Divisions Act.
Note:

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Banff-Cochrane
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
See Cochrane 1909–1940 and Rocky Mountain 1909–1940
9th	1940–1944	Template:Canadian party colour|	Frank Laut	Independent
10th	1944–1946	Template:Canadian party colour|	Arthur Wray	Social Credit
	1946–1948	rowspan=2 Template:Canadian party colour|		Independent Social Credit
11th	1948–1952
12th	1952–1955	Template:Canadian party colour|	Lee Leavitt	Social Credit
13th	1955–1959	rowspan=3 Template:Canadian party colour|	Frank Gainer	Coalition
14th	1959–1963
15th	1963–1967
16th	1967–1971	Template:Canadian party colour|	Clarence Copithorne	Independent
	1971	rowspan=2 Template:Canadian party colour|		Progressive Conservative
17th	1971–1975
See Banff 1975–1979
19th	1979–1982	rowspan=10 Template:Canadian party colour|	Greg Stevens	Progressive Conservative
20th	1982–1986
21st	1986–1989
22nd	1989–1993	Brian Evans
23rd	1993–1997
24th	1997–2001	Janis Tarchuk
25th	2001–2004
26th	2004–2008
27th	2008–2012
28th	2012–2015	Ron Casey
29th	2015–2019	Template:Canadian party colour|	Cam Westhead	New Democratic
See Banff-Kananaskis and Airdrie-Cochrane 2019–

Electoral history

The electoral district was created in the 1940 boundary redistribution primarily from the ridings of Cochrane and Rocky Mountain. The first representative to win the district was Independent candidate Frant Laut who defeated former Cochrane Social Credit incumbent William King in a hotly contested race.

Laut was defeated running for a second term in the 1944 general election by Social Credit candidate Arthur Wray. Two years into his term Wray was suspended by the Social Credit caucus on February 20, 1946 for criticizing the Alberta government after requests to the Public Works department to remove snow from Cochrane roads was ignored. The situation came to a head a year later when the Social Credit members passed a motion in the legislature to force Wray to move his desk to the opposition side of the house. His stand against cabinet won praise from his constituents in Cochrane.

The 1948 election would see a hotly contested battle as King and Laut attempt to regain their seat. Wray hung on to a second term in vote transfers. Wray would run for a third term in the 1952 election but would be defeated finishing a distant third by Social Credit candidate Lee Leavitt.

Leavitt was defeated by Frank Gainer who was one of two joint nominee's by the Progressive Conservative and Liberal parties in the 1955 election. He ran with the Coalition banner and sat in the legislature with it. Gainer won re-election in a hotly contested race in 1959. Pundits at the time figured he would be chosen to lead the four opposition members of different stripes with his Coalition banner, however no one was picked. He won a third term in 1963 before retiring in 1967.

The wide open race in 1967 saw Independent candidate Clarence Copithorne defeat Social Credit candidate Roy Wilson to win the district. Copithorne joined the Progressive Conservative caucus on April 15, 1971. He stood for reelection as a Progressive Conservative a few months later winning a strong plurality. He retired from provincial politics at dissolution in 1975.

In 1975 the riding name was changed to Banff before being changed back in 1979. Progressive Conservative candidate Greg Stevens held the district for three terms before retiring in 1993. He was replaced by Brian Evans for two terms. Janis Tarchuck was elected in 2001 and served until 2012 when she was replaced by Ron Casey. Ron Casey would be defeated by NDP member Cameron Westhead in the 2015 general election.

Senate nominee election results

2004

2004 Senate nominee election results: Banff-Cochrane					Turnout 38.05%
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	% votes	% ballots	Rank	Independent	Link Byfield	2,094	10.83%	33.29%	4	Independent	Tom Sindlinger	1,588	8.21%	25.24%	9	Michael Roth	1,130	5.84%	17.96%	7	Vance Gough	1,109	5.74%	17.62%	8	Gary Horan	1,041	5.39%	16.55%	10
Total votes			19,335	100%
Total ballots			6,291	3.07 votes per ballot
Rejected, spoiled and declined			1,826

Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot.

Plebiscite district results

1948 electrification plebiscite

District data for the 1948 electrification plebiscite

Option A	Option B
Are you in favour of the generation and distribution of electricity being continued by the Power Companies?	Are you in favour of the generation and distribution of electricity being made a publicly owned utility administered by the Alberta Government Power Commission?
2,624     64.31%	1,456     35.69%
Province wide result: Option A passed.

1957 liquor plebiscite

1957 Alberta liquor plebiscite results: Banff-Cochrane
Question A: Do you approve additional types of outlets for the sale of beer, wine and spirituous liquor subject to a local vote?
	Ballot choice	Votes	%
	Yes	2,324	78.33%
	No	643	21.67%
Total votes		2,967	100%
Rejected, spoiled and declined		37
6,237 eligible electors, turnout 48.16%
Question B1: Should mixed drinking be allowed in beer parlours in Calgary and the surrounding areas?
	Ballot choice	Votes	%
	Yes	115	87.12%
	No	17	12.88%
Total votes		132	100%
Rejected, spoiled and declined		0
242 eligible electors, turnout 54.55%

On October 30, 1957 a stand-alone plebiscite was held province wide in all 50 of the then current provincial electoral districts in Alberta. The government decided to consult Alberta voters to decide on liquor sales and mixed drinking after a divisive debate in the legislature. The plebiscite was intended to deal with the growing demand for reforming antiquated liquor control laws.

The plebiscite was conducted in two parts. Question A, asked in all districts, asked the voters if the sale of liquor should be expanded in Alberta, while Question B, asked in a handful of districts within the corporate limits of Calgary and Edmonton, asked if men and women should be allowed to drink together in establishments. Question B was slightly modified depending on which city the voters were in.

Province wide Question A of the plebiscite passed in 33 of the 50 districts while Question B passed in all five districts. Banff-Cochrane voted overwhelmingly in favor of the plebiscite. The district recorded a slightly above average voter turnout, a few points above the province wide 46% average. The landslide in favour of Question A was attributed to recognition of the tourist industry in Banff and the national parks.

Banff-Cochrane also voted on question B1 with a number of residents lying inside the electoral district within the corporate limits of Calgary. Residents voted for mixed drinking with a super majority. Turnout for question B was also quite high.

Official district returns were released to the public on December 31, 1957. The Social Credit government in power at the time did not consider the results binding. However the results of the vote led the government to repeal all existing liquor legislation and introduce an entirely new Liquor Act.

Municipal districts lying inside electoral districts that voted against the plebiscite were designated Local Option Zones by the Alberta Liquor Control Board and considered effective dry zones. Business owners who wanted a license had to petition for a binding municipal plebiscite in order to be granted a licence.

Daylight saving plebiscites

1967

District data from the 1967 daylight saving plebiscite

Do you favour province-wide daylight saving time?
For	Against
2,323   48.17%	2,499   51.82%
Province wide result: Failed

1971

District data from the 1971 daylight saving plebiscite

Do you favour province-wide daylight saving time?
For	Against
4,034   59.46%	2,750   40.54%
Province wide result: Passed

Student vote results

2004

Participating schools
Holy Spirit Catholic School
Lawerence Grassi Middle School
Mitford Middle School
Our Lady of the Snows

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 than where they were physically located.

2004 Alberta student vote results
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%
Total			405	100%
Rejected, spoiled and declined			16

2012

2012 Alberta student vote results
Affiliation		Candidate

See also

• List of Alberta provincial electoral districts
• Canadian provincial electoral districts

External links

• Elections Alberta
• The Legislative Assembly of Alberta
• Current Riding Map Banff-Cochrane
• Alberta Heritage - election results 1905 – 2001 and riding distribution data
• Pete Helfrich for Banff-Cochrane