Calgary-Varsity

Template:Short description Template:Use Canadian English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox Canada electoral district Calgary-Varsity is a provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The district was created in 1993 and returns a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

It comprises the communities of Varsity, Dalhousie, Brentwood, Banff Trail, University Heights, Parkdale, Point Mckay, and Charleswood (part of the Triwood community which also includes Collingwood west of 19th St NW).

History

The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution out of parts of three electoral districts. They were Calgary-Foothills, Calgary-North Hill and Calgary-North West.

The 2010 boundary redistribution saw the district only slightly altered. It picked up some land from Calgary-Bow and Calgary-Mountain View when the south boundary was moved south to run completely along the Bow River and it also picked up a few blocks of houses from Calgary-North Hill when the east boundary between 17th Ave NW and 24 Ave NW was moved one block over to 18 Street NW

Boundary history

23 Calgary-Varsity 2003 boundaries
Bordering districts
North	East	West	South
Calgary-Foothills and Calgary-Nose Hill	Calgary-North Hill	Calgary-Bow and Calgary-North West	Calgary-Mountain View
riding map goes here		File:Calgary Provincial Riding - Calgary Varsity.svg
Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.
Starting at the intersection of Sarcee Trail NW with John Laurie Boulevard NW; then 1. southeast along John Laurie Boulevard NW to 19 Street NW; 2. south along 19 Street NW to 16 Avenue NW; 3. west along 16 Avenue NW to Shaganappi Trail NW; 4. north along Shaganappi Trail NW to 32 Avenue NW; 5. west along 32 Avenue NW and its westerly extension to the right bank of the Bow River; 6. north along the right bank of the Bow River to the southerly extension of Silver Springs Boulevard NW; 7. north along the extension and Silver Springs Boulevard NW to Silver Springs Gate NW; 8. east and north along Silver Springs Gate NW to Sarcee Trail NW; 9. north along Sarcee Trail NW to the starting point.
Note:

26 Calgary-Varsity 2010 boundaries
Bordering districts
North	East	West	South
Calgary-Foothills and Calgary-Mackay-Nose Hill	Calgary-Klein	Calgary-Bow and Calgary-Hawkwood	Calgary-Currie and Calgary-Mountain View
File:CalgaryVarsity electoral district 2010.jpg		File:CalgaryVarsity in Calgary.jpg
Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2010, Electoral Divisions Act.
Note:

Representation history

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary-Varsity
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
See Calgary-Foothills and Calgary-North Hill 1971-1993, Calgary-North West 1979-1993
23rd	1993–1997	rowspan=3 Template:Canadian party colour|	Murray Smith	Progressive Conservative
24th	1997–2001
25th	2001–2004
26th	2004–2008	rowspan=2 Template:Canadian party colour|	Harry Chase	Liberal
27th	2008–2012
28th	2012–2014	Template:Canadian party colour|	Donna Kennedy-Glans	Progressive Conservative
	2014	Template:Canadian party colour|		Independent
	2014–2015	Template:Canadian party colour|		Progressive Conservative
29th	2015–2019	Template:Canadian party colour|	Stephanie McLean	New Democratic
	2019	Template:Canadian party colour|	Vacant
30th	2019–2023	Template:Canadian party colour|	Jason Copping	United Conservative
31st	2023–present	Template:Canadian party colour|	Luanne Metz	New Democratic

The electoral district was created in 1993 and comprised land that had existed in three electoral districts. The region at that era had returned a mixture of Liberal and Progressive Conservative representatives.

In the first election in the district held in 1993, the district saw a closely contested race between Progressive Conservative candidate Murray Smith and Liberal candidate Carrol Jaques. Smith would win with a plurality of 47%. Premier Ralph Klein appointed Smith to his first cabinet post as Minister of Economic Development and Tourism in 1994. He would be shuffled to the Labour portfolio in 1996.

Smith and Jaques faced each other again in the 1997 election with both candidates losing popular vote. Smith however won his second term by taking a majority of the ballots cast. After the election Smith kept his Labour portfolio until 1999 when he was shuffled to be the Minister of Gaming.

The 2001 election would see Jaques and Smith face each other for the third time. The result would be a near landslide in Smith's favour. After the election Smith would once again change cabinet portfolios this time becoming Minister of Energy until he retired at dissolution of the assembly in 2004.

Liberal candidate Harry Chase was elected as the second representative of the riding in the 2004 election with nearly 45% of the vote. He won his second term in 2008 with a slightly larger plurality.

In 2012 Progressive Conservative candidate Donna Kennedy-Glans was elected with 46% of the vote. She briefly sat as an independent in protest of Alison Redford's leadership.

In 2015 New Democrat candidate Stephanie McLean was elected with 44% of the vote. After serving in the cabinet of Rachel Notley, she stepped down as MLA shortly before the 2019 election.

In 2019 despite the NDP attracting a star candidate to run in Calgary-Varsity, Anne McGrath, she was defeated by United Conservative candidate Jason Copping.

In 2023 NDP candidate Luanne Metz - a clinical neurologist and researcher - defeated the incumbent Minister of Health, Jason Copping.

Legislative election results

Elections in the 2010s

2015 Alberta general election redistributed results
Party		Votes	%	8,322	40.16	6,137	29.61	3,034	14.64	2,510	12.11	456	2.20	233	1.12	32	0.15

Elections in the 2000s

Template:CANelec/top Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/hold Template:CANelec/source |}

Template:CANelec/top Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/gain Template:CANelec/source |}

Template:CANelec/top Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/hold Template:CANelec/source |}

Elections in the 1990s

Template:CANelec/top Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/hold Template:CANelec/source |}

Template:CANelec/top Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/total Template:CANelec/pickup Template:CANelec/source |}

Senate nominee election results

2004 Senate nominee election results: Calgary-Varsity					Turnout 54.44%
	Affiliation	Votes	% votes	% ballots	Rank	Independent	Link Byfield	3,812	11.97%	35.26%	4	Independent	Tom Sindlinger	2,920	9.17%	27.01%	9	Vance Gough	2,105	6.61%	19.47%	8	Michael Roth	1,895	5.95%	17.53%	7	Gary Horan	1,547	4.61%	14.31%	10
Total votes			31,847	100%
Total ballots			10,810	2.95 votes per ballot
Rejected, spoiled and declined			3,517

Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot

Student vote results

Participating schools
Banff Trail School
Brentwood Elementary
Ecole Varsity Acres School
F. E. Osborne Junior High School
H.D. Cartwright Junior High School
Jerry Potts Elementary
Sir William Van Horne High School
William Aberhart High 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
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	%	Liberal	Harry Chase	424	30.44%	Richard Larson	282	20.24%	NDP	Mark Gabruch	203	14.57%
Total			1,393	100%
Rejected, spoiled and declined			95

See also

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

External links

• The Legislative Assembly of Alberta