Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills

Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills

Alberta electoral district
2010 boundaries
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Alberta
MLA	Nathan Cooper Wildrose
District created	1996
First contested	1997
Last contested	2015

Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. The district was created in 1996 and is mandated to return a single member using the first past the post method of voting.

This riding in south-central Alberta stretches from the Red Deer River in the east to the area around Cremona in the west. Agriculture is the major employer, with retail a distant second. While most of Alberta is benefiting from an oil and gas boom, this constituency has been left behind. Household incomes, at $53,174, are below the Alberta average. Seven per cent of residents are considered low income. More than two-thirds of the people here were born in Alberta, while seven per cent are immigrants. People of German origin make up nine per cent of the population. More than 96 per cent say their language at home is English, the second-highest rate in Alberta. (2001 census)

History

The electoral district was created in the 1996 boundary redistribution from the old electoral districts of Olds-Didsbury and Three Hills-Airdrie.

In the 2004 redistribution the boundaries changed somewhat, with an agricultural section in the far west transferred to Banff-Cochrane, while in the southeast a section of the old Drumheller-Chinook riding - including the community of Carbon - was added. Major communities include Olds, Didsbury, Carstairs, Trochu and Three Hills, as well as Olds College. It covers Kneehill County and most of Mountain View County.

The 2010 boundary redistribution saw the district absorb the northern portions of Airdrie-Chestermere and Foothills-Rocky View which were both abolished and it lost some land on the eastern boundary to Drumheller-Stettler.

Boundary history

69 Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills 2003 Boundaries
Bordering Districts
North	East	West	South
Innisfail-Sylvan Lake	Drumheller-Stettler	Banff-Cochrane, Rocky Mountain House	Airdrie-Chestermere, Foothills-Rocky View, Strathmore-Brooks
riding map goes here
Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.
Starting at the east boundary of Rge. 4 W5 with the north boundary of Sec. 7 in Twp. 34, Rge. 3 W5; then 1. east along the north boundary of Secs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 in the Twp. and Secs. 7, 8, 9 and 10 in Twp. 34, Rge. 2 W5 to the east boundary of Sec. 10; 2. south along the east boundary of Sec. 10 to the north boundary of Sec. 2; 3. east along the north boundary of Sec. 2 to the east boundary of Sec. 2; 4. south along the east boundary of Sec. 2 to the north boundary of Twp. 33; 5. east along the north boundary of Twp. 33 to the east boundary of Rge. 28 W4; 6. north along the east boundary of Rge. 28 W4 to the north boundary of Sec. 6 in Twp. 34, Rge. 27 W4; 7. east along the north boundary of Secs. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 in Rge. 27 W4 and the north boundary of Secs. 6 and 5 in Rge. 26 W4 to the east boundary of Sec. 8; 8. north along the east boundary of Secs. 8, 17, 20 and 29 to the north boundary of Sec. 28 in the Twp.; 9. east along the north boundary of Secs. 28, 27, 26 and 25 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 30, 29 and 28 in Twp. 34, Rge. 25 W4 to the east boundary of Sec. 33 in the Twp.; 10. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 34; 11. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 3 in Twp. 35, Rge. 25 W4; 12. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 2 in the Twp.; 13. east along the north boundary of Secs. 2 and 1 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 in Twp. 35, Rge. 24 W4 to the east boundary of Rge. 24 W4; 14. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 34; 15. east along the north boundary to the right bank of the Red Deer River; 16. downstream along the right bank to the west boundary of the Town of Drumheller; 17. in a generally southeasterly direction along the west boundary of the Town of Drumheller to the north boundary of Sec. 1, Twp. 28, Rge. 20 W4; 18. west along the north boundary of Sec. 1 to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 1; 19. south along the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 1 to the intersection with the Canadian National Railway (CNR) right-of-way; 20. in a southwesterly direction along the CNR right-of-way to the east boundary of Sec. 21, Twp. 27, Rge. 21 W4; 21. north along the east boundary of Secs. 21, 28 and 33 in the Twp. and the east boundary of Secs. 4 and 9 in Twp. 28 to the north boundary of Sec. 9 in Twp. 28, Rge. 21 W4; 22. west along the north boundary of Secs. 9, 8 and 7 in the Twp. and Secs. 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 and 7 in Twp. 27, Rges. 22, 23 and 24 to the east boundary of Rge. 25 W4; 23. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 28; 24. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 28 W4; 25. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 1 in Twp. 29, Rge. 28 W4; 26. west along the north boundary of Secs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 to the east boundary of Sec. 8 in the Twp.; 27. north along the east boundary of Secs. 8 and 17 to the north boundary of Sec. 17 in the Twp.; 28. west along the north boundary of Secs. 17 and 18 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 13, 14 and 15 in Twp. 29, Rge. 29 W4 and the north boundary of Secs. 13, 14 and 15 in Twp. 29, Rge. 1 W5 to the east boundary of Sec. 16 in the Twp.; 29. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 9 in the Twp.; 30. west along the north boundary of Secs. 9, 8 and 7 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 12 and 11 in Twp. 29, Rge. 2 W5 to the east boundary of Sec. 10 in the Twp.; 31. south along the east boundary of Secs. 10 and 3 in the Twp. to the north boundary of Twp. 28; 32. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 6 W5; 33. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 13 in Twp. 29, Rge. 6 W5; 34. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 24 in the Twp.; 35. north along the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 24 to the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 24; 36. west along the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 24 to the east boundary of Sec. 23 in the Twp.; 37. north along the east boundary of Sec. 23 to the north boundary of Sec. 23; 38. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 27; 39. north along the east boundary of Secs. 27 and 34 to the north boundary of Twp. 29, Rge. 6 W5; 40. east along the north boundary of the Twp. to the east boundary of Rge. 6 W5; 41. north along the east boundary of Rge. 6 to the north boundary of Twp. 30, Rge. 6 W5; 42. east along the north boundary of Twp. 30 to the intersection with Highway 22; 43. north along Highway 22 to the intersection with Highway 27; 44. east along Highway 27 to the east boundary of Rge. 4 W5; 45. north along the east boundary to the starting point.
Note:

73 Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills 2010 Boundaries
Bordering Districts
North	East	West	South
Innisfail-Sylvan Lake	Drumheller-Stettler	Banff-Cochrane and Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre	Airdrie, Chestermere-Rocky View and Strathmore-Brooks
Note: Boundary descriptions were not used in the 2010 redistribution

Representation history

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills
Assembly	Years	Member		Party
See Olds-Didsbury 1979-1997 and Three Hills-Airdrie 1993-1997
24th	1997-2001		Richard Marz	Progressive Conservative
25th	2001-2004
26th	2004-2008
27th	2008-2012
	2012		Vacant
28th	2012–2014		Bruce Rowe	Wildrose
	2014–2015			Progressive Conservative
29th	2015-present		Nathan Cooper	Wildrose

Right-leaning parties have fared well in this riding. Richard Marz, the incumbent, has been the riding's only representative since it was founded. In his first election win in 1997, the runner-up was Social Credit candidate Don MacDonald who had previously served as an MLA under the Liberal banner in the Legislative Assembly from 1992-1993.

Marz achieved a landslide running for his second term in the 2001 election taking over 80% of the popular vote. The 2004 election saw the Alliance Party in a distant second with 16.5%. The 2008 election resulted with Marz increasing his votes by 4.66% over the 2004 results. The Alliance Party changed names to the Wildrose Alliance Party and remained well behind with only 21.03% of the vote. Marz vacated the seat ahead of the 2012 general election on March 16, 2012. Wildrose candidate Bruce Rowe was elected in the 2012 provincial election.

Legislature results

1997 general election

1997 Alberta general election results			Turnout 61.61%		Swing
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	%	Party	Personal
	Progressive Conservative	Richard Marz	6,958	57.08%
	Social Credit	Don MacDonald	3,422	28.07%	Liberal	Dave Herbert	1,562	12.82%	*
	New Democratic	Anne Wilson	247	2.03%
Total			12,189
Rejected, spoiled and declined			29
Eligible electors / Turnout			19,830	%
	Progressive Conservative gain		Swing		n/a

2001 general election

2001 Alberta general election results			Turnout 61.27%		Swing
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	%	Party	Personal
	Progressive Conservative	Richard Marz	10,553	80.81%	23.73%
	Liberal	Gayleen Roelfsema	1,663	12.74%	-0.09%
	Social Credit	Nicolas Semmler	460	3.52%	-24.55%
	New Democratic	Brenda Dyck	383	2.93%	0.90%
Total			13,059
Rejected, spoiled and declined			48
Eligible electors / Turnout			21,391	%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		11.91%

2004 general election

2004 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Richard Marz	7,277	59.40%	-21.41%
	Alberta Alliance	Gordon Quantz	2,023	16.51%	–
	Liberal	Tony Vonesch	1,336	10.91%	-1.83%
	Separation	Brian Vasseur	746	6.09%	–
	Green	Sarah Henckel-Sutmoller	469	3.83%	–
	New Democratic	Christopher Davies	257	2.10%	-0.84%
	Social Credit	Myrna Kissick	143	1.17%	-2.36%
Total			12,251	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			70	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			21,718	56.73%	-4.77%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-12.59%
Source(s) Source: "Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Statement of Official Results 2004 Alberta general election" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Retrieved March 27, 2020.

2008 general election

2008 Alberta general election results			Turnout 47.20%		Swing
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	%	Party	Personal
	Progressive Conservative	Richard Marz	7,837	64.06%	4.66%
	Wildrose Alliance	Curt Engel	2,572	21.03%	4.52%	Liberal	Tony Vonesch	1,038	8.49%	-2.42%
	Green	Kate Haddow	518	4.23%	0.40%	*
	New Democratic	Andy Davies	268	2.19%	0.09%
Total			12,233
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			59
Eligible electors / Turnout			26,040	%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		4.59%

2012 general election

2012 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Wildrose	Bruce Rowe	10,182	56.54%	35.51%
	Progressive Conservative	Darcy Davis	6,707	37.24%	-26.82%
	New Democratic	Kristie Krezanoski	565	3.14%	0.95%
	Liberal	Garth E. Davis	555	3.08%	-5.40%
Total			18,009	–	–
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			106	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			29,643	61.11%	11.14%
	Wildrose gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		-11.87%
Source(s) Source: "73 - Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, 2012 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2015 general election

2015 Alberta general election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Wildrose	Nathan Cooper		%
	Progressive Conservative	Wade Bearchell		%
	New Democratic	Glenn Norman		%
	Alberta Party	Jim Adamchick		%
Total
Rejected, spoiled and declined
Eligible electors / Turnout				%

Senate nominee results

2004 Senate nominee election district results

2004 Senate nominee election results: Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills					Turnout 56.98%
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	% Votes	% Ballots	Rank
	Progressive Conservative	Bert Brown	6,517	19.24%	59.43%	1
	Progressive Conservative	Betty Unger	4,721	13.94%	43.05%	2
	Progressive Conservative	Jim Silye	3,687	10.89%	33.62%	5	Independent	Link Byfield	3,483	10.28%	31.76%	4
	Progressive Conservative	Cliff Breitkreuz	3,439	10.15%	31.36%	3
	Progressive Conservative	David Usherwood	2,969	8.77%	27.08%	6
	Alberta Alliance	Vance Gough	2,816	8.31%	25.68%	8
	Alberta Alliance	Michael Roth	2,500	7.38%	22.80%	7
	Alberta Alliance	Gary Horan	2,263	6.68%	20.64%	10	Independent	Tom Sindlinger	1,478	4.36%	13.48%	9
Total Votes			33,873	100%
Total Ballots			10,966	3.09 Votes Per Ballot
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			1,409

Voters had the option of selecting 4 Candidates on the Ballot

Student Vote

2004 election

Participating Schools
Acme School
Carbon School
Didsbury High School
Dr. Elliott School
Prairie Christian Academy
Three Hills School
Trochu Valley School
Westglen 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	%
	Progressive Conservative	Richard Marz	449	42.20%
	Green	Sarah Henckel-Sutmoller	170	15.98%
	Alberta Alliance	Gordon Quantz	154	14.47%	Liberal	Tony Vonesch	120	11.28%
	Separation	Brian Vasseur	109	10.24%	NDP	Christopher Davies	41	3.85%
	Social Credit	Myrna Kissick	21	1.98%
Total			1,064	100%
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			19

2012 election

2012 Alberta Student Vote results
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	Darcy Davis		%
	Wildrose	Bruce Rowe
	Alberta Party			%	NDP	Kristie Krezanoski		%
Total			'	100%

External links

• The Legislative Assembly of Alberta