Edmonton Strathcona

Edmonton Strathcona
Alberta electoral district
	Edmonton Strathcona (2013 boundaries)
Federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
MP	Heather McPherson; New Democratic
;
District created	1952
First contested	1953
Last contested	2021
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2016)	106,066
Electors (2019)	77,285
Area (km²)	80
Pop. density (per km²)	1,325.8
Census division(s)	Division No. 11
Census subdivision(s)	Edmonton

Edmonton Strathcona (formerly known as Edmonton—Strathcona) is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1953. It spans the south central part of the city of Edmonton. Edmonton Strathcona was the only federal riding in Alberta not held by the Conservative Party between 2008 and 2015 and 2019 to 2021.

Geography[edit]

The riding is home to most of Edmonton's francophones. The historic district of Old Strathcona, the University of Alberta, the University of Alberta Campus Saint-Jean and the Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre are all located in the riding.

Edmonton Strathcona encompasses the neighbourhoods of Allendale, Argyll, Avonmore, Belgravia, Bonnie Doon, Capilano, Cloverdale, Empire Park, Forest Heights, Fulton Place, Garneau, Gold Bar, Grandview Heights, Hazeldean, Holyrood, Idylwylde, Kenilworth, King Edward Park, Lansdowne, Lendrum Place, Malmo Plains, McKernan, Ottewell, Parkallen, Pleasantview, Queen Alexandra Park, Ritchie, Riverdale, Strathcona, Strathearn, Terrace Heights, and Windsor Park.

It borders on the federal ridings of Edmonton Centre, Edmonton Griesbach, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, Edmonton Mill Woods, and Edmonton Riverbend.

This district is bounded:^[3]

On the north by the North Saskatchewan River (except for a jog that goes around the neighbourhood of Riverdale, which is north of the river).
On the west by the Whitemud Creek from the North Saskatchewan River to Whitemud Drive.
On the south by Whitemud Drive, from Whitemud Creek to the City Limits.
On the east by Edmonton's City Limits.

Political geography[edit]

As evidenced by the 2008 and 2011 elections, this riding is heavily polarized between more urban NDP voters concentrated in the northwest of the riding and suburban Conservative voters concentrated in the south and east.

The NDP picked up this seat in 2008 for the first time in its history, when Edmonton lawyer Linda Duncan defeated Tory incumbent Rahim Jaffer, thanks to a consolidation of non-Conservative votes. They have retained the riding since and it has established itself as clearly the most left-leaning riding in Alberta.

Demographics[edit]

According to the Canada 2011 Census; 2013 representation^[4]^[5]

Ethnic groups: 79.2% White, 4.4% Chinese, 4.3% Aboriginal, 2.8% South Asian, 2.1% Filipino, 1.5% Black, 1.2% Latin American, 1.0% Arab
Languages: 77.3% English, 3.8% French, 3.5% Chinese, 2.5% German, 1.5% Ukrainian, 1.3% Spanish, 1.3% Tagalog
Religions: 52.8% Christian (22.1% Catholic, 5.6% United Church, 3.5% Lutheran, 3.5% Anglican, 2.2% Baptist, 2.0% Christian Orthodox, 1.1% Pentecostal, 13.0% Other), 2.5% Muslim, 1.2% Hindu, 1.1% Buddhist, 40.6% No religion
Median income (2010): $35,026
Average income (2010): $46,710

History[edit]

The Strathcona riding dates back to Territorial times (see Strathcona (electoral district). It was represented by Liberal MPs, then a Liberal MP who after election became a Unionist, then a Conservative), and a United Farmer of Alberta MP in that early incarnation. (This riding was abolished in 1924 and its area was split among the Edmonton East, Edmonton West, Vegreville and Victoria ridings.)

The electoral district of "Edmonton-Strathcona" (later Edmonton Strathcona) was created in 1952 from Edmonton East and Edmonton West ridings.

"Edmonton—Strathcona" gained territory from Edmonton East and was renamed "Edmonton Strathcona" during the 2012 electoral redistribution.

Members of Parliament[edit]

This riding has elected the following members of the House of Commons:

Parliament	Years		Party
Edmonton—Strathcona Riding created from Edmonton East and Edmonton West
22nd	1953–1957	Richmond Francis Hanna	Liberal
23rd	1957–1958	Sydney Herbert Thompson	Social Credit
24th	1958–1962	Terry Nugent	Progressive Conservative
25th	1962–1963
26th	1963–1965
27th	1965–1968
28th	1968–1972	Hu Harries	Liberal
29th	1972–1974	Douglas Roche	Progressive Conservative
30th	1974–1979	Douglas Roche
31st	1979–1980	David Kilgour
32nd	1980–1984
33rd	1984–1988
34th	1988–1993	Scott Thorkelson
35th	1993–1997	Hugh Hanrahan	Reform
36th	1997–2000^{[nb 1]}	Rahim Jaffer	Reform
36th	2000–2000		Alliance
37th	2000–2003^{[nb 2]}		Alliance
37th	2003–2004		Conservative
38th	2004–2006
39th	2006–2008
40th	2008–2011	Linda Duncan	New Democratic
41st	2011–2015	Linda Duncan	New Democratic
Edmonton Strathcona
42nd	2015–2019	Linda Duncan	New Democratic
43rd	2019–2021	Heather McPherson
44th	2021–present	Heather McPherson

Current Member of Parliament[edit]

The current Member of Parliament is Heather McPherson of the New Democratic Party who was first elected in the 2019 federal election and re-elected in the 2021 federal election. After winning 61% of the popular vote in 2021, McPherson holds the largest margin of victory among elected NDP MPs in the 44th parliament.

Election results[edit]

Graph of election results in Edmonton—Strathcona, Edmonton Strathcona (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)