| Lesser Slave Lake | |
| Province: | Alberta |
| Prov-Rep: | Scott Sinclair |
| Prov-Rep-Party: | UCP |
| Prov-Status: | active |
| Prov-Created: | 1971 |
| Prov-Election-First: | 1971 |
| Prov-Election-Last: | 2023 |
Lesser Slave Lake is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. It has existed since 1971 and is mandated to return a single member using the first past the post method of voting.
The riding is named after the lake of the same name, which is located entirely within its borders.
Lesser Slave Lake is a predominantly rural riding located in Northern Alberta.
There are no cities in the riding. It includes only two incorporated urban municipalities: the towns of High Prairie and Slave Lake. The riding also includes the entirety of one rural municipality (the Municipal District of Opportunity No. 17) and parts of three others (Big Lakes County, the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River No. 124, and Northern Sunrise County).
Eleven First Nation bands are based in Lesser Slave Lake: Bigstone Cree Nation, Driftpile First Nation, Kapawe'no First Nation, Loon River Cree Nation, Lubicon Lake Indian Nation, Peerless Trout First Nation, Sawridge First Nation, Sucker Creek Cree First Nation, Swan River First Nation, Whitefish Lake First Nation, and Woodland Cree First Nation. Most of the region's Indigenous population is of Cree origin.
The riding borders five other electoral districts: Peace River to the northwest, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo to the northeast, Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche to the east, Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock to the south, and Central Peace-Notley to the west.
The electoral district was created in the 1971 boundary re-distribution from the electoral districts of Grouard and Peace River. The district remained largely unchanged until the 1993 boundary re-distribution when the electoral district was extended north to the Northwest Territories, Alberta border.
The 2003 boundary re-distribution saw the district revert to similar boundaries that existed prior to 1993.[1] The 2010 boundary re-distribution saw the district re-aligned with current municipal boundaries with a portion of land on the south end moved into Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock.[2]
In the 2017 electoral boundary re-distribution only minor changes were made to the districts boundaries, which were enlarged to include the Calling Lake Reserve.[3]
Lesser Slave Lake is one of two electoral districts in the province that are afforded the exemption provided in the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act whereby only four electoral districts in Alberta may have a population which is as much as 50% below the average population of all the proposed electoral districts.[4] The rationale for this exemption is the relatively low population in the region and large distances between population centers. The total population of the district in the 2017 re-distribution was 27,818 which is 41% below the provincial average for electoral districts.[3]
| 63 Lesser Slave Lake 2003 boundaries[5] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bordering districts | ||||
| North | East | West | South | |
| Peace River | Athabasca-Redwater, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, Lac La Biche-St. Paul | Dunvegan-Central Peace, Peace River | Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock, Grande Prairie-Smoky | |
| riding map goes here | ||||
| Legal description from Electoral Divisions Act. S.A.. 2003. E-4.1. http://canlii.ca/t/53m7s. CanLii. | ||||
| Starting at the east boundary of Rge. 12 W5 and the north boundary of Twp. 105; then 1. east along the north boundary of Twp. 105 to the 5th meridian; 2. south along the 5th meridian to the north boundary of Twp. 96; 3. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 20 W4; 4. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 95; 5. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 18 W4; 6. south along the east boundary to the intersection with the right bank of the Athabasca River; 7. upstream along the right bank of the Athabasca River to the north boundary of Twp. 75, Rge. 18 W4; 8. west along the north boundary of Twp. 75 to the east boundary of Rge. 26 W4; 9. south along the east boundary of Rge. 26 W4 to the north boundary of Twp. 68; 10. east along the north boundary of Twp. 68 to the east boundary of Rge. 25 W4; 11. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 66; 12. west along the north boundary of Twp. 66 to the east boundary of Sec. 34 in Twp. 66, Rge. 25 W4; 13. south along Secs. 34, 27, 22, 15, 10 and 3 in Twps. 66 and 65 to the north boundary of Twp. 64; 14. west along the north boundary of Twp. 64 to the right bank of the Athabasca River; 15. downstream along the right bank of the Athabasca River to the north boundary of Twp. 67 in Rge. 2 W5; 16. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5; 17. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 70; 18. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 20 W5; 19. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 73; 20. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5; 21. north along the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5 to the north boundary of Twp. 77; 22. west along the north boundary of Twp. 77 to the east boundary of Sec. 3 in Twp. 78, Rge. 19 W5; 23. north along the east boundary of Sec. 3 to the north boundary of Sec. 3 in the Twp.; 24. west along the north boundary of Secs. 3, 4 and 5 to the east boundary of Sec. 7; 25. north along the east boundary of Secs. 7, 18, 19, 30 and 31 in Twp. 78 to the north boundary of Twp. 78; 26. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 20 W5; 27. north along the east boundary of Rge. 20 W5 to the north boundary of Twp. 79; 28. east along the north boundary of Twp. 79 to the east boundary of Rge. 18 W5; 29. north along the east boundary of Rge. 18 W5 to the north boundary of Twp. 96; 30. east along the north boundary of Twp. 96 to the east boundary of Rge. 12 W5; 31. north along the east boundary of Rge. 12 W5 to the starting point. | ||||
| Note: | ||||
| 02 Lesser Slave Lake 2010 boundaries[6] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bordering districts | ||||
| North | East | West | South | |
| Peace River | Fort McMurray-Conklin, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo and Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills | Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley, Grande Prairie-Smoky and Peace River | Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater and Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock | |
| Note: Boundary descriptions were not used in the 2010 redistribution | ||||
| Members of the Legislative Assembly for Lesser Slave Lake | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assembly | Years | Member | Party | ||
| Riding created from Grouard, Peace River, Lac Ste. Anne, Pembina and Lac La Biche | |||||
| 17th | 1971-1975 | Dennis Barton | Social Credit | ||
| 18th | 1975-1979 | Larry Shaben | Progressive Conservative | ||
| 19th | 1979-1982 | ||||
| 20th | 1982-1986 | ||||
| 21st | 1986-1989 | ||||
| 22nd | 1989-1993 | Pearl Calahasen | |||
| 23rd | 1993-1997 | ||||
| 24th | 1997-2001 | ||||
| 25th | 2001-2004 | ||||
| 26th | 2004-2008 | ||||
| 27th | 2008–2012 | ||||
| 28th | 2012–2015 | ||||
| 29th | 2015–2019 | Danielle Larivee | New Democrat | ||
| 30th | 2019–2021 | Pat Rehn | United Conservative | ||
| 2021–2021 | Independent | ||||
| 2021-2023 | United Conservative | ||||
| 31st | 2023-present | Scott Sinclair | |||
The electoral district was created in 1971. Prior to the districts creation the area had elected Social Credit MLA's. The first election saw a tight race between Social Credit candidate Dennis Barton and Progressive Conservative candidate Garth Roberts. Barton eked out a win with just 41% of the popular vote.
Barton would be defeated in the 1975 election by Progressive Conservative candidate Larry Shaben who rolled up a landslide majority. Shaben would serve four terms in office and hold three different cabinet portfolios under the governments of Peter Lougheed and Don Getty before retiring from office in 1989.
The third representative of the riding was Progressive Conservative candidate Pearl Calahasen who was elected to her first term in 1989 in a tight three-way race winning less than half the popular vote. She would also serve some ministerial portfolios from 1996 to 2006 in the government of Ralph Klein. She represented the district for seven terms, becoming the longest-serving female MLA in Alberta history,[7] as well as the longest-serving Indigenous MLA.
In the 2015 election, Calahasen placed third of three candidates and was defeated by the NDP's Danielle Larivee, who served in several ministerial portfolios during the 29th Assembly.
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| 2004 Senate nominee election results Lesser Slave Lake[8] | Turnout 30.88% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % votes | % ballots | Rank | Michael Roth | 1,388 | 8.68% | 27.75% | 7 | Vance Gough | 1,364 | 8.52% | 27.27% | 8 | Gary Horan | 1,335 | 8.34% | 26.69% | 10 | Independent | Link Byfield | 1,310 | 8.19% | 26.19% | 4 | Independent | Tom Sindlinger | 947 | 5.92% | 18.93% | 9 | |
| Total votes | 16,001 | 100% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total ballots | 5,002 | 3.20 votes per ballot | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 945 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Participating schools[9] | |
|---|---|
| Gift Lake School | |
| Kinuso School | |
| Mistassiniy School | |
| Pelican Mountain School | |
| Roland Michener Secondary School | |
| Smith School |
| 2004 Alberta student vote results[10] | |||||||||||||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | Liberal | Jonathan Plackaitis | 116 | 21.81% | Ian Hopfe | 98 | 18.42% | NDP | Doris Bannister | 76 | 14.29% | |
| Total | 532 | 100% | |||||||||||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 21 | ||||||||||||||