Lac La Biche-McMurray
# Lac La Biche-McMurray

Lac La Biche-McMurray was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using first-past-the-post balloting from 1971 to 1986.

It replaced the district of Lac La Biche with minimal boundary changes in 1971, and when abolished in 1986, was replaced by Athabasca-Lac La Biche and Fort McMurray. It differed from the current Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche riding in that it included the entire city of Fort McMurray.

## Representation history

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Lac La Biche-McMurray :

| Assembly | Years | Member | Party |
| - | - | - | - |
| See Lac La Biche 1952-1971 |||||
| 17th | 1971–1972 | Damase Bouvier | Social Credit |
| 17th | 1972–1975 | Damase Bouvier | Independent |
| 18th | 1975–1979 | Ron Tesolin | Progressive Conservative |
| 19th | 1979–1982 | Norm Weiss | Progressive Conservative |
| 20th | 1982–1986 | Norm Weiss | Progressive Conservative |
| See Fort McMurray 1986–2004 and Athabasca- Lac La Biche 1986–1993 |||||

The riding's first MLA was Dan Bouvier, newly-minted member for Lac La Biche. Elected under the Social Credit banner, he resigned from caucus a year later "in the interest of [his] constituents". He did not run again in the 1975 election.

The riding was then picked up by the governing Progressive Conservatives, with Ron Tesolin winning by a large margin over four rivals. He served only one term as MLA, but Norm Weiss held the riding for the PCs for two more terms.

Lac La Biche-McMurray was then abolished for the 1986 election and replaced with Fort McMurray, where Weiss would go on to serve two more terms, and Athabasca-Lac La Biche, which would be picked up by the New Democrats.

### Boundary History

Lac La Biche-McMurray 1970 Boundaries :

| Bordering Districts ||||
| - | - | - | - |
| North | East | West | South |
| N/A | N/A | Lesser Slave Lake, Peace River, Athabasca | Redwater-Andrew, St. Paul, Bonnyville |
| Legal description from The Legislative Assembly Act, S.A. 1970, c. 34 ||||
| "The boundary whereof is as follows: Commencing at the north-east corner of the Province; thence southerly along the east boundary of the Province to the north boundary of township 72; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 9, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of township 63; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 10, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the said east boundary to the left bank of the Beaver River; thence upstream along the said left bank to the north boundary of section 32 in township 62, range 10, west of the 4th meridian; thence westerly along the north boundary of township 62 to the east boundary of range 14, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of township 61; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 18, west of the 4th meridian; thence northerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of township 76; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 22, west of the 4th meridian; thence northerly along the said east boundary to the south shore of Pelican Lake; thence in a general northwesterly and north-easterly direction along the shore of the westerly portion of the said Pelican Lake to the north boundary of township 78; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of township 79, range 22, west of the 4th meridian; thence northerly along the east boundary of range 22, west of the 4th meridian to the north boundary of township 84; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the 5th meridian; thence northerly along the said 5th meridian to the north boundary of township 120; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 10, west of the 5th meridian; thence northerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of the Province; thence easterly along the said north boundary to the point of commencement." ||||
| Note: ||||

Lac La Biche-McMurray 1977 Boundaries :

| Bordering Districts ||||
| - | - | - | - |
| North | East | West | South |
| N/A | N/A | Lesser Slave Lake, Peace River, Athabasca | Redwater-Andrew, St. Paul, Bonnyville |
| Legal description from The Legislative Assembly Act, S.A. 1977, c. 28 ||||
| "—The boundary whereof is as follows: Commencing at the north-east corner of the Province; thence southerly along the east boundary of the Province to the north boundary of township 72; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 9, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of township 63; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 10, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the said east boundary to the left bank of the Beaver River; thence upstream along the said left bank to the north boundary of section 32 in township 62, range 10, west of the 4th meridian; thence westerly along the north boundary of township 62 to the east boundary of range 14, west of the 4th meridian; thence southerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of township 61; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 18, west of the 4th meridian; thence northerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of township 76; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 22, west of the 4th meridian; thence northerly along the said east boundary to the south shore of Pelican Lake; thence in a general northwesterly And north-easterly direction along the shore of the westerly portion of the said Pelican Lake to the north boundary of township 78; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of township 79, range 22, west of the 4th meridian; thence northerly along the east boundary of range 22, west of the 4th meridian to the north boundary of township 84; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the 5th meridian; thence northerly along the said 5th meridian to the north boundary of township 120; thence westerly along the said north boundary to the east boundary of range 10, west of the 5th meridian; thence northerly along the said east boundary to the north boundary of the Province; thence easterly along the said north boundary to the point of commencement." ||||
| Note: ||||

## Electoral results

### 1971 general election

vte1971 Alberta general election :

| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Social Credit | Damase Bouvier | 2,679 | 53.37% | -3.50% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Elmer Roy | 1,927 | 38.39% | +12.93% |
| | New Democratic | Kenneth Orchard | 414 | 8.25% | +4.01% |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 5,020 | – | – |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 38 | – | – |
| Electors / turnout | Electors / turnout | Electors / turnout | 8,198 | 61.70% | – |
| | Social Credit notional hold | Social Credit notional hold | Swing | Swing | -8.22% |
| Source(s) Source: "Lac La Biche-McMurray Official Results 1971 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. |||||||

### 1975 general election

vte1975 Alberta general election :

| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Progressive Conservative | Ron Tesolin | 2,859 | 53.05% | +14.66% |
| | Independent | Mike Chandi | 737 | 13.68% | – |
| | Liberal | Jean Davidson | 703 | 13.05% | – |
| | Social Credit | Ken Cochrane | 560 | 10.39% | -42.98% |
| | New Democratic | Ronald Morgan | 530 | 9.83% | +1.59% |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 5,389 | – | – |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 38 | – | – |
| Electors / turnout | Electors / turnout | Electors / turnout | 9,842 | 55.14% | -6.56% |
| | Progressive Conservative gain from Independent | Progressive Conservative gain from Independent | Swing | Swing | +0.49% |
| Source(s) Source: "Lac La Biche-McMurray Official Results 1975 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. |||||||

### 1979 general election

In the late 70's, the population of Lac La Biche-McMurray inflated alongside the economic boom in the Athabasca oil sands, seen in the near-doubling of eligible electors for the 1979 election.

vte1979 Alberta general election :

| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Progressive Conservative | Norm Weiss | 3,431 | 49.91% | -3.14% |
| | New Democratic | Claire Williscroft | 1,777 | 25.85% | +16.02% |
| | Social Credit | Conrad Sehn | 1,347 | 19.59% | +9.20% |
| | Liberal | Denise Diesel | 320 | 4.65% | -8.40% |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 6,875 | – | – |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 31 | – | – |
| Electors / turnout | Electors / turnout | Electors / turnout | 17,015 | 40.59% | -14.55% |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | -9.58% |
| Source(s) Source: "Lac La Biche-McMurray Official Results 1979 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. |||||||

### 1982 general election

vte1982 Alberta general election :

| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Progressive Conservative | Norm Weiss | 6,844 | 57.37% | +7.46% |
| | New Democratic | Dermond Travis | 3,481 | 29.18% | +3.33% |
| | Western Canada Concept | Jim Williams | 1,021 | 8.59% | – |
| | Liberal | Roland Woodward | 584 | 4.90% | +0.25% |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 11,930 | – | – |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 133 | – | – |
| Electors / turnout | Electors / turnout | Electors / turnout | 23,569 | 51.18% | +10.59% |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | +2.07% |
| Source(s) Source: "Lac La Biche-McMurray Official Results 1982 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. |||||||
