Gleichen (electoral district)


Gleichen was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1905 to 1963.

History

Gleichen was one of the original 25 electoral districts contested in the 1905 Alberta general election upon Alberta becoming a province in September 1905.
From 1906 to 1913, two Riley brothers, of the Conservative party, took turns with two McArthur brothers in representing Gleichen in the Alberta Legislature. Ezra Riley represented the Gleichen district from 1906 to 1910, then resigned but ran in the subsequent by-election, losing to Archibald J. McArthur. After the death of Archibald McArthur, H.W.H. Riley ran as a Conservative Party candidate against Liberal candidate John Peter McArthur, brother to the late Archibald McArthur. The October 31, 1911 by-election became known as the brothers by-election, as each candidate was a brother of a former Gleichen MLA. Riley won the by-election and served Gleichen until the 1913 election, when he ran in the Bow Valley district and was defeated by George Lane of the Liberal party.
From 1924 to 1956, the district used instant-runoff voting to elect its MLA.
The electoral district was merged with Drumheller prior to the 1963 Alberta general election to form the short lived Drumheller-Gleichen electoral district.
The district was named after the town of Gleichen, Alberta.

Election results

1921

1955

Plebiscite results

1948 electrification plebiscite

District results from the first province wide plebiscite on electricity regulation.

1957 liquor plebiscite

On October 30, 1957, a stand-alone plebiscite was held province wide in all 50 of the then current provincial electoral districts in Alberta. The government decided to consult Alberta voters to decide on liquor sales and mixed drinking after a divisive debate in the Legislature. The plebiscite was intended to deal with the growing demand for reforming antiquated liquor control laws.
The plebiscite was conducted in two parts. Question A asked in all districts, asked the voters if the sale of liquor should be expanded in Alberta, while Question B asked in a handful of districts within the corporate limits of Calgary and Edmonton asked if men and woman were allowed to drink together in establishments. Question B was slightly modified depending on which city the voters were in.
Province wide Question A of the plebiscite passed in 33 of the 50 districts while Question B passed in all five districts. Gleichen voted overwhelmingly in favour of the plebiscite. The district recorded about average voter turnout, being a couple points above the province wide 46% average.
Gleichen also voted on question B1 with just 19 residents lying inside the electoral district within the corporate limits of Calgary. Only five residents showed up to vote, they unanimously voted to allow mixed drinking.
Official district returns were released to the public on December 31, 1957. The Social Credit government in power at the time did not considered the results binding. However the results of the vote led the government to repeal all existing liquor legislation and introduce an entirely new Liquor Act.
Municipal districts lying inside electoral districts that voted against the Plebiscite were designated Local Option Zones by the Alberta Liquor Control Board and considered effective dry zones, business owners that wanted a licence had to petition for a binding municipal plebiscite in order to be granted a licence.

By-election reasons

  • December 7, 1906—Appointment of Mr. Charles Stuart to the Judicial Bench.
  • October 3, 1910—Resignation Ezra Riley in protest against leadership of his party.
  • October 31, 1911—Death of Mr. Archibald J. McArthur.