Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act
Starting at the intersection of the east boundary of Rge. 25 W4 and the north boundary of Sec. 7 in Twp. 28 W4; then 1. east along the north boundary of Secs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 in Rges. 24, 23 and 22 and Secs. 7, 8 and 9 in Twp. 28, Rge. 21 W4 to the east boundary of Sec. 9 in the Twp.; 2. south along the east boundary of Secs. 9 and 4 in the Twp. and the east boundary of Secs. 33, 28 and 21 in Twp. 27, Rge. 21 W4 to the intersection with the Canadian National Railway (CNR) right-of-way; 3. in a northeasterly direction along the CNR right-of-way to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 1, Twp. 28, Rge. 20 W4; 4. north along the east boundary of the west half to the north boundary of Sec. 1; 5. east along the north boundary of Sec. 1 to the south Drumheller town boundary; 6. easterly and southerly along the town boundary to its most southeasterly point of the town boundary and the right bank of the Red Deer River; 7. downstream along the right bank of the Red Deer River to the east boundary of Rge. 11 W4; 8. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 13; 9. west along the north boundary to the right bank of the Bow River; 10. upstream along the right bank of the Bow River to its intersection with the south boundary of the Siksika Indian Reserve No. 146; 11. generally north, northwest and southwest along the Siksika Indian Reserve No. 146 boundary to the right bank of the Bow River; 12. upstream along the right bank to the east boundary of Rge. 27 W4; 13. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 7 in Twp. 25, Rge. 26 W4; 14. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 18 in the Twp.; 15. north along the east boundary of Secs. 18 and 19 to the north boundary of Sec. 20 in the Twp.; 16. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 29 in the Twp.; 17. north along the east boundary of Secs. 29 and 32 in the Twp. to the north boundary of Twp. 25; 18. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 26 W4; 19. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 19 in Twp. 26, Rge. 25 W4; 20. east along the north boundary of Secs. 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 in the Twp. to the east boundary of Sec. 26; 21. north along the east boundary of Secs. 26 and 35 to the north boundary of Twp. 26; 22. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 25; 23. north along the east boundary of Rge. 25 to the starting point.
The electoral district was created in 1997. The first election that year saw Progressive Conservative incumbent Lyle Oberg win the new district with over 70% of the popular vote. Oberg had served as MLA for Bow Valley from 1993 to 1997 before it was abolished.
After the election Oberg was appointed to serve in the cabinet of Premier Ralph Klein. He ran for his third term in the 2001 general election and won. He took a slightly higher percentage of the popular vote.
Oberg ran for his third term in the district and fourth as an MLA. His popularity started to slide. He was re-elected with a reduced majority losing over 10% of his popular vote.
Controversy would follow in 2006 after Oberg resigned his cabinet post to seek the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party in the wake of Ralph Klein's resignation. He was removed from Progressive Conservative caucus days later on March 22, 2006, and forced to sit as an Independent after suggesting that he knew where the skeletons were in the closet of the Progressive Conservative government.
Oberg ran for leadership of the party as an Independent and lost. He was readmitted to the caucus on July 25, 2006, by Premier Ed Stelmach and returned to cabinet. Oberg did not stand for re-election in 2008. The election that year returned Progressive Conservative candidate Arno Doerksen with a landslide majority.
In the 2012 general election, Wildrose candidate Jason Hale defeated Doerksen by a comfortable margin as the party went on to dominate rural southern Alberta.
In December 2014, Hale crossed the floor with 8 other Wildrose MLAs to the Progressive Conservative Party. In January 2015, Derek Fildebrandt announced that he would seek the Wildrose nomination to challenge Hale. Hale announced his retirement from politics soon afterwards.
Fildebrandt went on to win the riding by a huge margin over PC candidate Molly Douglass in the 2015 general election.[6] Fildebrandt was subsequently appointed the Official Opposition Shadow Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.
On July 22, Wildrose and PC members voted to join and form the United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP). Fildebrandt was officially recognized as a UCP MLA on July 24. However, he was again removed from caucus and, this time, permanently banned from re-joining the UCP after a string of scandals including an illegal hunting charge that had not been disclosed to the party.[7]
In 2018 Fildebrandt joined, and became leader of, the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta (previously known as Alberta First, the Separation Party of Alberta, and the Western Freedom Party).
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 had 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 resided in another electoral district had the option to vote for candidates outside of the electoral district than where they were physically located.
