Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.
Starting at the intersection of Highway 36 with the north boundary of Sec. 6 in Twp. 53, Rge. 12 W4; then 1. east along the north boundary of Secs. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 in Twp. 53, Rges. 12 and 11 W4 to the east boundary of Rge. 11 W4; 2. south along the east boundary of Rge. 11 W4 to the north boundary of Twp. 52; 3. east along the north boundary of Twp. 52 to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 34 in Twp. 52, Rge. 8 W4; 4. south along the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 34 to the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 34; 5. east along the north boundary of the south half of Secs. 34 and 35 to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 35; 6. south along the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 35 to the north boundary of Sec. 26; 7. east along the north boundary of Secs. 26 and 25 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 30, 29, 28 and 27 in Twp. 52, Rge. 7 W4 to the east boundary of Sec. 34; 8. north along the east boundary of Sec. 34 in the Twp. and the east boundary of Secs. 3, 10 and 15 in Twp. 53, Rge. 7 W4 to the north boundary of Sec. 14; 9. east along the north boundary of Secs. 14 and 13 in Twp. 53, Rge. 7 W4 and the north boundary of Secs. 18, 17, 16 and 15 in Rge. 6 to the east boundary of Sec. 22; 10. north along the east boundary of Secs. 22, 27 and 34 in the Twp. and the east boundary of Secs. 3, 10, 15, 22, 27 and 34 in Twp. 54 and the east boundary of Secs. 3, 10, 15 and 22 in Twp. 55 to the north boundary of Sec. 23 in Twp. 55, Rge. 6 W4; 11. east along the north boundary of Secs. 23 and 24 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 in Twp. 55, Rge. 5 W4 and the north boundary of Secs. 19, 20 and 21 in Twp. 55, Rge. 4 W4 to the right bank of the North Saskatchewan River; 12. downstream along the right bank to the north boundary of Twp. 54, Rge. 3 W4; 13. east along the north boundary of Twp. 54 to the east boundary of Sec. 4 in Twp. 55, Rge. 3 W4; 14. north along the east boundary of Secs. 4, 9, 16, 21, 28 and 33 to the north boundary of Twp. 55, Rge. 3 W4; 15. east along the north boundary of Twp. 55 to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 3, Twp. 56, Rge. 3 W4; 16. north along the east boundary of the west half of Secs. 3 and 10 to the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 10 in the Twp.; 17. east along the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 10 to the south boundary of Unipouheous Indian Reserve No. 121; 18. east and north along the Indian Reserve to the south boundary of the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement; 19. east, north and east along the Métis Settlement to the east boundary of the Province; 20. south along the east boundary of the Province to the right bank of the Battle River; 21. upstream along the right bank to the north boundary of Sec. 17 in Twp. 47, Rge. 5 W4; 22. west along the north boundary of Secs. 17 and 18 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 in Twp. 47, Rges. 6 and 7 W4 to the east boundary of Rge. 8 W4; 23. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 24 in Twp. 47, Rge. 8 W4; 24. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 25 in the Twp.; 25. north along the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 25 to the north boundary of Sec. 25; 26. west along the north boundary of Secs. 25 and 26 in the Twp. to the east boundary of Sec. 34 in the Twp.; 27. north along the east boundary of Sec. 34 to the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 34; 28. west along the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 34 to the east boundary of Sec. 33 in the Twp.; 29. north along the east boundary of Sec. 33 to the north boundary of Twp. 47; 30. west along the north boundary of Twp. 47 to the east boundary of Sec. 6 in Twp. 48, Rge. 8 W4; 31. north along the east boundary of Sec. 6 to the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 6; 32. west along the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 6 to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 6; 33. north along the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 6 to the north boundary of Sec. 6; 34. west along the north boundary of Sec. 6 to the east boundary of Rge. 9 W4; 35. north along the east boundary of Rge. 9 W4 to the north boundary of Sec. 12 in Twp. 48, Rge. 9 W4; 36. west along the north boundary of Sec. 12 to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 13 in the Twp.; 37. north along the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 13 to the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 13; 38. west along the north boundary of the south half of Secs. 13 and 14 in the Twp. to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 14; 39. north along the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 14 to the north boundary of Sec. 14; 40. west along the north boundary of Secs. 14, 15, 16 and 17 in the Twp. to the east boundary of Sec. 18 in the Twp.; 41. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of the south half of Sec. 18; 42. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 10 W4; 43. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 13 in Twp. 48, Rge. 10 W4; 44. west along the north boundary of Secs. 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 in the Twp. to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 17 in the Twp.; 45. south along the east boundary of the west half of Secs. 17, 8 and 5 in the Twp. and the east boundary of the west half of Secs. 32, 29, 20, 17, 8 and 5 in Twp. 47, Rge. 10 W4 to the north boundary of Twp. 46; 46. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 32 in Twp. 46, Rge. 10 W4; 47. south along the east boundary of Secs. 32, 29, 20, 17, 8 and 5 in Twp. 46, Rge. 10 W4 to the north boundary of Twp. 45; 48. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 3 in Twp. 46, Rge. 13 W4; 49. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 3; 50. west along the north boundary of Secs. 3 and 4 to the intersection with Highway 36; 51. north along Highway 36 to the north boundary of Twp. 46 52. west along the north boundary of Twp. 46 to the east boundary of Sec. 5 in Twp. 47, Rge. 13 W4; 53. north along the east boundary of Secs. 5, 8, 17, 20, 29 and 32 in the Twp. and the east boundary of Secs. 5, 8, 17 and 20 in Twp. 48 to the north boundary of Sec. 21; 54. east along the north boundary of Secs. 21, 22 and 23 to Highway 36 in Twp. 48, Rge. 13 W4; 55. north along Highway 36 to the starting point.
The riding was created in 1993 and has been returning Progressive Conservative MLA's with large majorities since it was created. The first member was Steve West who had previously served as MLA for Vermilion-Viking for two terms beginning in 1986. While representing this riding he served a number of cabinet portfolios in the government of Ralph Klein. West retired from office in 2001.
The second representative of the riding is Lloyd Snelgrove who was first elected in 2001 and has since served three terms in office. Snelgrove briefly served as Minister of Finance under the government of Ed Stelmach. He decided to leave the Progressive Conservative caucus on January 27, 2012 and sit is an Independent after becoming disenchanted with Premier Alison Redford.[5]
Dr. Richard Starke won the riding for the Progressive Conservatives in the 2012 election, and was one of only two PC MLAs to win re-election outside of Calgary in the 2015 election. He placed second in the PC leadership election of 2017 on a campaign of remaining an independent party from Wildrose. When the PCs subsequently voted to join the Wildrose and form the United Conservative Party, he announced he would continue to sit as a PC rather than join the new party.[6]
Starke retired at the end of the 29th Legislature. The district was abolished at the same time, and replaced with Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright.
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 have 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 reside in another electoral district had the option to vote for candidates outside of the electoral district then where they were physically located.
