Riding Profile:

This riding in Calgary's northwest corner is bordered to the east by Simons Valley Drive, Beddington Trail, Country Hills Boulevard and Shaganappi Trail, and to the south mostly by John Laurie Boulevard. The city limits form the north and west boundaries. In the 2004 redistribution, voters in the far south of Calgary-Foothills were shifted into Calgary-Varsity, while the riding was expanded west to take in an area formerly of Calgary North West.

Professional and retail services are the most common jobs here, with the average household earning $99,274 a year. In the riding, 6.8 per cent of residents are low income, and four per cent of the riding's income comes from government transfer payments - the third-lowest rate in Alberta. At more than 70 per cent, the riding has Alberta's second-highest percentage of post-secondary graduates. Just under 30 per cent of residents are immigrants, while fewer than one per cent are aboriginal, the lowest rate in the province. About 18 per cent of residents are of Chinese origin.

 

Political History:

Calgary-Foothills has been held by Conservatives for the past three decades. The incumbent, Finance Minister Pat Nelson, was first elected in 1989 when she beat Liberal Harvey Locke by 475 votes. Her margins have grown with each election: in 2001 she beat Liberal Harry B. Chase by more than 7,000 votes. She isn't running in this election. Len Werry served Calgary-Foothills from 1971-73, Stewart McCrae from 1973-82, and Janet Koper from 1982-89.

In 2001, voter turnout was 52.5 per cent.