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2004 Candidates:
Richard Bough (NDP)
David Carnegie (Separation Party)
David France (Alberta Alliance)
Mary-Lou Kloppenburg (Social Credit)
Shirley McClellan (PC)
Eileen Walker (Alberta Party)
Riding Profile:
Drumheller-Stettler is a large rural riding in the southeast of the province,
bordering Saskatchewan on the east. The 2004 redistribution expanded the
old riding of Drumheller-Chinook to encompass the eastern half of the
old Lacombe-Stettler riding, to the south and east of Buffalo Lake. Communities
affected include Stettler, Donalda, Botha, Gadsby, Big Valley and Nevis.
Other major communities in the riding are Drumheller, Hanna, Oyen and
Brownfield.
Agriculture is the biggest industry here, though Dinosaur Provincial
Park is a major tourist draw. Incomes are below the Alberta norm, at $51,904
for the average household, but fewer than nine per cent of residents are
considered low income. More than 76 per cent of the population was born
in Alberta, while 4.4 per cent are immigrants. People of German origin
make up one-tenth of the population.
Political History:
The old riding of Drumheller-Chinook, and its forerunners, the individual
ridings of Drumheller and Chinook, have supported Tories since the 1970s.
Incumbent Shirley McClellan, Alberta's agriculture minister and deputy
premier, was first elected in the Chinook riding in a 1987 byelection,
defeating Jack Ramsay of the Western Canada Concept by 1,666 votes. Her
election wins since then have been by wider margins. In 2001, she received
about seven times the vote of the runner-up, Liberal Greg Pyra. McClellan's
predecessor in Chinook was PC Henry Kroeger, who served from 1979 until
his death in 1987. The Drumheller riding was served by Tories Michael
Clark (1979-86) and former MP Stan Schumacher (1986-97).
In 2001, voter turnout was 57.2 per cent.
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