2004 Candidates:
Herb Coburn (Liberal)
Jason Herasemluk (Alberta Alliance)
F. L. (Ted) Morton (PC)
Roland Schmidt (NDP)
Shelley Willson (Green Party)

Maps from Elections Alberta will open in a new window.

Riding Profile:
This southern Alberta riding surrounds the western half of Calgary, running from Madden in the north to Turner Valley in the south. Other communities include Crossfield and Black Diamond. The riding was cobbled together in the 2004 redistribution by merging portions of the Airdrie-Rockyview, Banff-Cochrane and Highwood ridings.

This is Alberta's most moneyed riding, with average household incomes of $114,308, and barely three per cent of residents considered low income. Housing values average $372,356. Professional services and construction are the major employers. A little more than 58 per cent of residents here are Alberta-born, while about 12 per cent are immigrants.

Political History:
Most of the voters here were formerly in Airdrie-Rockyview and Highwood. In Airdrie-Rockyview, voters have been represented by Tories for the past three decades, except for the winter of 1992-93, when a byelection brought Liberal Don MacDonald to office. Then, in the 1993 general election, incumbent, Carol Haley unseated MacDonald by 1,883 votes. Haley beat Liberal Jim Welsh by more than 6,000 votes in 1997, and in 2001 she won over Carol L'Abbee, a Liberal, by more than 11,000 votes.

In 2001, voter turnout in Airdire-Rockyview was 54.1 per cent.

In Highwood, Tories have dominated since 1975. Incumbent Don Tannas has been elected four times, always by wide margins. In his first bid for a seat in 1989 he defeated Liberal Don Dearle by more than 3,000 votes. Rusti-Ann Blanke, also a Liberal, lost by almost 5,000 votes in 1993. Four years later, the Liberal's Howard Paulsen lost to Tannas by 7,607 votes, and in 2001 Tannas' margin over Liberal Leonard Borowski was 11,321 votes.

In 2001, voter turnout was 56.1 per cent.