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2004 Candidates:
Doris Bannister (NDP)
Pearl Calahasen (PC)
Ian Hopfe (Green Party)
Jonathan Pleckaitis (Liberal)
Valerie Rahn (Alberta Alliance)
Riding Profile:
Lesser Slave Lake is a vast riding in north-central Alberta, stretching
almost 400 kilometres from top to bottom and 300 kilometres from side
to side. Before the 2004 redistribution, the riding touched the N.W.T.
border, though it now stops shy of it. The riding has expanded east, taking
in a vast swath of what used to be Athabasca-Wabasca. Affected settlements
include Flatbush, Hondo, Smith, Sandy Lake, Wabasca-Desmarais and Chipewyan
Lake. Major communities in the riding include Slave Lake and High Prairie.
With just 27,577 people, this riding is Alberta's second-least populous
electoral district.
Just over half of Lesser Slave Lake voters are aboriginal, the highest
percentage in Alberta. Incomes are somewhat low, at $51,739 for the average
household, and about 14 per cent of residents are considered low income.
Forty per cent don't have a high school diploma. More than four in five
were born in Alberta, while fewer than three per cent are immigrants.
Agriculture, followed by educational services, is the major employer.
Political History:
Tories have dominated here for the past three decades. For half of that
time the MLA has been Pearl Calahasen, the aboriginal affairs minister.
Calahasen was originally elected in 1989, when she defeated Liberal Denise
Wahlstrom by almost 1,000 votes. A 1993 rematch saw Calahasen's margin
increase to 1,167 votes, and then in 1997 she beat Liberal Ralph Chalifoux
by 2,250 votes. In 2001, Calahasen won against Liberal Rick Noel with
4,766 votes to his 1,429. Calahasen's predecessor was Tory Larry Shaben,
who served from 1975-89 and held various cabinet posts.
In 2001, voter turnout was 45.5 per cent.
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