Riding Profile:
This small riding just east of Edmonton consists of the affluent hamlet
of Sherwood Park. The riding is bordered by the Edmonton city limits
on the west, the Yellowhead Trail in the north, and the Sherwood Park
Freeway on the south.
Household incomes, at $79,696, are well above the Alberta average,
and not quite one in 20 residents is low income. Health and social services,
followed by retail, are the biggest employers. Almost 10 per cent of
the people here are immigrants, while 62 per cent were born in Alberta.
Political History:
Sherwood Park's MLA is Children's Services Minister Iris Evans, who
gained office in 1997 by unseating Liberal Bruce Collingwood by just
305 votes. Evans' 2001 win was far more comfortable, beating Liberal
Louise Rogers by 7,500 votes. Collingwood had served one term, having
defeated PC Doug Fulford by 1,094 votes in 1993. Before him, Tory Peter
Elzinga was the MLA from 1986-93. The ridings which preceded Sherwood
Park - Edmonton-Ottewell and Edmonton-Sherwood Park - elected Tories
throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.
In 2001, voter turnout was 65 per cent - the highest in the province.