Edmonton - Strathcona

This central Edmonton riding is bounded by the North Saskatchewan River in the north, Whitemud Creek and the North Saskatchewan River in the west, Highway 2, Whitemud Drive and Highway 14 in the south and the city limits in the east. The historic district of Old Strathcona is here, centred on Whyte Avenue and 104th Street.

Over 16 per cent of this riding's residents are immigrants. The north of the riding is also home to many of Edmonton's francophones, who make up about three per cent of the riding's population. Seventy-seven per cent listed English as their mother tongue in the 2006 census. German, Chinese and Ukrainian are among other languages listed.

Education and the service sector are the major employers. The average family income is $87,259 and unemployment is 5.3 per cent.

The riding was established in 1952. In the 2004 redistribution, it lost about 18 per cent of its residents and gained about 9,000 from Edmonton Southeast.

Population: 99,267 (2006 census; an increase of 0.3% since 2001)

Political History

Rahim Jaffer has held this riding for the past four terms. He won under the Reform banner in 1997, with a 3,000-vote margin over Liberal Ginette Rodger. In 2004, he fended off Liberal Debby Carlson, who was the MLA for Edmonton-Ellerslie, winning by 5,032 votes. In the 2006 election, Jaffer took on NDP candidate Linda Duncan and won by 4,856.

Before Jaffer, the seat was held by Reform's Hugh Hanrahan, who took it from the Progressive Conservatives in 1993. That party had held the riding in all but one race since 1958.

• 1953 - LIB
• 1958, 1962, 1963, 1965 - PC
• 1968 - LIB
• 1972, 1974, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1988 - PC
• 1993, 1997 - REF
• 2000 - CA
• 2004, 2006 - CON