Fort McMurray - Athabasca

This riding covers the northeast quarter of Alberta, bounded by Saskatchewan on the east and the Northwest Territories on the north. The land is mostly rolling boreal woodland, cut through by such famous rivers as the Slave, Peace and Athabasca. Wood Buffalo National Park is in the north; in the south, some land is under cultivation.

About 25 per cent of residents in the riding are aboriginal; another eight per cent are immigrants. English is the mother tongue of 81 per cent of the population. Six per cent list Cree as their mother tongue.

The oilsands boom-town of Fort McMurray is a major population centre, and the oil industry is the riding's major employer, providing 32 per cent of jobs. Retail trade and the service sector are also important. The 2006 census shows an average family income of $108,169 and an unemployment rate of 5.5 per cent.

This riding was established in 1924. The 2004 redistribution added 8,000 residents from the Lakeland riding, plus small portions of the Elk Island, Peace River and Yellowhead ridings.

Population: 100,805 (2006 census; an increase of 13.4% since 2001)

Political History

This riding has voted right-of-centre for most of the past half-century.

Conservative Brian Jean has held the riding for the past two terms. In the last election, Jean won over Liberal Mel H. Buffalo by 15,737 votes. In 2004, Jean won with about 60 per cent of the vote.

Tory Paul Yewchuk held the riding from 1968 to 1979 and Jack Shield, also a PC, won the seat in the next three races.

In 1993, Dave Chatters took the riding, winning twice on the Reform ticket and again in 2000 under the banner of the Canadian Alliance. In each victory, Chatters outpolled his closest rival by nearly a 2-to-1 margin.

• 1925 - LIB
• 1926 - UFA
• 1930 - LIB
• 1932 byelection - CON
• 1935 - SC
• 1940-57 inclusive - LIB
• 1958-88 inclusive - PC
• 1993, 1997 - REF
• 2000 - CA
• 2004, 2006 - CON