Edmonton Castle Downs

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Edmonton-Castle Downs
Alberta electoral district


2004 boundaries
Provincial electoral district
Legislature Legislative Assembly of Alberta
MLA       Thomas Lukaszuk
Progressive Conservative
District created 1997
First contested 1997
Last contested 2008
Location of Edmonton-Castle Downs in the city of Edmonton
Location of Edmonton-Castle Downs in the city of Edmonton

Edmonton Castle Downs is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.

The district was created in 1997 when Edmonton Roper merged with the north half of Edmonton Mayfield.

Edmonton Castle Downs is a traditional Edmonton area swing riding, the riding shifted to Progressive Conservative from Liberal in 2001, in 2004 the riding nearly experienced a tie, when Chris Kibermanis of the Liberal was ahead by five votes. On January 24, 2005 the courts ruled that Lukaszuk had won by three votes in a judicial recount. The judicial ruling established that ballots contested by the Liberals were in fact good ballots as the voter was clear who they voted for. It did not matter whether the mark on the ballot was a check mark rather than an "x".

The riding is bordered to the north by Athabasca-Redwater, to the east by Edmonton Decore, to the south by Edmonton Calder and to the west by St. Albert.


Contents

[edit] Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs)

  Name Party Elected Left Office
See Edmonton Mayfield 1993-1997 and Edmonton Roper 1993-1997
     Pamela Paul Liberal 1997 1999
     Independent 1999 2001
     Thomas Lukaszuk Progressive Conservative 2001 2004
     Chris Kibermanis Liberal 2004 2005
2 Thomas Lukaszuk Progressive Conservative 2005 present

[edit] Election results

[edit] 1997 general election

1997 Alberta general election results[1] Turnout 50.54%
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
     Liberal Pamela Paul 4,456 41.20%
     Progressive Conservative Ihor Broda 4,373 40.44%
     NDP Peter Johnsen 1,494 13.81%
     Social Credit Dave Friesen 460 8.63%
Total 10,815 100%
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined 32

[edit] 2001 general election

2001 Alberta general election results[2] Turnout 47.03%
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
     Progressive Conservative Thomas Lukaszuk 5,971 51.10%
     Liberal Boris Yaremko 4,479 38.33%
     NDP Michael Charrois 1,235 10.57%
Total 11,685 100%
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined 34

[edit] 2004 general election and judicial recount

The 2004 election saw a field of five candidates. Incumbent Thomas Lukaszuk was running for his second term in office after winning a close race in 2001. Chris Kibermannis was chosen as the Liberal candidate. He was a former draft pick for the Winnipeg Jets and a welder by trade. The NDP chose Peter Cross, who is a small buisness owner working as a graphics artist and long time Edmonton resident.[3]

2004 Alberta general election unofficial results[4] Turnout 41.42%
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
     Liberal Chris Kibermanis 5,019 41.79%
     Progressive Conservative Thomas Lukaszuk 5,014 41.75%
     NDP Peter Cross 1,317 10.97%
     Alberta Alliance Colin Presizniuk 583 4.85%
     Social Credit Ross Korpi 78 0.64%
Total 12,011 100%
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined 96

Rounding out the field of candidates, the Alberta Alliance running their first campaign acclaimed candidate Colin Presizniuk and Social Credit run candidate Ross Korpi. Presizniuk is a high profile Edmonton area accountant and consultant who runs Presizniuk and Associates.[5]

The 2004 election proved to very contentious. On election night returns for the district had Liberal candidate Chris Kibermanis winning an incredibly tight race by three votes over Progressive Conservative incumbent Thomas Lukaszuk. The race split the riding's 79 precincts with Kibermanis winning 43 to Lukaszuk's 36. The poll by poll numbers show the race was evenly divided across the board as no candidate was particularly strong in a geographic area. The other three candidates were only a marginal factor with the race polarizing between the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals.[4] NDP candidate Peter Cross made a respectable but distant third place showing. He gained votes for his party winning a slightly higher plurality, but decreasing in percentage of popular vote over the 2001 results.

At the bottom of the field, the Alberta Alliance candidate Colin Presizniuk took about 5% of the popular vote. His results were consistent with the party's showing in other Edmonton districts. The Social Credit party running their first candidate in the riding since 1997, saw a significant decrease in support as Ross Korpi barely registered with voters.

The razor thin election night margin separating the two candidates kept the results in doubt. The automatic recount process completed a few days later by returning officer Elizabeth Burk, , narrowed the margin even further as Lukaszuk would gain two votes.[6] In addition to the results, voter turnout in the riding dropped to a record low almost reaching 42%. The turn out was significantly down falling five points from the 2001 election, and almost nine percentage points from the election in 1997.

Alberta Court of Appeal judicial recount[7] Turnout 41.42%
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
     Progressive Conservative Thomas Lukaszuk 5,022 41.78%
     Liberal Chris Kibermanis 5,019 41.76%
     NDP Peter Cross 1,314 10.93%
     Alberta Alliance Colin Presizniuk 586 4.88%
     Social Credit Ross Korpi 78 0.58%
Total 12,019 100%
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined 86

After the Official results were announced by Elections Alberta, the legislative standings on the Alberta Legislature website had been updated to reflect Kibermanis winning as a member-elect. The Progressive Conservatives immediately challenged the results in the Court of Queen's Bench. The first judge at the Court of Queen's Bench upheld the returning officers verdict of a three vote margin. A second count was done and the results were verified the same as the first. The Progressive Conservatives appealed the results to the Alberta Court of Appeals.

The Alberta Court of Appeals disputed a number of previously rejected ballots increasing the margin of Thomas Lukaszuk from 5,016 votes to 5,022 votes. The court also added some votes for Presizniuk and took some away for Cross, Korpi and Kibermanis did not see any change in their totals. As a result of the judicial ruling, the previous judicial counts and the Elections Alberta official count were over turned. Kibermanis did not have the resources to appeal the third judicial decision and conceded defeat. Thomas Lukaszuk was declared re-elected and returned to office. After the results were made official, the Liberals announced that Kibermanis would be the candidate for the next general election and would continue campaigning in the riding until the next writ period.

As a direct result of this election, both the campaigns for Thomas Lukaszuk and Chris Kibermanis filed an application to the Court of Appeal to reimburse the legal costs of contesting the results. No provisions existed under the Election Act and the appeals were denied. In October 2005 the Standing Legislative Offices Committee reviewed the matter and changes were recommended to allow candidates to be reimbursed for their legal costs.[6]

[edit] 2004 Senate nominee election district results

2004 Senate nominee election results: Edmonton-Castle Downs[8] Turnout 41.69%
Affiliation Candidate Votes % Votes % Ballots Rank
     Progressive Conservative Betty Unger 4,737 15.95% 49.04% 2
     Independent Link Byfield 3,362 11.32% 34.80% 4
     Progressive Conservative Bert Brown 3,328 11.21% 34.45% 1
     Progressive Conservative Cliff Breitkreuz 3,184 10.72% 32.96% 3
     Alberta Alliance Michael Roth 2,812 9.47% 29.11% 7
     Independent Tom Sindlinger 2,735 9.21% 28.31% 9
     Alberta Alliance Gary Horan 2,488 8.38% 25.76% 10
     Alberta Alliance Vance Gough 2,472 8.33% 25.59% 8
     Progressive Conservative David Usherwood 2,447 8.24% 25.33% 6
     Progressive Conservative Jim Silye 2,129 7.17% 22.04% 5
Total Votes 29,694 100%
Total Ballots 9,660 3.07 Votes Per Ballot
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined 2,523

Voters had the option of selecting 4 Candidates on the Ballot

[edit] 2008 general election

2008 Election Results
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
     Progressive Conservative Thomas Lukaszuk 7,165 51.48%
     Liberal Chris Kibermanis 5,085 36.54%
     NDP Ali Haymour 1,343 9.65%
     Green Bob Reckhow 325 2.34%

[edit] 2004 Student Vote

Participating Schools[9]
Caernarvon School

On November 19, 2004 a Student Vote was conducted at participating Alberta schools to parallel the 2004 Alberta general election results. The vote was designed to educate students and simulate the electoral process for persons who have not yet reached the legal majority. The vote was conducted in 80 of the 83 provincial electoral districts with students voting for actual election candidates. Schools with a large student body that reside in another electoral district had the option to vote for candidates outside of the electoral district then where they were physically located.

2004 Alberta Student Vote results[10]
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
     Liberal Chris Kibermanis 46 40.35%
     Progressive Conservative Thomas Lukaszuk 30 26.32%
     Alberta Alliance Colin Presizniuk 17 14.91%
     NDP Peter Cross 14 12.28%
     Social Credit Ross Korpi 7 6.14%
Total 114 100%
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined 11

[edit] Floor Crossing

  1. Pamela Paul resigns from the Liberal Party and sits as an Independent November 15, 1999

[edit] References

  1. ^ Edmonton-Castle Downs Official Results 1997 Alberta general election. Alberta Heritage. Retrieved on 2008-03-08.
  2. ^ Edmonton-Castle Downs Official Results 2001 Alberta general election. Elections Alberta. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
  3. ^ Peter Cross biography. Alberta NDP. Retrieved on 2008-03-08.
  4. ^ a b Edmonton-Castle Downs of Unofficial Results 2004 Alberta general election. Elections Alberta. Retrieved on 2008-03-08.
  5. ^ homepage. Presizniuk and Associates. Retrieved on 2008-04-14.
  6. ^ a b Legislative Offices Committee LO-35. Legislative Assembly of Alberta (October 12, 2005). Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
  7. ^ Edmonton-Calder Statement of Official Results 2004 Alberta general election. Elections Alberta. Retrieved on 2008-03-08.
  8. ^ Senate Nominee Election 2004 Tabulation of Official Results. Elections Alberta. Retrieved on 2008-03-08.
  9. ^ School by School results. Student Vote Canada. Retrieved on 2008-04-18.
  10. ^ Riding by Riding Results - the Candidates. Student Vote Canada. Retrieved on 2008-04-19.

[edit] External links

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See also: Politics of Alberta · List of Alberta general elections · 2008 election