The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution from the electoral district of Smoky River and Whitecourt. It remained mostly unchanged in the 1997 and 2003 electoral boundary re-distributions. The Boundaries Commission proposed to abolish the district to create a completely urban Grande Prairie district but it changed its decision under public pressure. The 2010 re-distribution made minor changes to the border with Grande Prairie-Wapiti in the city of Grande Prairie but stayed the same in the rural areas.
Boundary history
Representation history
The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution primarily from the old Smoky River and Whitecourt riding's. The first election held that year saw Progressive Conservative Smoky River incumbent Walter Paszkowski win a comfortable majority to pick up the seat for his party. He ran for a second term winning a larger majority in the 1997 election. He retired from the legislature at dissolution in 2001. The former representative was Progressive Conservative Mel Knight who won his first election in 2001 with a massive majority taking 67% of the popular vote. He was re-elected to his second term in the 2004 election with a very large, but reduced majority. Premier Ed Stelmach appointed Mel Knight as Minister of Energy in 2006. He won a slightly higher majority running for a third term in the 2008 general election. Knight was shuffled out of the Energy portfolio in 2010 and then served as the Minister of Sustainable Resource Development. Upon his retirement, Everett McDonald kept the seat for the PCs at a reduced vote share in the 2012 election. In 2015, however, third-time candidate Todd Loewen finally captured the seat for Wildrose. He subsequently crossed the floor to the United Conservative Party when the two parties merged.
Voters had the option of selecting 4 Candidates on the Ballot
2012 Senate nominee election district results
Student Vote results
2004 election
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.
