# Spirit River-Fairview

Spirit River-Fairview was a provincial electoral district in northwestern Alberta, Canada mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 1971 to 1986.

## History

Spirit River-Fairview electoral district was created prior to the 1971 Alberta general election by merger of the Spirit River and Dunvegan electoral districts. The district was abolished in 1986 and recreated into Dunvegan.

### Boundary history

Spirit River-Fairview was created in 1971 out of Dunvegan and the north half of Spirit River. It contained the communities of Spirit River, Fairview and Rycroft, and extended northward past the Chinchaga River. Its boundaries remained unchanged until it was abolished in 1986 and replaced by the second incarnation of Dunvegan.

### Representation history

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Spirit River-Fairview :
| Assembly | Years | Member | Party |
| See Spirit River 1940-1971 and Dunvegan 1959-1971 |||||
| 17th | 1971 - 1975 | Grant Notley | New Democrat |
| 18th | 1975 - 1979 | Grant Notley | New Democrat |
| 19th | 1979 - 1982 | Grant Notley | New Democrat |
| 20th | 1982 - 1984 | Grant Notley | New Democrat |
| 20th | 1984 - 1985 | Vacant | Vacant |
| 20th | 1985 - 1986 | Jim Gurnett | New Democrat |
| See Dunvegan 1986-2004 |||||
Spirit River-Fairview's first MLA was NDP leader Grant Notley. He is the father of premier Rachel Notley, who was seven years old when he was first elected. Notley was the only New Democrat elected in 1971, and would remain the party's only MLA until 1982. He served as leader of the opposition until his untimely death in a plane crash on October 19, 1984. Notley's closest competition during his career came in 1982 with Progressive Conservative physician Doug Snider who advocated for a hospital to be built in the community.
The resulting by-election in 1985 saw the NDP hold Spirit River-Fairview, with Jim Gurnett serving as MLA for the remainder of the term, after which the riding was abolished. This makes Spirit River-Fairview the only rural riding in Alberta to have elected only New Democrats to the Legislative Assembly.

## Election results
### 1971

1971 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | Grant Notley | 2,400 | 38.74% | +3.43% |
| | Social Credit | Adolph Fimrite | 2,246 | 36.26% | -5.58% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Don Moore | 1,439 | 23.23% |
| | Independent | Michael Zuk | 110 | 1.78% |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 6,195 |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 45 |
| Electors / Turnout | Electors / Turnout | Electors / Turnout | 7,705 | 80.99% | +13.90% |
| | New Democratic notional gain from Social Credit | New Democratic notional gain from Social Credit | Swing | Swing | +4.51% |
Swing is calculated from the 1967 result in Dunvegan, which had similar boundaries.

### 1975

1975 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | Grant Notley | 3,017 | 50.83% | +12.09% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Alex Woronuk | 2,918 | 49.17% | +25.94% |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 5,935 |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 49 |
| Electors / Turnout | Electors / Turnout | Electors / Turnout | 7,380 | 81.08% | +0.09% |
| | New Democratic hold | New Democratic hold | Swing | Swing | -6.93% |

### 1979

1979 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | Grant Notley | 3,657 | 54.19% | +3.36% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Jim Reynolds | 2,668 | 39.53% | -9.64% |
| | Social Credit | Aubrey Milner | 356 | 5.27% |
| | Liberal | Terry Fletcher | 68 | 1.01% |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 6,749 |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 17 |
| Electors / Turnout | Electors / Turnout | Electors / Turnout | 8,458 | 80.00% | -1.08% |
| | New Democratic hold | New Democratic hold | Swing | Swing | +6.50% |

### 1982

1982 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | Grant Notley | 3,443 | 44.16% | -10.03% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Doug Snider | 3,260 | 41.82% | +2.29% |
| | Western Canada Concept | Dan Fletcher | 1,093 | 14.02% |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 7,796 |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 38 |
| Electors / Turnout | Electors / Turnout | Electors / Turnout | 9,476 | 82.67% | +2.67% |
| | New Democratic hold | New Democratic hold | Swing | Swing | -6.16% |

### 1985 by-election

vteAlberta provincial by-election, February 21, 1985 Upon the death of Grant Notley on October 19, 1984 :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | Jim Gurnett | 2,509 | 36.69% | -7.47% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Verna Block | 2,047 | 29.93% | -11.89% |
| | Western Canada Concept | Dan Fletcher | 1,713 | 25.05% | +11.03% |
| | Confederation of Regions | Elmer Knutson | 311 | 4.55% | – |
| | Liberal | Rick Nicholson | 162 | 2.37% | – |
| | Social Credit | Ray Nielson | 79 | 1.16% | – |
| | Heritage | Mike Pawlus | 18 | 0.26% | – |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 6,839 | – | – |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 11 | – | – |
| Electors / turnout | Electors / turnout | Electors / turnout | 10,545 | 64.96% | -17.71% |
| | New Democratic hold | New Democratic hold | Swing | Swing | +2.21% |
| Source(s) Source: "Official By-election Results". Elections Alberta. December 11, 1985. Retrieved March 19, 2020. |||||||