# Grande Prairie-Wapiti

Grande Prairie-Wapiti is a provincial electoral district in northwestern Alberta, Canada. It is one of 87 mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting.
The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution from the old Grande Prairie electoral district and significantly modified in the 2017 redistribution.
The district and its antecedent have been a stronghold for conservative candidates in recent decades. The representative for this district is United Conservative Ron Wiebe. Prior to 2023 the district was represented by Travis Toews who won election for the first time in 2017. To date there have been five representatives who have held the district.
The riding takes its name from the City of Grande Prairie and the Wapiti River.

## Geography

While a predominantly rural riding, Grande Prairie-Wapiti includes a few neighbourhoods on the east side of the City of Grande Prairie (including Cobblestone, Countryside, Crystal Heights, Crystal Landing, Hillside, Ivy Lake, and Smith). Four small towns are also located in the riding - Beaverlodge, Hythe, Sexsmith, and Wembley. The bulk of the riding's area is made up of rural municipalities, including almost all of the County of Grande Prairie No. 1 and a portion of the Municipal District of Greenview No. 16.
The riding's Indigenous community includes the Horse Lake First Nation and the Wanyandie Flats East settlement of the unrecognized Aseniwuche Winewak Nation.
Grande Prairie-Wapiti surrounds the riding of Grande Prairie and borders Central Peace-Notley to the north and east and West Yellowhead to the south. The riding's western boundary is the Alberta-British Columbia border.

## History

The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution from the old Grande Prairie electoral district. It remained mostly unchanged in the 1997 and 2003 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 distribution made minor changes to the border with Grande Prairie-Smoky in the city of Grande Prairie but stayed the same in the rural areas.

### Boundary history

57 Grande Prairie-Wapiti 2003 boundaries :
| Bordering districts ||||
| North | East | West | South |
| Dunvegan-Central Peace | Grande Prairie-Smoky | British Columbia boundary | West Yellowhead |
| riding map goes here | riding map goes here | | |
| Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act. ||||
| Starting at the intersection of the west boundary of the Province and the north boundary of Sec. 7 in Twp. 75, Rge. 13 W6; then 1. east along the north boundary of Secs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Sec. 7 in Twp. 75, Rge. 12 W6 to the east boundary of the Sec.; 2. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 5 in the Twp.; 3. east along the north boundary of Secs. 5, 4 and 3 in the Twp. to the eastboundary of Sec. 3 in the Twp.; 4. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 74; 5. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 2 in Twp. 75, Rge. 11 W6; 6. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 12 in the Twp.; 7. east along the north boundary of Sec. 12 in Twp. 75, Rge. 11 W6 and east along the north boundary of Sec. 7, Rge. 10 in Twp. 75 to the east boundary of Sec. 18 in the Twp.; 8. north along the east boundary of Secs. 18 and 19 in the Twp. to the north boundary of Sec. 20 in the Twp.; 9. east along the north boundary of Secs. 20, 21 and 22 in the Twp. to the east boundary of Sec. 27 in the Twp.; 10. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Sec. 26 in the Twp.; 11. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 35 in the Twp.; 12. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 75; 13. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 33 in Twp. 75, Rge. 8 W6; 14. south along the east boundary of Secs. 33, 28, 21 and 16 in the Twp. to the north boundary of Sec. 10 in the Twp.; 15. east along the north boundary of Secs. 10, 11 and 12 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 in Twp. 75, Rge. 7 W6 to the east boundary of Rge. 7 W6; 16. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 72, Rge. 6 W6; 17. east along the north boundary of the Twp. to the intersection with the right bank of the Grande Prairie Creek; 18. downstream along the Grande Prairie Creek to the intersection with the Bear River; 19. downstream along the Bear River to the north Grande Prairie city boundary; 20. in a generally southerly, westerly and southerly direction along the city boundary to the centre line of 100 Avenue (Richmond Avenue); 21. east along the centre line of 100 Avenue to the Grande Prairie city boundary; 22. south and west along the city boundary to the centre line of the Alberta RailNet Inc.; 23. in a generally southerly direction along the centre line of the Alberta RailNet Inc. to the north boundary of Twp. 70; 24. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 31 in Twp. 70, Rge. 5 W6; 25. south along the east boundary of Secs. 31, 30 and 19 in the Twp. to the right bank of the Wapiti River; 26. downstream along the right bank of the Wapiti River to the left bank of the Smoky River; 27. upstream along the left bank of the Smoky River to the north boundary of Twp. 58; 28. west along the north boundary to the west boundary of the Province; 29. north along the west boundary of the province to the starting point. ||||
| Note: ||||
62 Grande Prairie-Wapiti 2010 boundaries :
| Bordering districts ||||
| North | East | West | South |
| Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley | Grande Prairie-Smoky | British Columbia boundary | West Yellowhead |
| Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2010, Electoral Divisions Act. ||||
| Note: ||||

### Electoral history

Members of the Legislative Assembly for Grande Prairie-Wapiti :
| Assembly | Years | Member | Party |
| See Grande Prairie 1930-1993 |||||
| 23rd | 1993–1997 | Wayne Jacques | Progressive Conservative |
| 24th | 1997–2001 | Wayne Jacques | Progressive Conservative |
| 25th | 2001–2004 | Gordon Graydon | Progressive Conservative |
| 26th | 2004–2008 | Gordon Graydon | Progressive Conservative |
| 27th | 2008–2012 | Wayne Drysdale | Progressive Conservative |
| 28th | 2012-2015 | Wayne Drysdale | Progressive Conservative |
| 29th | 2015–2017 | Wayne Drysdale | Progressive Conservative |
| 29th | 2017–2019 | Wayne Drysdale | United Conservative |
| 30th | 2019–2023 | Travis Toews | United Conservative |
| 31st | 2023–present | Ron Wiebe | United Conservative |
The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution from the old Grande Prairie district. The first representative elected in 1993 was Progressive Conservative candidate Wayne Jaques. He won a hotly contested race over Liberal candidate Dwight Logan to pick up the new district for his party. Jaques was re-elected in the 1997 election with a much larger margin. He retired from provincial politics in 2001.
The second representative was Progressive Conservative was Gordon Graydon who won his first term in office in 2001 with a landslide over a field of five other candidates. He won a second term in the 2004 general election winning over half the popular vote. After the 2004 election Premier Ralph Klein appointed Graydon Minister of Gaming. He held that post until 2006. Graydon retired from provincial politics in 2008.
The third representative is current Progressive Conservative MLA is Wayne Drysdale who was elected in the 2008 election for the first time.

## Legislative election results
### 1993

1993 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Progressive Conservative | Wayne Jacques | 4,457 | 48.03% |
| | Liberal | Dwight Logan | 3,942 | 42.48% |
| | New Democratic | Trish Wright | 880 | 9.49% |
| Total | Total | Total | 9,279 | 100.00% |
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | 28 |
| Eligible electors / Turnout | Eligible electors / Turnout | Eligible electors / Turnout | 16,272 | 57.20% |
| | Progressive Conservative pickup new district. | Progressive Conservative pickup new district. | Progressive Conservative pickup new district. | Progressive Conservative pickup new district. | Progressive Conservative pickup new district. | Progressive Conservative pickup new district. | Progressive Conservative pickup new district. |
| Source(s) "Grande Prairie-Wapiti results 1993 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved March 28, 2010. |||||||

### 1997

1997 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Wayne Jacques | 5,592 | 63.24% | +15.21% |
| | Liberal | Ray Stitsen | 2,003 | 22.65% | -19.83% |
| | New Democratic | Campbell Ross | 1,247 | 14.10% | +4.61% |
| Total | Total | Total | 8,842 | 100.00% |
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | 23 |
| Eligible electors / Turnout | Eligible electors / Turnout | Eligible electors / Turnout | 18,901 | 46.90% | -10.30% |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | +17.52% |
| Source(s) "1997 General Election". Elections Alberta. Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2012. |||||||

### 2001

2001 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Gordon Graydon | 5,674 | 65.50% | +2.26% |
| | Liberal | Ray Stitsen | 1,489 | 17.19% | -5.46% |
| | New Democratic | Elroy Deimert | 819 | 9.46% | -4.64% |
| | Social Credit | Ivo Noga | 432 | 4.99% |
| | Independent | Robert Weberg | 112 | 1.29% |
| Total | Total | Total | 8,662 | 100.00% |
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | 22 |
| Eligible electors / Turnout | Eligible electors / Turnout | Eligible electors / Turnout | 19,730 | 44.01% | -2.89 |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | +3.86% |
| Source(s) "Grande Prairie-Wapiti Official Results 2001 Alberta general election" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Retrieved March 27, 2010. |||||||

### 2004

2004 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Gordon Graydon | 4,346 | 55.07% | -10.43% |
| | Liberal | Cibylla Rakestraw | 1,681 | 21.30% | +4.11% |
| | New Democratic | Jerry MacDonald | 971 | 12.30% | +2.84% |
| | Alberta Alliance | John Hilton-O'Brien | 546 | 6.92% |
| | Greens | Allan Webber | 348 | 4.41% |
| Total | Total | Total | 7,892 | 100.00% |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 34 |
| Eligible electors / Turnout | Eligible electors / Turnout | Eligible electors / Turnout | 21,683 | 36.58% |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | -7.27% |
| Source(s) "Grande Prairie-Wapiti Statement of Official Results 2004 Alberta general election" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Retrieved March 28, 2010. |||||||

### 2008

vte2008 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Wayne Drysdale | 5,145 | 66.70% | +11.63% |
| | Liberal | Augustine Ebinu | 1,304 | 16.90% | -4.40% |
| | New Democratic | Manuela Campbell | 829 | 10.75% | -1.55% |
| | Greens | Allan Webber | 436 | 5.65% | +1.24% |
| Total | Total | Total | 7,714 | 100.00% |
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | 74 |
| Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | 29,053 | 26.81% | -9.77% |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | +8.02% |
| Source(s) The Report on the March 3, 2008 Provincial General Election of the Twenty-seventh Legislative Assembly. Elections Alberta. July 28, 2008. pp. 430–433. |||||||

### 2012

vte2012 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Wayne Drysdale | 6,712 | 51.63% | -15.07% |
| | Wildrose | Ethane Jarvis | 4,509 | 34.68% |
| | New Democratic | Paula Anderson | 1,209 | 9.30% | -1.38% |
| | Liberal | Alya Nazarali | 365 | 2.81% | -14.09% |
| | Independent | Anthony Barendregt | 204 | 1.57% |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 12,999 | 100.00% |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 96 |
| Eligible electors / Turnout | Eligible electors / Turnout | Eligible electors / Turnout | 30,764 | 42.57% | +15.76% |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | -24.89% |
| Source(s) "Grande Prairie-Wapiti". |||||||

### 2015

vte2015 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Wayne Drysdale | 6,229 | 35.57 | -16.06 |
| | New Democratic | Mary Dahr | 5,062 | 28.90 | +19.60 |
| | Wildrose | Laila Goodridge | 4,175 | 23.84 | -10.84 |
| | Alberta Party | Rory Tarant | 2,048 | 11.69 |
| Total | Total | Total | 17,514 | 100.00 |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 77 |
| Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | 37,445 | 46.98 | +4.41 |
| | Progressive Conservative hold | Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | -17.55 |
| Source(s) "Grande Prairie-Wapiti". |||||||
2015 Alberta general election redistributed results :
| Party | Party | Votes | % |
| | Progressive Conservative | 6,012 | 37.20 |
| | Wildrose | 4,669 | 28.89 |
| | New Democratic | 4,310 | 26.67 |
| | Alberta Party | 847 | 5.24 |
| | Liberal | 324 | 2.00 |
| Source(s) Source: Ridingbuilder ||||

### 2019

vte2019 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | United Conservative | Travis Toews | 17,772 | 74.85 | +8.76 |
| | New Democratic | Shannon Dunfield | 3,523 | 14.84 | -11.83 |
| | Alberta Party | Jason Jones | 2,227 | 9.38 | +4.14 |
| | Independent | Terry Dueck | 222 | 0.93 | – |
| Total | Total | Total | 23,744 | 99.19 | – |
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | 193 | 0.81 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 23,937 | 70.94 |
| Eligible electors | Eligible electors | Eligible electors | 33,741 |
| | United Conservative notional hold | United Conservative notional hold | Swing | Swing | +10.30 |
| Source(s) Source: "64 - Grande Prairie-Wapiti, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. |||||||

### 2023

vte2023 Alberta general election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | United Conservative | Ron Wiebe | 15,093 | 76.22 | +1.38 |
| | New Democratic | Dustin Archibald | 4,063 | 20.52 | +5.68 |
| | Alberta Independence | Brooklyn Biegel | 645 | 3.26 | – |
| Total | Total | Total | 19,801 | 99.66 | – |
| Rejected and declined | Rejected and declined | Rejected and declined | 68 | 0.34 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 19,869 | 54.52 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 36,444 |
| | United Conservative hold | United Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | -2.15 |
| Source(s) Source: Elections Alberta |||||||

## Senate nominee election results
### 2004

| 2004 Senate nominee election results: Grande Prairie-Wapiti | 2004 Senate nominee election results: Grande Prairie-Wapiti | 2004 Senate nominee election results: Grande Prairie-Wapiti | 2004 Senate nominee election results: Grande Prairie-Wapiti | 2004 Senate nominee election results: Grande Prairie-Wapiti | Turnout 43.52% | Turnout 43.52% |
| Affiliation | Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % votes | % ballots | Rank |
| | Progressive Conservative | Cliff Breitkreuz | 3,122 | 16.26% | 50.36% | 3 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Betty Unger | 2,750 | 14.32% | 44.36% | 2 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Bert Brown | 2,488 | 12.96% | 40.13% | 1 |
| | Independent | Link Byfield | 2,127 | 11.08% | 34.31% | 4 |
| | Progressive Conservative | David Usherwood | 1,727 | 9.00% | 27.86% | 6 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Jim Silye | 1,525 | 7.94% | 24.60% | 5 |
| | Alberta Alliance | Michael Roth | 1,476 | 7.69% | 23.81% | 7 |
| | Alberta Alliance | Vance Gough | 1,346 | 7.01% | 21.71% | 8 |
| | Independent | Tom Sindlinger | 1,331 | 6.93% | 21.47% | 9 |
| | Alberta Alliance | Gary Horan | 1,306 | 6.81% | 21.07% | 10 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 19,198 | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Total ballots | Total ballots | Total ballots | 6,200 | 3.10 votes per ballot | 3.10 votes per ballot | 3.10 votes per ballot |
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | 1,619 | 1,619 | 1,619 | 1,619 |
Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot

### 2012
## Student vote results
### 2004

* Participating schools
* Beaverlodge Elementary School
* Helleny Taylor School
* Kateri Mission Catholic School
* Saint Joseph Catholic High School
* St. Gerrard 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 :
| Affiliation | Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Progressive Conservative | Gordon Graydon | 458 | 43.25% |
| | Green | Allan Webber | 193 | 18.22% |
| | NDP | Jerry MacDonald | 190 | 17.94% |
| | Liberal | Cibylla Rakestraw | 182 | 17.19% |
| | Alberta Alliance | John Hilton-O'Brien | 36 | 3.40% |
| Total | Total | Total | 1,059 | 100% |
| Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | 36 | 36 |

### 2012

2012 Alberta student vote results :
| Affiliation | Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Progressive Conservative | | Wayne Drysdale | | % |
| | Wildrose | Ethane Jarvis |
| | Liberal | | | % |
| | NDP | Paula Anderson | | % |
| Total | Total | Total | | 100% |