Lethbridge (federal electoral district)

Lethbridge
Alberta electoral district
	Lethbridge in relation to other Alberta federal electoral districts as of the 2013 Representation Order.
Federal electoral district
Legislature	House of Commons
MP	Rachael Thomas; Conservative
;
District created	1987
First contested	1988
Last contested	2021
District webpage	profile, map
Demographics
Population (2011)	105,999
Electors (2019)	88,226
Area (km²)	3,028
Pop. density (per km²)	35
Census division(s)	Division No. 2, Division No. 3
Census subdivision(s)	Lethbridge, Lethbridge County, Coaldale

Lethbridge (formerly known as Lethbridge—Foothills) is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917. It incorporates the City of Lethbridge and Lethbridge County.

Lethbridge has had a centre-right MP at the federal level since the 1930s. The current MP for Lethbridge is Rachael Thomas, who was first elected to parliament in 2015 for the Conservatives and was re-elected in 2021 as a Conservative MP.

History

This riding was originally created in 1914 from parts of Macleod riding.

In 1977, it was renamed "Lethbridge—Foothills".

In 1987, Lethbridge—Foothills was abolished and replaced by a new "Lethbridge" riding. The new riding was created from most of Lethbridge—Foothills, along with parts of Macleod and Medicine Hat ridings.

It has been represented by centre-right MPs without interruption since 1930. As in most other federal Alberta ridings outside of Calgary and Edmonton, it usually supports the major right-wing party of the day by landslide margins. Since 1945, a non-conservative party has only won 30 percent of the vote three times. Lethbridge itself is somewhat friendlier to centre-left candidates, at least at the provincial level, which helps reduce the overall margins compared to surrounding ridings. The Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP) won both seats in the provincial legislature from the city in the 2015 provincial election, but in 2019 lost the Lethbridge East riding to the United Conservative Party (UCP). The city has occasionally elected provincial Liberals in the past as well. At the federal level, however, the NDP and the Liberals are no match for the overwhelming conservative bent of the more rural areas.^{[citation needed]}

This riding lost territory to Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner and Foothills during the 2012 electoral redistribution.

Historical boundaries

1914 representation order
1924 representation order
1933 representation order
1952 representation order
1966 representation order
1976 representation order
1987 representation order
1996 representation order
2003 representation order
2013 representation order

Members of Parliament

Parliament	Years		Party
Lethbridge Riding created from Macleod
13th	1917–1921	William Ashbury Buchanan	Government (Unionist)
14th	1921–1925	Lincoln Henry Jelliff	Progressive
15th	1925–1926		Progressive
16th	1926–1930		United Farmers
17th	1930–1935	John Smith Stewart	Conservative
18th	1935–1940	John Horne Blackmore	Social Credit
19th	1940–1945
20th	1945–1949
21st	1949–1953
22nd	1953–1957
23rd	1957–1958
24th	1958–1962	Deane Gundlock	Progressive Conservative
25th	1962–1963
26th	1963–1965
27th	1965–1968
28th	1968–1972
29th	1972–1974	Kenneth Earl Hurlburt
30th	1974–1979	Kenneth Earl Hurlburt
Lethbridge—Foothills
31st	1979–1980	Blaine Thacker	Progressive Conservative
32nd	1980–1984
33rd	1984–1988
Lethbridge
34th	1988–1993	Blaine Thacker	Progressive Conservative
35th	1993–1997	Raymond Speaker	Reform
36th	1997–2000	Rick Casson	Reform
36th	2000–2000		Alliance
37th	2000–2003		Alliance
37th	2003–2004		Conservative
38th	2004–2006
39th	2006–2008
40th	2008–2011
41st	2011–2015	Jim Hillyer
42nd	2015–2019	Rachael Thomas
43rd	2019–2021
44th	2021–present

Current member of Parliament

Its member of Parliament is Rachael Thomas. She was first elected in 2015. She is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Demographics

Panethnic groups in Lethbridge (2011−2021)
Panethnic group	2021^[3]		2016^[4]		2011^[5]
Panethnic group	Pop.	%	Pop.	%	Pop.	%
European^[a]	96,470	80.06%	95,430	83.77%	90,940	88.48%
Indigenous	7,240	6.01%	6,135	5.39%	4,370	4.25%
East Asian^[b]	3,415	2.83%	3,030	2.66%	3,135	3.05%
Southeast Asian^[c]	3,220	2.67%	2,465	2.16%	1,210	1.18%
African	3,220	2.67%	1,925	1.69%	855	0.83%
South Asian	3,075	2.55%	2,135	1.87%	965	0.94%
Latin American	2,390	1.98%	1,665	1.46%	710	0.69%
Middle Eastern^[d]	755	0.63%	740	0.65%	235	0.23%
Other/multiracial^[e]	725	0.6%	390	0.34%	365	0.36%
Total responses	120,500	97.3%	113,920	97.04%	102,780	96.96%
Total population	123,847	100%	117,394	100%	105,999	100%
Notes: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses. Demographics based on 2012 Canadian federal electoral redistribution riding boundaries.

Election results

Graph of election results in Lethbridge (1914-1977), Lethbridge—Foothills, Lethbridge (1987-present) (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

Lethbridge, 1987–present

Graph of election results in Lethbridge (1987-present) (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

2021 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rachael Harder	32,817	55.38	-10.07	$74,582.67
	New Democratic	Elaine Perez	11,386	19.22	+4.48	$649.51
	Liberal	Devon Hargreaves	8,928	15.07	+1.41	$22,887.05
	People's	Kimmie Hovan	4,097	6.91	+5.45	$3,238.34
	Independent	Kim Siever	1,179	1.99	–	$0.00
	Christian Heritage	Geoffrey Capp	566	0.96	-0.13	$7,470.57
Total valid votes/Expense limit			58,973	–	–	$118,112.55
Total rejected ballots			282
Turnout			66.13	-2.96
Eligible voters			89,663
	Conservative hold		Swing		-7.28
Source: Elections Canada^[6]

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rachael Harder	40,713	65.79	+9.03	$81,336.37
	New Democratic	Shandi Bleiken	9,110	14.72	-5.78	none listed
	Liberal	Amy Bronson	8,443	13.64	-4.86	$39,899.72
	Green	Stephnie Watson	1,939	3.13	+0.56	none listed
	People's	Grant Hepworth	1,007	1.63	-	none listed
	Christian Heritage	Marc Slingerland	670	1.08	-0.23	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			61,882	99.46
Total rejected ballots			335	0.54
Turnout			62,217	69.09
Eligible voters			90,051
	Conservative hold		Swing		+7.42
Source: Elections Canada^[7]^[8]

v t e 2015 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rachael Harder	32,321	56.76	+4.25	$120,662.32
	New Democratic	Cheryl Meheden	11,674	20.50	-9.45	$115,672.18
	Liberal	Mike Pyne	10,532	18.50	+9.36	$34,405.68
	Green	Kas MacMillan	1,461	2.57	-1.92	$2,377.70
	Christian Heritage	Geoffrey Capp	746	1.31	-2.61	$13,993.12
	Rhinoceros	Solly Krygier-Paine	209	0.37	–	–
Total valid votes/expense limit			56,943	100.00		$218,320.12
Total rejected ballots			158	0.28	–
Turnout			57,101	69.42	–
Eligible voters			82,225
	Conservative hold		Swing		+6.85
Source: Elections Canada^[9]^[10]

2011 federal election redistributed results^[11]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	21,617	52.51
	New Democratic	12,329	29.95
	Liberal	3,759	9.13
	Green	1,845	4.48
	Christian Heritage	1,614	3.92

v t e 2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Jim Hillyer	27,173	56.51	-10.45	$72,625
	New Democratic	Mark Sandilands	13,097	27.24	+13.02	$36,703
	Liberal	Michael Cormican	4,030	8.38	-0.92	$23,067
	Green	Cailin Bartlett	2,095	4.36	-2.86	$0
	Christian Heritage	Geoffrey Capp	1,716	3.57	+1.26	$14,727
Total valid votes/expense limit			48,086	100.00
Total rejected ballots			307	0.63	+0.34
Turnout			48,393	54.20	+1
Eligible voters			89,280	–	–

v t e 2008 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rick Casson	31,714	66.96	-0.34	$78,789
	New Democratic	Mark Sandilands	6,733	14.22	+0.52	$18,476
	Liberal	Michael Cormican	4,404	9.30	-1.95	$21,463
	Green	Amanda Swagar	3,420	7.22	+3.68
	Christian Heritage	Geoffrey Capp	1,094	2.31	-0.49	$13,529
Total valid votes/expense limit			47,365	100.00	$94,223
Total rejected ballots			138	0.29	+0.04
Turnout			47,503	53	-9

v t e 2006 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rick Casson	35,061	67.30	+4.68
	New Democratic	Melanee Thomas	7,135	13.70	+3.98
	Liberal	Michael Cormican	5,859	11.25	-10.31
	Green	Andrea Sheridan	1,846	3.54	+0.89
	Christian Heritage	Marc Slingerland	1,458	2.80	+0.53
	Independent	Howard Forsyth	735	1.41	N/A
Total valid votes			52,094	100.00
Total rejected ballots			132	0.25	+0.03
Turnout			52,226	63.7	+4.0

v t e 2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rick Casson	29,765	62.62	-12.22	$68,346
	Liberal	Ken Nicol	10,250	21.56	+4.62	$34,339
	New Democratic	Melanee Thomas	4,623	9.72	+3.97	$10,460
	Green	Erin Marie Matthews	1,262	2.65	+0.78	$32
	Christian Heritage	Ken Vanden Broek	1,079	2.27	–	$16,322
	Marijuana	Dustin Sobie	553	1.16	–
Total valid votes			47,532	100.00
Total rejected ballots			135	0.28	-0.07
Turnout			47,667	61.74	-0.19

Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance vote in 2000.

v t e 2000 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Alliance	Rick Casson	30,380	66.02	+10.49	$61,765
	Liberal	Vaughan Hartigan	7,797	16.94	-2.24	$10,339
	Progressive Conservative	Kimberly Denise Budd	4,062	8.82	-9.26	$3,506
	New Democratic	Garth Hardy	2,648	5.75	+0.38	$6,135
	Green	Don C. Ferguson	864	1.87	–	$1,324
	Canadian Action	Dan Lamden	264	0.57	-0.22	$739
Total valid votes			46,015	100.00
Total rejected ballots			163	0.35	+0.16
Turnout			46,178	61.93	+2.26

Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997.

v t e 1997 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Reform	Rick Casson	22,828	55.53	+2.97	$63,487
	Liberal	John McGee	7,887	19.18	-6.29	$47,656
	Progressive Conservative	Greg Weadick	7,436	18.08	+2.86	$40,649
	New Democratic	Victor Lough	2,211	5.37	+2.56	$3,877
	Christian Heritage	Nellie Slingerland	418	1.01	–	$1,944
	Canadian Action	J-C Lessard	326	0.79	–	$9,690
Total valid votes			41,106	100.00
Total rejected ballots			79	0.19
Turnout			41,185	59.67

v t e 1993 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Ray Speaker	24,565	52.56	+45.76
	Liberal	John William McGee	11,905	25.47	+6.89
	Progressive Conservative	Dean Lien	7,113	15.22	-43.19
	National	Carson Tannant	1,592	3.41
	New Democratic	Doug Petherbridge	1,313	2.81	-6.99
	Natural Law	Cliff Kinzel	247	0.53
Total valid votes			46,735	100.00

v t e 1988 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Blaine Thacker	26,750	58.41	-8.97
	Liberal	Robert Grbavac	8,513	18.59	+7.15
	New Democratic	Don Ferguson	4,489	9.80	-4.88
	Reform	Phil Connolly	3,116	6.80
	Christian Heritage	Charles Cavilla	2,932	6.40
Total valid votes			45,800	100.00

Lethbridge—Foothills, 1977–1987

Graph of election results in Lethbridge—Foothills (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

1984 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Blaine Thacker	31,316	67.38	-1.22
	New Democratic	Connie Credico	6,822	14.68	+4.69
	Liberal	Shaun Ward	5,315	11.44	-5.85
	Independent	Steven V. Pinchak	2,145	4.61
	Social Credit	Rod W. Start	456	0.98	-1.61
	Confederation of Regions	Cyril Baranosky	426	0.92
Total valid votes			46,480	100.00

1980 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Blaine Thacker	27,307	68.60	-1.30
	Liberal	Shaun G. Ward	6,882	17.29	-0.37
	New Democratic	Dave Porteous	3,974	9.98	+1.04
	Social Credit	D. Willard Paxman	1,031	2.59	-0.49
	Independent	Peter Jones	482	1.21
	Communist	David Wallis	132	0.33	-0.09
Total valid votes			39,808	100.00

1979 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Blaine Thacker	29,069	69.89	+6.37
	Liberal	Jim Gladstone	7,345	17.66	-4.15
	New Democratic	Roger Rickwood	3,720	8.94	-1.32
	Social Credit	Wagner Saende	1,282	3.08	-1.32
	Communist	David Wallis	174	0.42
Total valid votes			41,590	100.00

Lethbridge, 1914–1977

Graph of election results in Lethbridge (1914-1977) (minor parties that never got 2% of the vote or didn't run consistently are omitted)

1974 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Kenneth Earl Hurlburt	20,602	63.52	+5.72
	Liberal	Sven Ericksen	7,075	21.81	-1.50
	New Democratic	Bessie Annand	3,329	10.26	-1.82
	Social Credit	Vern Young	1,428	4.40	-2.40
Total valid votes			32,434	100.00

1972 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Kenneth Earl Hurlburt	18,845	57.80	+12.85
	Liberal	Andy Russell	7,601	23.31	-7.63
	New Democratic	Hal Hoffman	3,941	12.09	+2.86
	Social Credit	Keith L. Hancock	2,219	6.81	-8.08
Total valid votes			32,606	100.00

1968 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Deane Gundlock	11,901	44.95	+3.92
	Liberal	John I. Boras	8,193	30.94	+11.21
	Social Credit	Ernest R. Patterson	3,941	14.88	-17.59
	New Democratic	George Edward Orchard	2,442	9.22	+2.46
Total valid votes			26,477	100.00

1965 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Deane Gundlock	10,147	41.02	-2.28
	Social Credit	Wallace C. Strom	8,032	32.47	-2.51
	Liberal	Frank Sherring	4,882	19.74	+3.57
	New Democratic	Frances Joyce Grantham	1,673	6.76	+1.95
Total valid votes			24,734	100.00

1963 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Deane Gundlock	11,475	43.30	-0.77
	Social Credit	Steve Kapcsos	9,271	34.98	+0.49
	Liberal	Martin Hoyt	4,284	16.17	+1.90
	New Democratic	Peter Uganecz	1,277	4.82	-2.35
	Independent	John Arthur Spencer	193	0.73
Total valid votes			26,500	100.00

1962 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Deane Gundlock	11,105	44.07	-14.26
	Social Credit	Steve Kapcsos	8,693	34.50	6.25
	Liberal	Mark Reed Stringam	3,595	14.27	+2.42
	New Democratic	Milo Douglas	1,806	7.17
Total valid votes			25,199	100.00

1958 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Deane Gundlock	13,364	58.33	+43.55
	Social Credit	John Horne Blackmore	6,471	28.25	-24.77
	Liberal	Clarence G. Yanosik	2,714	11.85	-20.36
	Independent SC	Ervin D. Olsen	361	1.58
Total valid votes			22,910	100.00

1957 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	John Horne Blackmore	10,910	53.02	-3.61
	Liberal	Asael E. Palmer	6,627	32.20	-0.80
	Progressive Conservative	John Arthur Spencer	3,041	14.78	+4.41
Total valid votes			20,578	100.00

1953 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	John Horne Blackmore	9,737	56.62	+9.64
	Liberal	Ernest Roderick McFarland	5,676	33.01	+2.53
	Progressive Conservative	James Erle Carr	1,783	10.37	-2.65
Total valid votes			17,196	100.00

1949 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	John Horne Blackmore	8,880	46.98	+3.46
	Liberal	Louis Sherman Turcotte	5,760	30.47	+7.54
	Progressive Conservative	John Arthur Jardine	2,460	13.02	-4.90
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William Wesley Scott	1,801	9.53	-3.47
Total valid votes			18,901	100.00

1945 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	John Horne Blackmore	7,250	43.52	+2.49
	Liberal	Louis Sherman Turcotte	3,820	22.93	-12.79
	Progressive Conservative	Philip Baker	2,985	17.92	-5.33
	Co-operative Commonwealth	William Wesley Scott	2,165	13.00
	Labor–Progressive	William Henry Childress	439	2.64
Total valid votes			16,659	100.00

Note: Progressive Conservative vote is compared to "National Government" vote in 1940 election. Social Credit vote is compared to New Democracy vote in 1940 election.

1940 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democracy	John Horne Blackmore	6,362	41.03	-9.97
	Liberal	Lynden Eldon Fairbairn	5,538	35.72	+19.21
	National Government	John Smith Stewart	3,605	23.25	-0.15
Total valid votes			15,505	100.00

Note: "National Government" vote is compared to Conservative vote in 1935 election. New Democracy vote is compared to Social Credit vote in 1935 election.

1935 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Credit	John Horne Blackmore	6,516	51.00
	Conservative	John Smith Stewart	2,990	23.40	-15.43
	Liberal	Lynden Eldon Fairbairn	2,109	16.51	-13.67
	Co-operative Commonwealth	John Albert Johansen	737	5.77	-25.22
	Reconstruction	A. Gladstone Virtue	425	3.33
Total valid votes			12,777	100.00

Note: CCF vote is compared to Progressive vote in 1930 election.

1930 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Smith Stewart	4,863	38.84	-1.23
	Progressive	Thomas Owen King	3,880	30.99	-28.95
	Liberal	Arthur George Baalim	3,779	30.18
Total valid votes			12,522	100.00

Note: Progressive vote is compared to UFA vote in 1926 election.

1926 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Farmers of Alberta	Lincoln Henry Jelliff	5,138	59.93	+6.24
	Conservative	Andrew Bryden Hogg	3,435	40.07	-6.24
Total valid votes			8,573	100.00

Note: UFA vote is compared to Progressive vote in 1925 election.

1925 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive	Lincoln Henry Jelliff	5,399	53.69	+4.45
	Conservative	John Smith Stewart	4,656	46.31	+33.12
Total valid votes			10,055	100.00

1921 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive	Lincoln Henry Jelliff	4,961	49.25
	Labour	Martin Francis Finn	3,170	31.47
	Conservative	William Sargent Ball	1,328	13.18	-55.05
	Liberal	James Edward Lovering	615	6.10
Total valid votes			10,074	100.00

1917 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Government (Unionist)	William Ashbury Buchanan	5,302	68.24
	Opposition-Labour	Lambert "L" Pack	2,468	31.76
Total valid votes			7,770	100.00

References

"Lethbridge (federal electoral district) (Code 48019) Census Profile". 2011 census. Government of Canada - Statistics Canada. Retrieved March 6, 2011.

Notes

^ Statistic includes all persons that did not make up part of a visible minority or an indigenous identity.
^ Statistic includes total responses of "Chinese", "Korean", and "Japanese" under visible minority section on census.
^ Statistic includes total responses of "Filipino" and "Southeast Asian" under visible minority section on census.
^ Statistic includes total responses of "West Asian" and "Arab" under visible minority section on census.
^ Statistic includes total responses of "Visible minority, n.i.e." and "Multiple visible minorities" under visible minority section on census.