Lesser Slave Lake

Albertaelectoral district
Lesser Slave Lake within Alberta, 2017 boundaries
Provincial electoral district
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Alberta
MLA	Scott Sinclair Alberta Party
District created	1971
First contested	1971
Last contested	2023

Lesser Slave Lake is aprovincialelectoral district for theLegislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. It has existed since 1971 and is mandated to return a single member using the first past the post method of voting.

The riding is named after thelake of the same name, which is located entirely within its borders.

Lesser Slave Lake is a predominantly rural riding located inNorthern Alberta.

There are no cities in the riding. It includes only two incorporated urban municipalities: the towns ofHigh Prairie andSlave Lake. The riding also includes the entirety of one rural municipality (theMunicipal District of Opportunity No. 17) and parts of three others (Big Lakes County, theMunicipal District of Lesser Slave River No. 124, andNorthern Sunrise County).

Eleven First Nation bands are based in Lesser Slave Lake:Bigstone Cree Nation,Driftpile First Nation,Kapawe'no First Nation,Loon River Cree Nation,Lubicon Lake Indian Nation,Peerless Trout First Nation,Sawridge First Nation,Sucker Creek Cree First Nation,Swan River First Nation,Whitefish Lake First Nation, andWoodland Cree First Nation. Most of the region's Indigenous population is ofCree origin.

The riding borders five other electoral districts:Peace River to the northwest,Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo to the northeast,Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche to the east,Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock to the south, andCentral Peace-Notley to the west.

The electoral district was created in the 1971 boundary re-distribution from the electoral districts ofGrouard andPeace River. The district remained largely unchanged until the 1993 boundary re-distribution when the electoral district was extended north to theNorthwest Territories,Alberta border.

The 2003 boundary re-distribution saw the district revert to similar boundaries that existed prior to 1993.^[1] The2010 boundary re-distribution saw the district re-aligned with current municipal boundaries with a portion of land on the south end moved intoBarrhead-Morinville-Westlock.^[2]

In the 2017 electoral boundary re-distribution only minor changes were made to the districts boundaries, which were enlarged to include the Calling Lake Reserve.^[3]

Lesser Slave Lake is one of two electoral districts in the province that are afforded the exemption provided in theElectoral Boundaries Commission Act whereby only four electoral districts in Alberta may have a population which is as much as 50% below the average population of all the proposed electoral districts.^[4] The rationale for this exemption is the relatively low population in the region and large distances between population centers. The total population of the district in the 2017 re-distribution was 27,818 which is 41% below the provincial average for electoral districts.^[3]

63 Lesser Slave Lake 2003 boundaries[5]
Bordering districts
North	East	West	South
Peace River	Athabasca-Redwater,Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo,Lac La Biche-St. Paul	Dunvegan-Central Peace, Peace River	Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock,Grande Prairie-Smoky
riding map goes here
Legal description fromElectoral Divisions Act, S.A. 2003, c. E-4.1
Starting at the east boundary of Rge. 12 W5 and the north boundary of Twp. 105; then 1. east along the north boundary of Twp. 105 to the 5th meridian; 2. south along the 5th meridian to the north boundary of Twp. 96; 3. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 20 W4; 4. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 95; 5. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 18 W4; 6. south along the east boundary to the intersection with the right bank of the Athabasca River; 7. upstream along the right bank of the Athabasca River to the north boundary of Twp. 75, Rge. 18 W4; 8. west along the north boundary of Twp. 75 to the east boundary of Rge. 26 W4; 9. south along the east boundary of Rge. 26 W4 to the north boundary of Twp. 68; 10. east along the north boundary of Twp. 68 to the east boundary of Rge. 25 W4; 11. south along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 66; 12. west along the north boundary of Twp. 66 to the east boundary of Sec. 34 in Twp. 66, Rge. 25 W4; 13. south along Secs. 34, 27, 22, 15, 10 and 3 in Twps. 66 and 65 to the north boundary of Twp. 64; 14. west along the north boundary of Twp. 64 to the right bank of the Athabasca River; 15. downstream along the right bank of the Athabasca River to the north boundary of Twp. 67 in Rge. 2 W5; 16. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5; 17. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 70; 18. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 20 W5; 19. north along the east boundary to the north boundary of Twp. 73; 20. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5; 21. north along the east boundary of Rge. 19 W5 to the north boundary of Twp. 77; 22. west along the north boundary of Twp. 77 to the east boundary of Sec. 3 in Twp. 78, Rge. 19 W5; 23. north along the east boundary of Sec. 3 to the north boundary of Sec. 3 in the Twp.; 24. west along the north boundary of Secs. 3, 4 and 5 to the east boundary of Sec. 7; 25. north along the east boundary of Secs. 7, 18, 19, 30 and 31 in Twp. 78 to the north boundary of Twp. 78; 26. west along the north boundary to the east boundary of Rge. 20 W5; 27. north along the east boundary of Rge. 20 W5 to the north boundary of Twp. 79; 28. east along the north boundary of Twp. 79 to the east boundary of Rge. 18 W5; 29. north along the east boundary of Rge. 18 W5 to the north boundary of Twp. 96; 30. east along the north boundary of Twp. 96 to the east boundary of Rge. 12 W5; 31. north along the east boundary of Rge. 12 W5 to the starting point.
Note:

02 Lesser Slave Lake 2010 boundaries[6]
Bordering districts
North	East	West	South
Peace River	Fort McMurray-Conklin,Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo andLac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills	Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley,Grande Prairie-Smoky and Peace River	Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater andBarrhead-Morinville-Westlock
Note: Boundary descriptions were not used in the 2010 redistribution

The electoral district was created in 1971. Prior to the districts creation the area had elected Social Credit MLA's. The first election saw a tight race between Social Credit candidate Dennis Barton and Progressive Conservative candidate Garth Roberts. Barton eked out a win with just 41% of the popular vote.

Barton would be defeated in the 1975 election by Progressive Conservative candidate Larry Shaben who rolled up a landslide majority. Shaben would serve four terms in office and hold three different cabinet portfolios under the governments ofPeter Lougheed andDon Getty before retiring from office in 1989.

The third representative of the riding was Progressive Conservative candidate Pearl Calahasen who was elected to her first term in 1989 in a tight three-way race winning less than half the popular vote. She would also serve some ministerial portfolios from 1996 to 2006 in the government ofRalph Klein. She represented the district for seven terms, becoming the longest-serving female MLA in Alberta history,^[7] as well as the longest-serving Indigenous MLA.

In the2015 election, Calahasen placed third of three candidates and was defeated by theNDP'sDanielle Larivee, who served in several ministerial portfolios during the29th Assembly.

Voters had the option of selecting four candidates on the ballot

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.

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