The electoral district was created in the 2003 boundary redistribution after parts of Drumheller-Chinook and Lacombe-Stettler were merged. The 2010 redistribution saw Paintearth County transferred to this division from Battle River-Wainwright.[1]
Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.
Starting at the intersection of the north boundary of Twp. 42 and the east boundary of Rge. 19; then 1. east along the north boundary to the right bank of the Battle River; 2. downstream along the right bank to the east boundary of Sec. 8 in Twp. 41, Rge. 16 W4; 3. south along the east boundary of Secs. 8 and 5 in the Twp. and the east boundary of Secs. 32, 29, 20, 17, 8 and 5 in Twps. 40, 39, 38 and 37, Rge. 16 W4 to the north boundary of Twp. 36; 4. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 33 in the Twp.; 5. 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.; 6. east along the north boundary of Secs. 10, 11 and 12 in the Twp. and the north boundary of Secs. 7, 8 and 9 in Twp. 36, Rge. 15 W4 to the west shore of Sullivan Lake; 7. southeasterly along the west shore to the north boundary of Twp. 34, Rge. 15 W4; 8. east along the north boundary of Twp. 34 to the east boundary of Rge. 10; 9. north along the east boundary of Rge. 10 to the north boundary of Sec. 6 in Twp. 35, Rge. 9 W4; 10. east along the north boundary of Secs. 6 and 5 to the east boundary of Sec. 8 in the Twp.; 11. north along the east boundary of Secs. 8, 17, 20, 29 and 32 in the Twp. and Secs. 5, 8, 17, 20, 29 and 32 in Twp. 36 to the north boundary of Twp. 36; 12. east along the north boundary of Twp. 36 to the east boundary of Sec. 3 in Twp. 37, Rge. 9, W4; 13. north along the east boundary of Secs. 3 and 10 to the north boundary of Sec. 11; 14. east along the north boundary of Secs. 11 and 12 to the east boundary of Rge. 9 W4; 15. north along the east boundary of Rge. 9 to the north boundary of Twp. 37; 16. east along the north boundary of Twp. 37 to the east boundary of Sec. 33 in Twp. 37, Rge. 3 W4; 17. south along the east boundary of Secs. 33, 28, 21, 16, 9 and 4 in the Twp. and the east boundary of Secs. 33 and 28 in Twp. 36, Rge. 3 W4 to the north boundary of Sec. 22 in the Twp.; 18. east along the north boundary of Secs. 22, 23 and 24 in Rge. 3 W4 and the north boundary of Secs. 19, 20 and 21 in Twp. 36, Rge. 2 W4 to the east boundary of Sec. 21; 19. south along the east boundary of Secs. 21, 16, 9 and 4 to the north boundary of Twp. 35; 20. east along the north boundary of Twp. 35 to the east boundary of the Province; 21. south along the east boundary of the Province to the right bank of the South Saskatchewan River; 22. upstream along the right bank of the river to the east boundary of Rge. 3 W4; 23. north along the east boundary of Rge. 3 W4 to the north boundary of Sec. 13 in Twp. 20, Rge. 3 W4; 24. west along the north boundary of Secs. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 in Rges. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 to the east boundary of Rge. 11 W4; 25. north along the east boundary of Rge. 11 W4 to the right bank of the Red Deer River; 26. upstream along the right bank to the southeasterly point of the municipal boundary of the Town of Drumheller (at Sec. 22 in Twp. 27, Rge. 18 W4); 27. generally west and north along the municipal boundary of the Town of Drumheller to the intersection with the right bank of the Red Deer River (at Sec. 18, Twp. 29, Rge. 20 W4); 28. upstream along the right bank of the Red Deer River to the north boundary of Twp. 38; 29. east along the north boundary of Twp. 38 to the east boundary of Sec. 3 in the Twp.; 30. north along the east boundary of Secs. 3, 10, 15 and 22 to the north boundary of Sec. 23; 31. east along the north boundary of Secs. 23 and 24 to the east boundary of Rge. 22; 32. north along the east boundary of Rge. 22 to the south shore of Buffalo Lake; 33. in a northerly direction along the west shore of Buffalo Lake to the east boundary of Rge. 22; 34. north along the east boundary of Rge. 22 to the west shore of Buffalo Lake; 35. northeasterly along the west shore to the north boundary of Twp. 40; 36. east along the north boundary to the east shore of Buffalo Lake; 37. in a generally northerly direction along the east shore to the north boundary of Sec. 22 in Twp. 41, Rge. 20 W4; 38. east along the north boundary to the east boundary of Sec. 27; 39. north along the east boundary of Secs. 27 and 34 in the Twp. to the north boundary of Twp. 41; 40. east along the north boundary of Twp. 41 to the east boundary of the west half of Sec. 4 in Twp. 42, Rge. 19 W4; 41. north along the east boundary of the west half of Secs. 4, 9, 16 and 21 in the Twp. to the north boundary of Sec. 21; 42. east along the north boundary of Secs. 21, 22, 23 and 24 in the Twp. to the east boundary of Rge. 19 W4; 43. north along the east boundary of Rge. 19 to the starting point.
The riding was created when the writ was dropped for the 2004 general election as a merger between Drumheller-Chinook and the eastern half of the Lacombe-Stettler riding. Deputy Premier Shirley McClellan, MLA for Drumheller-Chinook, defeated five other candidates to pick up the new district.
McClellan resigned her seat in the Legislature on January 15, 2007, the same day that former premier Ralph Klein resigned his seat in Calgary-Elbow. By-elections for both electoral districts were held on June 12, 2007.
The by-election saw a significant shift in support for the opposition parties with the re-emergence of the Liberal Party, which hadn't run a candidate in 2004, taking second place. The Alberta Alliance and NDP fared the worst, both retaining the same candidates from the general election, but dropping from second and third to fifth and last respectively. The Progressive Conservative candidate Jack Hayden won the district with a slightly reduced popular vote. Social Credit made surprising gains, jumping from last to third place, and Independent candidate John Rew also made a strong showing.
Hayden won his second term in the 2008 general election, winning a landslide. He was appointed to cabinet by Premier Ed Stelmach, first as Minister of Infrastructure until 2011, and then as Minister of Parks, Tourism and Recreation.
In 2014 most of the Wildrose caucus, including Opposition Leader Danielle Smith, crossed the floor to the governing Progressive Conservatives in support of Jim Prentice's government. Strankman and four other Wildrose MLA's chose to remain with the party. In the 2015 general election, Strankman was re-elected by a much greater margin, as the Progressive Conservatives went down to a stunning defeat and Wildrose increased their seat count.
Wildrose subsequently merged with the Progressive Conservatives to form the United Conservative Party under Jason Kenney. While Strankman initially joined the party in 2017, he abandoned it in 2019 to sit as an Independent after losing the party's nomination to stand as candidate in the upcoming general election.[5][6]
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.
