| Calgary-Varsity | |
| Province: | Alberta |
| Prov-Rep: | Luanne Metz |
| Prov-Rep-Party: | NDP |
| Prov-Status: | active |
| Prov-Created: | 1993 |
| Prov-Election-First: | 1993 |
| Prov-Election-Last: | 2023 |
Calgary-Varsity is a provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The district was created in 1993 and returns a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
It comprises the communities of Varsity, Dalhousie, Brentwood, Banff Trail, University Heights, Parkdale, Point Mckay, and Charleswood (part of the Triwood community which also includes Collingwood west of 19th St NW).
The electoral district was created in the 1993 boundary redistribution out of parts of three electoral districts. They were Calgary-Foothills, Calgary-North Hill and Calgary-North West.
The 2010 boundary redistribution saw the district only slightly altered. It picked up some land from Calgary-Bow and Calgary-Mountain View when the south boundary was moved south to run completely along the Bow River and it also picked up a few blocks of houses from Calgary-North Hill when the east boundary between 17th Ave NW and 24 Ave NW was moved one block over to 18 Street NW
| 23 Calgary-Varsity 2003 boundaries[1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bordering districts | ||||
| North | East | West | South | |
| Calgary-Foothills and Calgary-Nose Hill | Calgary-North Hill | Calgary-Bow and Calgary-North West | Calgary-Mountain View | |
| riding map goes here | ||||
| Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act. | ||||
| Starting at the intersection of Sarcee Trail NW with John Laurie Boulevard NW; then 1. southeast along John Laurie Boulevard NW to 19 Street NW; 2. south along 19 Street NW to 16 Avenue NW; 3. west along 16 Avenue NW to Shaganappi Trail NW; 4. north along Shaganappi Trail NW to 32 Avenue NW; 5. west along 32 Avenue NW and its westerly extension to the right bank of the Bow River; 6. north along the right bank of the Bow River to the southerly extension of Silver Springs Boulevard NW; 7. north along the extension and Silver Springs Boulevard NW to SilverSprings Gate NW; 8. east and north along Silver Springs Gate NW to Sarcee Trail NW; 9. north along Sarcee Trail NW to the starting point. | ||||
| Note: | ||||
| 26 Calgary-Varsity 2010 boundaries | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bordering districts | ||||
| North | East | West | South | |
| Calgary-Foothills and Calgary-Mackay-Nose Hill | Calgary-Klein | Calgary-Bow and Calgary-Hawkwood | Calgary-Currie and Calgary-Mountain View | |
| Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2010, Electoral Divisions Act. | ||||
| Note: | ||||
| Members of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary-Varsity | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assembly | Years | Member | Party | |||
| See Calgary-Foothills and Calgary-North Hill 1971-1993, Calgary-North West 1979-1993 | ||||||
| 23rd | 1993–1997 | Murray Smith | Progressive Conservative | |||
| 24th | 1997–2001 | |||||
| 25th | 2001–2004 | |||||
| 26th | 2004–2008 | Harry Chase | Liberal | |||
| 27th | 2008–2012 | |||||
| 28th | 2012–2014 | Donna Kennedy-Glans | Progressive Conservative | |||
| 2014 | Independent | |||||
| 2014–2015 | Progressive Conservative | |||||
| 29th | 2015–2019 | Stephanie McLean | New Democratic | |||
| 2019 | Vacant | |||||
| 30th | 2019–2023 | Jason Copping | United Conservative | |||
| 31st | 2023–present | Luanne Metz | New Democratic | |||
The electoral district was created in 1993 and comprised land that had existed in three electoral districts. The region at that era had returned a mixture of Liberal and Progressive Conservative representatives.
In the first election in the district held in 1993, the district saw a closely contested race between Progressive Conservative candidate Murray Smith and Liberal candidate Carrol Jaques. Smith would win with a plurality of 47%. Premier Ralph Klein appointed Smith to his first cabinet post as Minister of Economic Development and Tourism in 1994. He would be shuffled to the Labour portfolio in 1996.
Smith and Jaques faced each other again in the 1997 election with both candidates losing popular vote. Smith however won his second term by taking a majority of the ballots cast. After the election Smith kept his Labour portfolio until 1999 when he was shuffled to be the Minister of Gaming.
The 2001 election would see Jaques and Smith face each other for the third time. The result would be a near landslide in Smith's favour. After the election Smith would once again change cabinet portfolios this time becoming Minister of Energy until he retired at dissolution of the assembly in 2004.
Liberal candidate Harry Chase was elected as the second representative of the riding in the 2004 election with nearly 45% of the vote. He won his second term in 2008 with a slightly larger plurality.
In 2012 Progressive Conservative candidate Donna Kennedy-Glans was elected with 46% of the vote. She briefly sat as an independent in protest of Alison Redford's leadership.
In 2015 New Democrat candidate Stephanie McLean was elected with 44% of the vote. After serving in the cabinet of Rachel Notley, she stepped down as MLA shortly before the 2019 election.
In 2019 despite the NDP attracting a star candidate to run in Calgary-Varsity, Anne McGrath, she was defeated by United Conservative candidate Jason Copping.
In 2023 NDP candidate Luanne Metz - a clinical neurologist and researcher - defeated the incumbent Minister of Health, Jason Copping.
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| 2004 Senate nominee election results Calgary-Varsity[2] | Turnout 54.44% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affiliation | Votes | % votes | % ballots | Rank | Independent | Link Byfield | 3,812 | 11.97% | 35.26% | 4 | Independent | Tom Sindlinger | 2,920 | 9.17% | 27.01% | 9 | Vance Gough | 2,105 | 6.61% | 19.47% | 8 | Michael Roth | 1,895 | 5.95% | 17.53% | 7 | Gary Horan | 1,547 | 4.61% | 14.31% | 10 | |
| Total votes | 31,847 | 100% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total ballots | 10,810 | 2.95 votes per ballot | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 3,517 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Participating schools[3] |
|---|
| Banff Trail School |
| Brentwood Elementary |
| Ecole Varsity Acres School |
| F. E. Osborne Junior High School |
| H.D. Cartwright Junior High School |
| Jerry Potts Elementary |
| Sir William Van Horne High School |
| William Aberhart High School |
| 2004 Alberta student vote results[4] | |||||||||||||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % | Liberal | Harry Chase | 424 | 30.44% | Richard Larson | 282 | 20.24% | NDP | Mark Gabruch | 203 | 14.57% | |
| Total | 1,393 | 100% | |||||||||||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 95 | ||||||||||||||