Fort McMurray—Cold Lake (Alberta) 110/338

 Fort McMurray—Cold Lake (Alberta)

Today we're in northern Alberta with Fort McMurray—Cold Lake!

Fort McMurray—Cold Lake has existed as a riding since the 2012 redistribution, created from Fort McMurray—Athabasca and Westlock—St. Paul. The population of the riding was 110,230 in 2016. The population centers are Wood Buffalo (71,859 in 2016), Cold Lake (14,961 in 2016), and Lac La Biche (8,330 in 2016). Fort McMurray is within the specialized municipality of Wood Buffalo.

Politically, this seat has been solidly Conservative since 1958, before that being a Liberal seat. That isn't to say opposition parties haven't had success here. During the Pierre Trudeau days, the Liberals were consistently above 20% and were within 1300 votes of taking the riding in 1968 and hovered around 20-30% during the Chretien years. The seat is currently held by Conservative MP Laila Goodridge.

One of the former MP's for the riding is Brian Jean. Brian Jean served in the House of Commons for 10 years, resigning and later becoming the leader of the Wildrose Party of Alberta. The party formed the opposition in the 2015 Alberta election, and after merging with the Progressive Conservatives, Brian Jean lost the leadership race of the United Conservative Party to now premier Jason Kenney. Brian Jean is currently seeking the UCP nomination for the seat vacated by Laila Goodridge. In 2019, this seat was 24/34 in Alberta and 326/338 in Canada by margin.

Rating:

Name: 7.4/10 - I like the name, but I think Wood Buffalo should be incorporated somewhere, and maybe Lac La Biche.

Shape: 4.2/10 - I just can't forgive the south end, even if does follow rivers and roads.

Individuality: 6.7/10 - Cool MP's and occasional closeness, but still very Alberta.

Total: 18.3/30 (61%)

Tomorrow we're in Fredericton, I wonder what we'll talk about...