Medicine Hat–Cardston–Warner (Alberta) 177/338

 Medicine Hat–Cardston–Warner (Alberta)

Today we're back in Alberta with Medicine Hat–Cardston–Warner!

Medicine Hat–Cardston–Warner has existed as a riding since 1907, receiving its current name in 2012. The population of the riding was 108,391 in 2021. The riding contains the city of Medicine Hat (63,271 in 2021) as well as the towns of Redcliff (5,581 in 2021) and Raymond (4,199 in 2021). The riding contains almost the entire southern Alberta border, save for the portion in the Foothills riding.

Politically, this seat is in the Conservative heartland of Alberta, and has voted as such for over fifty years. While most of rural Alberta has more recently voted Social Credit than Liberal, this seat voted for the Liberals in 1968 by just 206 votes. Granted, that was aided by a floor crossing SoCred, but alas. The Liberals got up to 25% in the 2016 by-election, surging in Medicine Hat due to their local star candidate Stan Sakamoto. This seat is currently held by Conservative MP Glen Motz.

The floor crossing SoCred? Bud Olson. Olson was first elected in 1957, joining a caucus of 13 Alberta SoCreds. He lost in 1958 when John Diefenbaker swept the province but didn't have a tough time getting back in 1962, but was just one of two Alberta SoCreds, as their support was now largely in Quebec. He crossed the floor to the Liberals in 1967 as the English wing was dying off (Olson was just one of four non-Quebec SoCreds in a caucus of 30). He became minister of agriculture in Pierre Trudeau's first cabinet. He went on to lose in 1972, but was appointed to the senate in 1977 as well as back into cabinet in 1980. From 1996-2000 he served as the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. He passed away in 2002 in Medicine Hat. In 2019, this seat was 25/34 in Alberta and 327/338 in Canada by margin.

The name is quite good, county names are typical in Alberta and Medicine Hat is a large urban centre. The shape is okay, not a huge fan of the way it hugs Lethbridge like that, it could easily be built north and take Newell County and Brooks. As for individuality, how many ridings can say they've had an MP, Senator, Minister, and Lieutenant Governor represent them?

Tomorrow we're back in Quebec with Mégantic–L'Érable!