1968 Edmonton municipal election

The 1968 Edmonton municipal election was held on October 16, 1968, to elect a mayor and twelve aldermen to sit on Edmonton City Council and seven trustees to sit on each of the public and separate school boards. The electorate also decided three plebiscite questions.

On May 2, 1968, the Legislative Assembly of Alberta passed the Municipal Elections Act. this Act had three major effects: first, it standardized municipal terms as being three years in all Alberta municipalities. Second, it standardized the date on which municipal elections in Alberta would be held – the nomination deadline would be the third Monday of September and the election would be four weeks later. Third, it allowed for the election of aldermen by ward, rather than at large.

This election was conducted under the new Act, and included a plebiscite to move to a ward system. It was approved by the electorate, and the 1968 election was the last in which aldermen were elected at large (although a 1970 by-election also elected an alderman at large, before the ward system was introduced in the 1971 election).

In addition to choosing members for City Council, citizens were asked to vote on three plebiscites. One plebiscite was on whether to switch to wards for election of city councillors. Another was whether or not council should have control over hours of operation of retail stores.

One plebiscite was related to a question rejected by voters in 1963, asking if the city should purchase land and build a combined sports and convention complex. The 1968 plebiscite saw voters agree to "construction of a Trade Convention and Sports Complex" in downtown Edmonton. Two years later, voters later rejected the specific, 50% more costly, Omniplex project plebiscite.[1] The single-site sports and convention concept was later served by the distributed Northlands Coliseum (opened 1974), Commonwealth Stadium (1978), and Edmonton Convention Centre (1983, a few metres south of the 1963 site).

Voter turnout

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There were 93,129 ballots cast out of 238,828 eligible voters, for a voter turnout of 39%.

Results

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(bold indicates elected, italics indicate incumbent)

Mayor

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  • Ivor Dent – 34,722
  • Reginald Easton – 27,365
  • John Leslie Bodie – 26,951

Aldermen

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Voters could cast up to 12 votes. 822,000 votes were marked.[2] The successful candidates received about 470,000 votes. The two most popular candidates were the choice of a majority of voters.[3]

Elected

  • Morris Weinlos – 49,527
  • James Bateman – 45,685 (his family ran a chain of grocery stores)
  • Una Evans – 44,025 (reformer, husband was Art Evans, Edmonton Journal writer[4]
  • Ed Leger – 42,636
  • Cec Purves – 40,699
  • Neil Crawford – 39,190 (later Conservative MLA)
  • Kenneth Newman – 37,607
  • Ches Tanner – 36,191
  • Julia Kiniski – 35,760
  • Terry Nugent – 34,451
  • Kathleen McCallum – 34,059
  • David Ward – 29,770

Not elected

  • Bev Booker – 29,652
  • Terry Cavanagh – 28,981
  • Norbert Berkowitz – 28,394
  • Pat Shewchuk – 26,395
  • Catherine Chichak – 24,835
  • G Dale Newcombe – 24,403
  • Bill McLean – 24,185
  • Don Ross – 21,837
  • Ron Hayter – 21,511
  • G A (Pat) O'Hara – 18,310
  • A Terry Laing – 16,155
  • Lila Fahlman – 15,485
  • John Matlock – 12,543
  • John Lakusta – 11,965
  • Douglas Tomlinson – 10,189 (member of the Communist Party)
  • Charles Jenkins – 9543
  • Walter Makowecki – 7962
  • Wilson Arthur Stewart – 7951
  • Bernard Mazurewicz – 6848
  • Abner Abraham Rubin – 5339

Public school trustees

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Each voter could cast up to seven votes (plurality block voting).

Party Candidate Votes Elected
Better Education Association Jackson Willis 38,496  Y
Better Education Association John Bracco 31,844  Y
Quality Education Council Edith Rogers 29,404  Y
Independent Vernon Johnson 28,860  Y
Better Education Association Milton Lazerte 27,422  Y
Better Education Association Warren Edward (Ted) Smith 25,922  Y
Better Education Association Lois Campbell 23,976  Y
Quality Education Council Richard Jamieson 17,981
Better Education Association David Ellis 16,578
Better Education Association Alan Robertson 16,419
Independent Jean O'Hara 15,704
Quality Education Council Robert Dunseith 14,346
Independent Dorothy Preston 12,389
Quality Education Council Joseph Boehm 10,388
Independent Don McMillan 9,439
Quality Education Council Albert Bourcier 9,378
Quality Education Council John Poppit 6,739
Independent William Chomyn 6,522
Independent Laura Tuomi 5,791
Quality Education Council John Fuga 5,744
Independent Paul Fuog 3,943

Separate (Catholic) school trustees

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Each voter could cast up to seven votes (plurality block voting).

Party Candidate Votes Elected
Independent Georges Brosseau 11,893  Y
Independent Jean Forest 9,681  Y
Independent Robert Sabourin 9,175  Y
Independent Bob Neville 8,853  Y
Independent Bill Diachuk 8,520  Y
Independent Larry Messier 8,310  Y
Independent Jean McDonald 8,225  Y
Independent Paul Norris 7,864
Independent B. J. Gagnon 7,041
Independent Morris Bahry 7,023
Independent D. A. McKay 6,657
Independent Cece Primeau 6,645

Plebiscites

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Ward System

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Are you in favour of the City being divided into areas known as wards, of not less than three (3) and not more than ten (10) in number for the holding of elections of Alderman to City Council at future elections?

  • Yes – 45938
  • No – 28594

Convention and Sports Complex

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Do you favour the construction of a Trade Convention and Sports Complex containing facilities such as a covered Football stadium and Ice Arena, and a Trade & Convention Centre, at an estimated capital cost of Twenty-three Million Dollars ($23,000,000.00) and to be operated at an estimated annual deficit of not more than two million?

  • Yes – 57568
  • No – 21458

Council Control of Store Hours

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Do you want shop hours in the City of Edmonton to be controlled by City Council?

  • Yes – 24672
  • No – 55489

If shop hours are controlled, which do you favour: (a.) six days and two evenings – 58533 (b.) five days and two evenings – 8539 (c.) five and one-half days and one evening – 11776

References

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  1. ^ Dr. Russell Cobb (January 26, 2015). "Retrofutures: Edmonton's Omniplex". Edmonton Heritage Council. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  2. ^ "Results 1945 to 2013" (PDF). City of Edmonton. pp. 52–54.
  3. ^ Rek,Municipal Elections in Edmonton
  4. ^ Rek, Municipal Elections in Edmonton

City of Edmonton: Edmonton Elections