The Calgary-Currie electoral district was created in the 1971 boundary redistribution from parts of Calgary Glenmore and Calgary West.
The 2010 boundary redistribution saw the riding significantly changed. The Electoral Boundary Commission originally tried to abolish the riding but several complaints were submitted to the commission. Instead the riding was completely redrawn with the north boundary pushed up to the Bow River from 17 Avenue SW into land that was part of Calgary-Bow and Calgary-Buffalo. The east boundary which had gone as far as 1 Street SE was moved west to 14 Street SW losing land to Buffalo and Calgary-Elbow. The south boundary was significantly revised with Elbow causing the riding to gain and lose land with that constituency in a few different places and finally the west boundary was straightened out to run along Sarcee Trail causing the riding to gain land from Calgary-West.
Legal description from the Statutes of Alberta 2003, Electoral Divisions Act.
Starting at the intersection of Sarcee Trail SW with the westerly extension of 17 Avenue SW; then 1. east along the extension, 17 Avenue SW and 17 Avenue SE to 1 Street SE; 2. south along 1 Street SE to the left bank of the Elbow River; 3. southwest along the left bank of the Elbow River to the easterly extension of 29 Avenue SW; 4. west along the extension and 29 Avenue SW to 7 Street SW; 5. south along 7 Street SW to 30 Avenue SW; 6. west along 30 Avenue SW to Premier Way SW; 7. southwest along Premier Way SW to 10 Street SW; 8. south along 10 Street SW to Council Way SW; 9. west along Council Way SW to 14 Street SW; 10. south along 14 Street SW to 38 Avenue SW; 11. east along 38 Avenue SW to the northwest extension of the westerly boundary of Block 4, Plan 8035 AG; 12. southeast along the extension and the westerly block boundary and its southeast extension to the left bank of the Elbow River; 13. generally south and southeast along the left bank of the Elbow River to the east extension of 50 Avenue SW; 14. west along the extension and 50 Avenue SW to Crowchild Trail SW; 15. north along Crowchild Trail SW to Richmond Road SW; 16. southwest along Richmond Road SW to 37 Street SW; 17. north along 37 Street SW to 26 Avenue SW; 18. west along 26 Avenue SW to 40 Street SW; 19. south along 40 Street SW to 28 Avenue SW ; 20. west along 28 Avenue SW to 43 Street SW; 21. north along 43 Street SW to 26 Avenue SW; 22. west along 26 Avenue SW and its westerly extension
The Calgary-Currie electoral district was created in the boundary redistribution of 1971. The electoral district was named after the former Currie Army Barracks which used to exist in Southwest Calgary. The district replaced large portions of Calgary West and Calgary Glenmore.
The first general election in 1971 saw Progressive Conservative candidate Fred Peacock win a tight race over incumbent Social Credit member Frederick Colborne who had previously represented Calgary Centre. His old electoral district was abolished and he decided to run in Currie instead of Calgary-Buffalo.
During his first term Peacock served as a cabinet minister in the Lougheed government. He was re-elected for a second term in 1975 before he retired from provincial politics in 1979.
The second MLA to represent the district was Dennis Anderson. He won a large majority in the 1979 election. He was re-elected in 1982 with the highest popular vote in the districts history. He was also easily re-elected in 1986 and again in 1989 before retiring in 1993.
The third MLA was Progressive Conservative candidate Jocelyn Burgener who won a hotly contested election in 1993 against Mark Waters son of Senator Stan Waters and leader of the Alberta Political Alliance. She was re-elected in 1997 before retiring in 2001.
Former Calgary Alderman Jon Lord became the fourth representative for the district. He was elected with a large majority in the 2001 election. Lord ran for a second term but was defeated by Liberal candidate Dave Taylor, who was a talk radio host in Calgary prior to running for office.
Taylor was re-elected to his second term in 2008. After the election he ran for leadership of the Liberal party but was defeated by David Swann. He left the Liberal caucus on April 11, 2010, to sit as an independent. On January 24, 2011, Taylor joined the Alberta Party.
Source(s)Source: Elections AlbertaNote: Expenses is the sum of "Election Expenses", "Other Expenses" and "Transfers Issued". The Elections Act limits "Election Expenses" to $50,000.
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.
