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, if preferred by the city or town. This election was conducted under the new Act, and included a plebiscite to move to a ward system. A majority of the electorate voted for the change, and the 1968 election was the last in which aldermen were elected at large. (A 1970 by-election, held after the death of councillor Julia Kiniski, was held before the ward system was put into use in the 1971 election. The by-election elected one alderman at large.) 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. 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 == There were 93,129 ballots cast out of 238,828 eligible voters, for a voter turnout of 39%. == Results == (bold indicates elected, italics indicate incumbent) === Mayor === Ivor Dent – 34,722 Reginald Easton – 27,365 John Leslie Bodie – 26,951 === Aldermen === Voters could cast up to 12 votes. 822,000 votes were marked. The successful candidates received about 470,000 votes. The two most popular candidates were the choice of a majority of voters. 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 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 === Each voter could cast up to seven votes (plurality block voting). === Separate (Catholic) school trustees === Each voter could cast up to seven votes (plurality block voting). === Plebiscites === ==== Ward System ==== 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 – 45,938 No – 28,594 ==== Convention and Sports Complex ==== 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 ==== 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 == City of Edmonton: Edmonton Elections