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Prince Albert Northcote has a continuous electoral history that goes back to the 1905 provincial election. Before 1986, this constituency was called Prince Albert-Duck Lake, and before 1975 the constituency was known as Prince Albert West. Before 1967, the riding was called Prince Albert, and before 1917, it was called Prince Albert City.
The first MLA for what is now Prince Albert Northcote was elected in 1905 as a Liberal. John Henderson Lamont became Attorney General in the Scott Government, and in 1907 he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Saskatchewan, later called the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal. In 1927, Lamont was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Lamont, Alberta is named after him. In 1908 the next MLA for the riding was another Liberal, William Turgeon, who won the 1907 by-election in this seat, and become Provincial Secretary and Attorney General in the Liberal Government, In 1908, Turgeon was defeated by John Bradshaw of the Provincial Rights Party. Bradshaw was re-elected in Prince Albert City in 1912, but lost in 1917 to Charles McDonald. McDonald was originally from Scotland and settled in Prince Albert with his wife in 1901 McDonald was re-elected in 1921 by acclamation but did not run for re-election in 1925. Instead McDonald was elected as the Liberal MP for Prince Albert. But as soon as he was elected, he agreed to give up his seat so Prime Minister Mackenzie King could run in in Prince Albert in a by-election, since King had been defeated in York North in the general election. In the 1925 provincial election, McDonald was replaced by fellow Liberal Thomas Davis. Premier Jimmy Gardiner appointed Davis as the province's first Municipal Affairs Minister in 1926. Davis was re-elected in 1929 and 1934, having defeated a young Conservative candidate named John Diefenbaker in the 1929 election. Davis was re-elected in 1934 and was made Attorney General by Premier Bill Patterson. Davis was elected one more time in 1938, then in 1939 was appointed to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal. The next MLA for Prince Albert was Harry Fraser, who won by acclamation. But in 1944 Prince Albert politics underwent a sea change when Lachlan McIntosh of the CCF beat Fraser in the historic CCF sweep of the province. McIntosh took on many cabinet positions in the Douglas and Lloyd Governments, including the portfolios of Agriculture, Co-operation, and Municipal Affairs. The McIntosh Mall in downtown Prince Albert is named for him. McIntosh died of a heart attack in 1962, and in the subsequent by-election he was replaced by Liberal Davey Steuart. Steuart was Mayor of Prince Albert in the 1950s, and lost to McIntosh in Prince Albert constituency in 1960. But Steuart won the 1962 by-election and kept the seat in the 1964 when the Liberals came back to power after an absence of 20 years. Steuart became Minister of Health and implemented user fees for health care. In 1965 Steuart became Minister of Natural Resources and Deputy Premier, and in 1967 he finally became Minister of Finance. After the death of Ross Thatcher in 1971, Steuart became Saskatchewan Liberal Party Leader, and was re-elected in Prince Albert-Duck Lake one more time in 1975. Steuart was appointed to the Senate in 1976, and in the following by-election, the seat was won by Tory candidate Garnet Wipf. In 1978, Prince Albert-Duck Lake changed hands again when the seat was won by Jerry Hammersmith of the NDP. But in 1982, the Tories rolled over the province in an event now called the "Monday Night Massacre". Hammersmith only beat PC candidate Phil West by 9 votes in Prince Albert-Duck Lake, and results were later overturned in court. A by-election was held for the seat in February 1983, and Hammersmith lost to Sid Dutchak of the Tories by about 800 votes or 11 percentage points. Dutchak was made Minister of Justice in the Devine Government. In 1986 Dutchak was defeated by local businessman Eldon Lautermilch of the NDP. Lautermilch was re-elected in what became Prince Albert Northcote in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003 and finally retired in 2007. From 1992 to 2007, Lautermilch held numerous cabinet positions including Energy and Mines, Rural Development, Economic and Cooperative Development, Intergovernmental Affairs, Forestry, Highways and Transportation, and Government House Leader.In 2007 Prince Albert Northcote was won by New Democrat Darcy Furber with 53 percent of the vote or a margin of over 1,100 votes.
Furber is seeking re-election tomorrow, and faces a stiff challenge from Victoria Jurgens of the Saskatchewan Party. Conventional wisdom on the fate of this seat in the 2011 provincial election is mixed; some feel Furber will be easily re-elected, others aren't so sure. There is no Liberal candidate in Prince Albert Northcote this time, which closes the gap between the NDP and the Sask Party in this seat to about 500 votes or 10 percentage points. With provincial election strongly behind the Saskatchewan Party this time, and with the Prince Albert economy growing quickly, this contest may be too close to call. Perhaps Furber will win again if the legendary "Little Orange Machine" can get all of his supporters to the polls tomorrow. This seat is probably best listed as a toss-up between the two parties.
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