The electoral district was created in the 1971 boundary redistribution out of the electoral districts of Calgary Glenmore, Calgary South and Calgary Victoria Park. The 2010 boundary redistribution saw significant changes to the riding. All territory south of Glenmore Trail was moved to Calgary-Glenmore & the northern boundary shifted, exchanging and losing many different portions of land with Calgary-Currie and Calgary-Buffalo.
Boundary history
Representation history
The electoral district of Calgary-Elbow was created in the boundary redistribution of 1971 from Calgary Glenmore, Calgary South and Calgary Victoria Park. The first election saw former Calgary Victoria Park Progressive Conservative incumbent and former Calgary Alderman David Russell run for re-election. He won a hotly contested race over Social Credit candidate L.A. Thorssen to pick up the new district for his party. Upon being elected Russell was appointed into the cabinet of Premier Peter Lougheed. He ran for re-election in 1975 and defeated future Senator Sharon Carstairs with a landslide. He would be re-elected with large majorities three more times while continuing to serve various cabinet portfolios. He would be appointed Deputy Premier by Don Getty in 1985. Russell retired from the legislature in 1989. The second representative in the riding was former Mayor of CalgaryRalph Klein who was elected to his first term in 1989. Klein would win the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives in 1992 and become Premier of the province. He would hold the premier ship until December 2006 before resigning his seat in 2007. In total Klein was re-elected in the district four times. A hotly contested by-election was held on June 12, 2007. The winner was Alberta Liberal candidate Craig Cheffins who managed an upset win over local business personBrian Henninger who owns a popular Toyota dealership in the riding. The 2008 general election saw Cheffins defeated as Progressive Conservative candidate Alison Redford won back the riding for her party. She was promoted to cabinet by Premier Ed Stelmach after the election. Redford became Premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative party after winning the 2011 Progressive Conservative leadership race. She was re-elected in the 2012 provincial election. In the 2015 provincial electionGreg Clark the leader of the Alberta Party was elected MLA.
