This riding was created in 1907 from
Calgary and
Strathcona ridings. At the time this was a vast riding taking in much of
Central Alberta between the two major cities of Calgary and Edmonton. The only major urban centre was
Red Deer, then a small town of only 1,500 people. Once an overwhelmingly rural constituency, it has been consistently reduced in geographic size over the years due to the growth of the City of Red Deer. In 2003, about 20% of the district was transferred to the
Wetaskiwin riding. Like most of Alberta, Red Deer elected a Liberal MP from 1908 to 1921, then a UFA MP from 1921 to 1935, then a Social Credit MP from 1935 to 1958. Like most other Alberta ridings outside Calgary and Edmonton, the major right-wing party of the day usually won here by blowout margins. A centre-left candidate last cleared 20 percent of the vote in 1968, and from 1979 onward centre-left candidates seldom got 15 percent of the vote. The riding was split almost in half for the
2015 election. The southern portion, including downtown, became
Red Deer—Mountain View, while the northern portion was merged with Wetaskiwin to form
Red Deer—Lacombe. The riding was reinstated by the
2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution, reuniting the city of Red Deer and combining it with rural areas to its southeast.
Historical boundaries Members of Parliament This riding elected the following
members of Parliament: ==Election results==