Voters picked Rick Strankman, a Wildrose candidate, in 2012 after decades of supporting PC candidates.

This riding stretches east to the Saskatchewan/Alberta border and is one of the largest in south­central Alberta. Major centres include Drumheller, Stettler, Oyen, Consort and Brownfield. There is a federal medium ­security penitentiary in the riding. Dinosaur Provincial Park is a big tourist draw in the Badlands in the southwest of the riding. It was created in 2004.

2012: Wildrose candidate Rick Strankman defeated incumbent PC Jack Hayden by 856 votes.

2008: Hayden trounced Liberal Tom Dooley by an almost 5­1 margin, winning 6,986 votes. In the earlier 2007 byelection, he also beat Dooley decisively.

1987-2007: PC Shirley McClellan represented this area for 20 years. She was first elected in the Chinook riding in a 1987 byelection, defeating Jack Ramsay of the Western Canada Concept. Her run as MLA ended in January 2007, when she resigned, saying she wanted to spend more time with her family.