Politics of Alberta

History of Alberta politics

Alberta was swept up in the wave of "prairie populism" that took place after World War I; from 1921 to 1935 the United Farmers of Alberta headed the longest-lived of the farmers' governments that won power in Canada during this time. However, for over 80 years, the province was governed by right-wing parties, which began in 1935, with Social Credit, which were succeeded in 1971 by the Progressive Conservatives. Ralph Klein was premier of Alberta from 1992 to 2006 and despite making many controversial statements and having had problems with alcohol, he remained the leader of the Progressive Conservative party and thus the province although only 55% of delegates from his party signified their approval of his leadership on the spring of 2006, pushing him into early retirement.

Edmonton was the exception to the province's previous right-wing voting pattern, earning it the nickname "Redmonton". Edmonton city residents, to a larger extent than elsewhere, tend to vote for other parties, such as the Liberal Party of Alberta and Alberta New Democrats, but that is often obscured because of the first-past-the-post system. The 2004 provincial election was an example; the Liberals and New Democrats won 15 of the city's 18 seats. While the Tories won 13 of Edmonton's 18 seats in 2008, Klein's successor, Ed Stelmach, represented a riding just outside Edmonton and was perceived to be less connected to the interests of the energy corporations whose headquarters are in Calgary.

Stelmach gave way in 2011 to Alison Redford, the province's first female premier. She led the Tories to a 12th consecutive election victory in 2012. Redford was forced to resign in 2014, and was ultimately succeeded by former federal minister Jim Prentice. The conservative dominance of Alberta politics was finally broken in 2015, when the Alberta New Democratic Party formed government for the first time in its history, and Rachel Notley became Alberta's 17th Premier.

Alberta's right-wing tilt (after 1940) is no less pronounced on the federal level. The province was the heartland of the former Reform Party of Canada and its successor, the Canadian Alliance. These parties were the second-largest political parties in the federal Parliament from 1997 to 2003 and the farthest to the political right. The Canadian Alliance merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form today's Conservative Party of Canada. The Conservatives' former leader and ex-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, moved to Alberta in the 1980s and represents a Calgary riding; Rona Ambrose, the party's current interim leader and Leader of the Opposition, is also an Albertan. Rural Alberta ridings typically give the Conservatives (and Reform and the Alliance before them) some of their highest margins in the country; in many cases, the other parties are lucky to win over 20 percent of the vote.

Alberta's political stability has led to a series of political dynasties. Voters have turned a government out of office only four times in 110 years. The previous two governments, prior to 2015, were among the longest-lived in the Commonwealth.

Alberta elections are currently held using a first-past-the-post system so MLAs elected did not necessarily receive a majority of the votes in the constituency, and the party with a majority of the seats in the Legislature did not necessarily receive the majority of votes cast in the election. For example, in the 2004 election, the Progressive Conservative party won 61 of 83 seats (73% of the seats) but obtained only 47% of the popular vote. During the UFA and early SC government periods, elections were conducted using transferable preferential ballots (see single transferable vote), and candidates in cities ran "at-large,", using preferential balloting, ensuring more representative membership in the Legislature. Many of the opposition parties today include electoral reform in their policies.

In its history, Alberta has seen only five parties form governments.

No governing party, once defeated, has ever returned to power.

Most of the 27 Alberta general elections held as of 2011 have resulted in overwhelming majorities in the Legislature for the governing party, a trend unseen in any other province in Canada. No minority government has ever existed in Alberta, whether by general elections, by-elections, or floor crossings.

Recent politics

Both the provincial Progressive Conservatives and the Reform/Alliance parties reflect Alberta's more socially conservative nature when compared to other provinces. Politicians elected by Albertans tend to oppose social policies such as same-sex marriage and gun control. According to a 2001 poll by Leger Marketing, 61.8% of Albertans polled are in favour of the death penalty compared to 52.9% of Canadians, although death penalty has been abolished throughout Canada since 1976. Former Premier Ralph Klein attempted to establish relations with politicians in the United States, including sending a letter of support to US President George W. Bush signifying his approval for the Iraq War.

Some Albertans continue to resent the imposition in the 1980s of the National Energy Program (NEP) by the Liberal federal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. It was considered to be an intrusion by the federal government in an area of provincial responsibility. This led some Albertans to advocate separation of the province from Canada but this advocacy (despite occasional surges in interest) has never resulted in electoral success. Neither, however, has the Liberal Party of Canada enjoyed much success in Alberta (outside of Edmonton) since that time. The NEP was ended when the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, led by Brian Mulroney, formed the federal government following the 1984 federal election.

In the 2006 election, the federal Conservative Party of Canada won all the seats in Alberta, providing them with a complete sweep of the province. However, the NDP won the seat of Edmonton—Strathcona in the election of 2008, denying the Conservatives a sweep of the province in this election. No Alberta seats changed parties in the 2011 election, in which the Conservatives went from a minority government to a parliamentary majority. In all three elections, many of the Conservative candidates were elected with large majorities of the vote. Alberta has for decades been considered a conservative fortress, no matter which right-of-centre party they may have chosen to support. Albertans followed strong support for the Progressive Conservatives in the 1980s with the same degree of support for the Reform Party, and the Canadian Alliance in the 1990s, finally delivering a clean sweep for the new Conservative Party of Canada only a few years after its creation in 2003–2004.

However, small disaffection with the Conservative Party of Canada over policies enacted during its minority government such as Equalization payments in Canada and the Conservatives' reversal on income trusts led to the founding of the nascent federal Party of Alberta, in 2006. Provincially, while the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta had been in power for 40 years, they continued to win large majorities in the Legislative Assembly, winning 72 out of 83 seats in the March 2008 provincial election, although with declining popularity and lowering voter turn-out, reflecting increasing disfavour among ordinary Albertans regarding the government's market-first policies, its low quality of health and education services, and its flat-income tax policy. As well, for the first time since the 1980s, the PCs faced a challenge from the right wing, the upstart Wildrose Alliance Party. A November 2009 poll said the new party had 28% support, just 6 points behind the governing PCs. In polls, the Wildrose Party had a double digit lead over the PCs in December 2009, with 39% versus 25% each for the PCs and Alberta Liberals.

In April 2015, Jim Prentice called an election for May 5, citing the need for a mandate in order to make longer-term economic changes. Though initial polls had the PCs in the lead, as the election approached they fell behind the opposition Wildrose party, and the NDP. On May 5 the NDP gained 53 seats, winning a majority government under Rachel Notley.

Finances

Albertans are the lowest-taxed people in Canada, mostly because of the province's considerable oil and gas income as well as the more conservative financial philosophies of successive governments. It is also the only province in Canada where there is no provincial sales tax. Unlike the other provinces, which use a progressive income tax regime, Alberta used a flat rate income tax (currently at 10%), while equal for all, it also puts a higher burden of taxes on the lower-classes versus the upper-classes than found elsewhere. As a campaign promise, the New Democratic Party implemented a progressive system in 2015 after their electoral success. Alberta is one of few provinces that consistently has not received equalization payments from the federal government since 1962 (the others being British Columbia and (until 2008) Ontario, the original benchmark provinces). Alberta is now the largest net contributor to the program, which is intended to ensure that all provinces are able to provide similar levels of public services. The province's wealth is largely due to the abundance of natural resources, and the provincial government's generous policies toward oil and wood pulp companies, etc. that have harvested the natural resources for export markets at a very high rate. As a result, Alberta is the only province in Canada that has (recently) eliminated its provincial debt.