Alberta general election, 1993

Alberta general election, 1993
Alberta
June 15, 1993 (1993-06-15)

83 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
42 seats needed for a majority
Turnout 60.21%
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Ralph Klein Laurence Decore Ray Martin
Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Democratic
Leader since December 14, 1992 October 9, 1988 1984
Leader's seat Calgary-Elbow Edmonton-Glengarry Edmonton-Norwood (lost re-election)
Last election 59 seats, 44.3% 8 seats, 28.7% 16 seats, 26.3%
Seats before 59 8 16
Seats won 51 32 0
Seat change Decrease8 Increase24 Decrease16
Popular vote 439,981 392,899 108,883
Percentage 44.5% 39.7% 11.0%
Swing Increase0.2% Increase11.0% Decrease15.3%

Premier before election

Ralph Klein
Progressive Conservative

Premier-designate

Ralph Klein
Progressive Conservative

The Alberta general election of 1993 was the twenty-third general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on June 15, 1993 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. It is notable because it was seen by some as a contest between the former mayors of Calgary and Edmonton, Ralph Klein and Laurence Decore, respectively. Before eventually being defeated in 2015, it remained the closest the Progressive Conservatives had come to losing since coming to power in 1971.

Background

In 1992, the Liberal Party was led by Laurence Decore, a former mayor of Edmonton. Despite being the smallest of the three parties in the legislature, the Liberals made major gains by criticizing the Conservatives' fiscal responsibility, the province's rapidly rising debt, and the government's involvement in the private sector which resulted in some companies defaulting on government loans.

In September 1992, Don Getty resigned as provincial premier and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, after polls showed that he would not win re-election. The party convention chose Environment Minister and former Calgary mayor Ralph Klein to succeed Getty. Klein campaigned for the leadership in part by making arguments similar to Decore's. He favoured a near-immediate balancing of the provincial budget and rapid debt repayment thereafter, and declared his government "out of the business of business". By the time Klein dropped the writs, his party had regained the lead on polls.

Campaign

During the general election campaign, Klein promoted the significant changes that he had made during his time of Premier, distancing the Conservatives from Getty's past administration. Decore, facing a Premier with whom he agreed on many issues, argued that the Progressive Conservative party had no moral authority left on the issues on which Klein was campaigning.[1]

There were several televised debates, however viewership was low since it coincided with the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals.

Election

Klein's efforts were seen as successful in reinvigorating the Conservatives from certain defeat just under a year earlier. Ending up, they retained a solid majority in the legislature for its seventh consecutive term in government. The Conservatives increased its share of the popular vote marginally, and lost eight seats in the legislature.

The Liberals capitalized on the stagnant PC vote and the collapse of the New Democratic Party vote from 26% to 11%. As opposition to the PC government coalesced around Decore and the Liberals, they managed to win almost 40% of the popular vote and 32 seats in the legislature, including every seat in Edmonton. They formed what still stands as the largest opposition caucus in Alberta history with the exception of 1917, when the government majority was smaller but there were far fewer seats in the legislature. To the surprise of many, Decore stepped down as Liberal leader not long after the election, supposedly being pressured to resign by party insiders who felt that he missed the chance to form the government.

Ray Martin's New Democrats, previously the official opposition, were shut out of the legislature altogether for the first time since 1967. All of their seats in Edmonton—including Martin's--were lost to the Liberals, due to the popularity of Decore there. Martin suggested that tactical voting was to blame as well, as the anti-PC vote consolidated around the Liberals.

Results

Overall voter turnout was 60.21%.[2]

Party Party leader candidates Seats Popular vote
1989 Elected % Change # % % Change
  Progressive Conservative Ralph Klein 83 59 51 -13.6% 439,981 44.49% +0.20%
Liberal Laurence Decore 83 8 32 +300% 392,899 39.73% +11.05%
     New Democrats Ray Martin 83 16 - -100% 108,883 11.01% -15.28%
     Social Credit Randy Thorsteinson 39 - - - 23,885 2.41% +1.94%
     Independent 21 - - - 9,214 0.93% +0.67%
     Natural Law Maury Shapka 45 * - * 5,017 0.51% *
Confederation of Regions Ray Young 12 * - * 3,556 0.36% *
  Alliance Mark Waters 4 * - * 3,548 0.36% *
Green Betty Paschen 11 * - * 1,995 0.20% *
Communist Naomi Rankin 1 - - - 47 x -0.01%
Total 382 83 83 - 989,025 100%  
Source: Elections Alberta

Notes:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

Members elected

For complete electoral history, see individual districts

23rd Alberta Legislative Assembly
  District Member Party
  Athabasca-Wabasca Mike Cardinal Progressive Conservative
  Banff-Cochrane Brian Evans Progressive Conservative
  Barrhead-Westlock Ken Kowalski Progressive Conservative
     Bonnyville Leo Vasseur Liberal
  Bow Valley Lyle Oberg Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-Bow Bonnie Laing Progressive Conservative
     Calgary-Buffalo Gary Dickson Liberal
  Calgary-Cross Yvonne Fritz Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-Currie Jocelyn Burgener Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-East Moe Amery Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-Egmont Denis Herard Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-Elbow Ralph Klein Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-Fish Creek Heather Forsyth Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-Foothills Pat Black1 Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-Glenmore Dianne Mirosh Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-Lougheed Jim Dinning Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-McCall Harry Sohal Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-Montrose Hung Pham Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-Mountain View Mark Hlady Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-North Hill Richard Magnus Progressive Conservative
     Calgary-North West Frank Bruseker Liberal
  Calgary-Nose Creek Gary Mar Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-Shaw Jon Havelock Progressive Conservative
  Calgary-Varsity Murray Smith Progressive Conservative
     Calgary-West Danny Dalla-Longa Liberal
  Cardston-Chief Mountain Jack Ady Progressive Conservative
  Chinook Shirley McClellan Progressive Conservative
     Clover Bar-Fort Saskatchewan Muriel Abdurahman Liberal
  Cypress-Medicine Hat Lorne Taylor Progressive Conservative
  Drayton Valley-Calmar Tom Thurber Progressive Conservative
  Drumheller Stanley Schumacher Progressive Conservative
  Dunvegan Glen Clegg Progressive Conservative
     Edmonton-Avonmore Gene Zwozdesky Liberal
     Edmonton-Beverly-Belmont Julius Yankowsky Liberal
     Edmonton-Centre Michael Henry Liberal
     Edmonton-Ellerslie Debby Carlson Liberal
     Edmonton-Glengarry Laurence Decore Liberal
     Edmonton-Glenora Howard Sapers Liberal
     Edmonton-Gold Bar Bettie Hewes Liberal
     Edmonton-Highlands-Beverly Alice Hanson Liberal
     Edmonton-Manning Peter Sekulic Liberal
     Edmonton-Mayfield Lance White Liberal
     Edmonton-McClung Grant Mitchell Liberal
     Edmonton-Meadowlark Karen Leibovici Liberal
     Edmonton-Mill Woods Don Massey Liberal
     Edmonton-Norwood Andrew Beniuk Liberal
     Edmonton-Roper Sine Chadi Liberal
     Edmonton-Rutherford Percy Wickman Liberal
     Edmonton-Strathcona Al Zariwny Liberal
     Edmonton-Whitemud Mike Percy Liberal
     Fort McMurray Adam Germain Liberal
  Grande Prairie-Smoky Walter Paszkowski Progressive Conservative
  Grande Prairie-Wapiti Wayne Jacques Progressive Conservative
  Highwood Don Tannas Progressive Conservative
  Innisfail-Sylvan Lake Gary Severtson Progressive Conservative
     Lac La Biche-St. Paul Paul Langevin Liberal
  Lacombe-Stettler Judy Gordon Progressive Conservative
  Lesser Slave Lake Pearl Calahasen Progressive Conservative
     Leduc Terry Kirkland Liberal
     Lethbridge-East Ken Nicol Liberal
  Lethbridge-West Clint Dunford Progressive Conservative
  Little Bow Barry McFarland Progressive Conservative
  Medicine Hat Rob Renner Progressive Conservative
  Olds-Didsbury Roy Brassard Progressive Conservative
  Peace River Gary Friedel Progressive Conservative
  Pincher Creek-Macleod David Coutts Progressive Conservative
  Ponoka-Rimbey Halvar Jonson Progressive Conservative
  Red Deer North Stockwell Day Progressive Conservative
  Red Deer South Victor Doerksen Progressive Conservative
     Redwater Nicholas Taylor Liberal
  Rocky Mountain House Ty Lund Progressive Conservative
     Sherwood Park Bruce Collingwood Liberal
     St. Albert Len Bracko Liberal
     Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert Colleen Soetaert Liberal
  Stony Plain Stan Woloshyn Progressive Conservative
  Taber-Warner Ron Hierath Progressive Conservative
  Three Hills-Airdrie Carol Haley Progressive Conservative
  Vegreville-Viking Ed Stelmach Progressive Conservative
  Vermilion-Lloydminster Steve West Progressive Conservative
  Wainwright Robert Fischer Progressive Conservative
     West Yellowhead Duco Van Binsbergen Liberal
  Wetaskiwin-Camrose Ken Rostad Progressive Conservative
  Whitecourt-Ste. Anne Peter Trynchy Progressive Conservative

Note:

References

  1. "Alberta Campaigns Since 1935". CBC News.
  2. Election Alberta (July 28, 2008). 2008 General Report (PDF). p. 158. Retrieved April 29, 2011.

See also

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