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1940 Alberta general election

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Field	Value
election_name	1940 Alberta general election
country	Alberta
flag_year	1921
type	legislative
party_colour	no
party_name	no
previous_election	1935 Alberta general election
previous_year	1935
outgoing_members	8th Alberta Legislative Assembly
election_date
elected_mps	[members](9th-alberta-legislative-assembly)
next_election	1944 Alberta general election
next_year	1944
seats_for_election	57 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
29 seats were needed for a majority
turnout
image1	[[File:W aberhart (cropped).jpg	150x150px]]
colour1
leader1	William Aberhart
party1
leader_since1	September 3, 1935
leaders_seat1	Calgary
last_election1	56 seats, 54.2%
seats_before1	47
seats1	36
seat_change1	11
popular_vote1	132,507
percentage1	42.9%
swing1	11.3%
<!-- Independent Citizen's Association -->	image2	IM
colour2
leader2	Andrew Davison
party2
leader_since2	1940
leaders_seat2	Calgary
last_election2	pre-creation
seats_before2	—
seats2	19
seat_change2	—
popular_vote2	131,172
percentage2	42.5%
swing2	—
<!-- Labour -->	image4	LAB
colour4
leader4	unknown
party4
leader_since4	—
leaders_seat4	—
last_election4	0 seats, 1.7%
seats_before4	0
seats4	1
seat_change4	1
popular_vote4	3,258
percentage4	1.1%
swing4	0.6%
<!-- Liberal -->	image5	LIB
colour5
leader5	Edward L. Gray
party5
leader_since5	June 4, 1937
leaders_seat5	ran in Edmonton presumably
last_election5	5 seats, 23.1%
seats_before5	6
seats5	1
seat_change5	5
popular_vote5	2,755
percentage5	0.9%
swing5	22.2%
map_caption
title	Premier
posttitle	Premier after election
before_election	William Aberhart
before_party
after_election	William Aberhart
after_party

29 seats were needed for a majority The 1940 Alberta general election was held on March 21, 1940, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

Despite its failure to implement its key policy, providing prosperity certificates to all Albertans, the Social Credit Party of Premier William Aberhart won a second term in government. Nevertheless, it lost eleven seats that it had won in the 1935 landslide.

This provincial election, like the previous three, saw district-level proportional representation (Single transferable voting) used to elect the MLAs of Edmonton and Calgary. City-wide districts were used to elect multiple MLAs in the cities. All the other MLAs were elected in single-member districts through Instant-runoff voting.

Unity Movement

The Conservative and Liberal parties as well as the remains of the United Farmers, recognizing the widespread popularity of the Social Credit party, ran joint candidates as independents in what was called the "Independent Movement" or the "Unity Movement". Although independent candidates won almost as many votes as Social Credit, their support was dispersed across many areas so few of the movement's candidates took a majority of the votes (required under Instant-runoff voting to take the seat) so the movement's overall vote tally did not translate into its due share of seats overall. The Independent Movement lost a number of races by small margins. However, due to the Parliamentary system, which awards power solely on the basis of seats won, Social Credit was returned for a second term, albeit with a considerably reduced majority.

The Liberals under leader Edward Gray chose only to support Independent candidates that they played a hand in nominating, and nominated other candidates under its own banner. Gray felt that candidates should not be machined into the field and left it up to the individual Liberal constituency associations to decide if they would support a candidate or not.

This would be the most opposition that Social Credit would face until 1959.

Co-operative Commonwealth

The social democratic Cooperative Commonwealth Federation nominated candidates for the first time, but failed to win any seats in the legislature, despite winning over 10% of the popular vote under the leadership of former United Farmers of Alberta MLA Chester Ronning. Like Ronning, most of the CCF's candidates had run in the 1935 election for the UFA.

Reduction of electoral districts

An Act was passed in 1939 that provided for the reduction of the number of MLAs from 63 to 57, upon the next election. Calgary and Edmonton now returned five MLAs each instead of six, and the following other changes were made:

Abolished	New	New districts	Renaming of districts	Abolition of districts	Merger of districts	Reorganization of districts

Results

Party	Leader	Candidates	First-preference votes	Seats	Votes	±	% Fpv	Change (pp)	[1935](1935-alberta-general-election)	1940	308,864	100.00%
William Aberhart	56	132,507	31,193	42.90	{{bartable	-11.35	-2	1em	background:red}}	56	20	Andrew Davison	57	130,603	11,178
Total	165
Rejected ballots	10,615	2,346
Turnout	319,479	9,458	74.8%	7.0
Registered voters	427,335	49,086

MLAs elected

Synopsis of results

Riding	First-preference votes	Turnout
including spoilt ballots	Final counts	Winning party	Name	SC	IndM	CCF	Lib	Lab	Oth	Total	SC	IndM	CCF	Lib	Lab	[1935](1935-alberta-general-election)	1940
Acadia-Coronation	2,163	1,665	559	–	–	–	4,387	76.3%	2,297	1,963	–	–	–	New		SC
Alexandra	2,215	1,255	1,273	–	–	–		73.1%	2,326	–	1,953	–	–		SC		SC
Athabasca	1,965	1,336	782	–	–	–	4,083	61.9%	2,078	1,497	–	–	–		SC		SC
Banff-Cochrane	1,869	2,931	–	–	–	–	4,800	80.4%	Elected on 1st count	New		IndM
Beaver River	2,555	–	669	–	–	1,254	4,478	70.4%	Elected on 1st count		SC		SC
Bow Valley-Empress	2,035	1,762	–	–	–	–	3,797	70.5%	Elected on 1st count	New		SC
Bruce	2,018	1,433	752	–	–	–	4,203	71.8%	2,203	1,781	–	–	–	New		SC
Camrose	2,472	1,484	1,550	–	–	–	5,506	77.2%	2,582	–	2,508	–	–		SC		SC
Cardston	2,160	1,808	–	–	–	–	3,968	81.9%	Elected on 1st count		SC		SC
Clover Bar	2,252	1,370	1,476	–	–	–	5,098	77.9%	2,418	–	2,261	–	–		SC		SC
Cypress	1,667	2,065	–	–	–	–	3,732	75.3%	Elected on 1st count		SC		IndM
Didsbury	2,312	2,379	–	–	–	–		74.5%	Elected on 1st count		SC		IndM
Drumheller	2,043	1,530	741	–	–	–	4,314	79.8%	2,330	1,720	–	–	–		SC		SC
Edson	1,949	–	798	–	2,211	–	4,958	72.7%	2,100	–	–	–	2,558		SC		Lab
Gleichen	1,457	2,255	670	–	–	–	4,382	75.2%	Elected on 1st count		SC		IndM
Grande Prairie	1,556	1,998	674	–	–	–	4,228	70.4%	1,784	2,233	–	–	–		SC		IndM
Grouard	1,703	–	1,024	1,747	–	–	4,474	62.0%	1,961	–	–	1,965	–		Lib		Lib
Hand Hills	2,547	1,970	–	–	–	–	4,517	75.5%	Elected on 1st count		SC		SC
Lac Ste. Anne	1,612	1,239	1,110	–	–	–	3,961	63.9%	1,839	1,704	–	–	–		SC		SC
Lacombe	2,321	2,061	626	–	–	–	5,008	75.6%	2,457	2,361	–	–	–		SC		SC
Leduc	2,141	1,106	732	–	–	–	3,979	65.9%	Elected on 1st count		SC		SC
Lethbridge	2,760	4,318	–	–	–	–	7,078	83.4%	Elected on 1st count		SC		IndM
Little Bow	2,162	2,034	–	–	–	–	4,196	86.0%	Elected on 1st count		SC		SC
Macleod	2,487	2,446	–	–	–	–	4,933	82.3%	Elected on 1st count		SC		SC
Medicine Hat	2,943	2,863	–	–	–	–	5,806	86.1%	Elected on 1st count		SC		SC
Okotoks-High River	3,178	4,352	–	–	–	–	7,530	80.5%	Elected on 1st count		SC		IndM
Olds	2,345	2,455	–	–	–	362	5,162	76.4%	2,549	2,483	–	–	–		SC		SC
Peace River	2,114	2,253	–	–	–	–	4,367	60.0%	Elected on 1st count		SC		IndM
Pembina	1,589	1,719	743	–	–	–	4,051	60.0%	1,818	1,980	–	–	–		SC		IndM
Pincher Creek-Crowsnest	2,356	2,129	–	–	1,047	–	5,532	86.1%	2,443	2,210	–	–	–	New		SC
Ponoka	1,907	1,920	575	–	–	–	4,402	74.7%	2,045	2,234	–	–	–		SC		IndM
Red Deer	2,083	2,760	–	–	–	971	5,814	77.7%	2,330	3,142	–	–	–		SC		IndM
Redwater	2,226	945	785	–	–	–	3,956	64.9%	Elected on 1st count	New		SC
Rocky Mountain House	2,477	1,496	767	–	–	–	4,740	69.4%	Elected on 1st count		SC		SC
St. Albert	1,692	1,383	552	1,008	–	–	4,635	70.9%	2,018	2,304	–	–	–		SC		IndM
St. Paul	2,270	1,609	813	–	–	–	4,692	70.2%	2,421	1,785	–	–	–		SC		SC
Sedgewick	2,605	1,426	794	–	–	–	4,825	75.7%	Elected on 1st count		SC		SC
Spirit River	1,409	1,087	772	–	–	–	3,268	63.3%	1,707	1,295	–	–	–	New		SC
Stettler	2,668	1,851	784	–	–	–	5,303	78.5%	Elected on 1st count		SC		SC
Stony Plain	1,914	1,228	942	–	–	196	4,280	72.6%	2,213	1,606	–	–	–		SC		SC
Taber	1,879	1,383	576	–	–	–	3,838	80.0%	1,998	1,618	–	–	–		SC		SC
Vegreville	2,223	1,920	523	–	–	–	4,666	75.6%	2,375	2,061	–	–	–		SC		SC
Vermilion	2,203	1,815	936	–	–	–	4,954	76.4%	2,506	2,148	–	–	–		SC		SC
Wainwright	2,296	1,611	1,039	–	–	365	5,311	76.4%	2,583	2,169	–	–	–		SC		SC
Warner	1,558	1,937	–	–	–	–	3,495	83.0%	Elected on 1st count		SC		IndM
Wetaskiwin	2,480	1,874	901	–	–	–	5,255	71.9%	2,761	2,179	–	–	–		SC		SC
Willingdon	2,329	514	968	–	–	–	3,811	64.4%	Elected on 1st count	New		SC

: = Open seat : = turnout is above provincial average : = Candidate was in previous Legislature : = Incumbent had switched allegiance : = Previously incumbent in another riding : = Not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature : = Incumbency arose from by-election gain : = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada : = Multiple candidates

Multi-member districts

District	Seats won
(in order declared)
Calgary	AB	Independent	background}}
Edmonton

		Independent Movement

: = Candidate was in previous Legislature : = First-time MLA : = Previously incumbent in another district.

STV analysis

Exhausted votes

Twenty-eight districts went beyond first-preference counts in order to determine winning candidates:

District	Counts	Exhausted	1st preference	Final	Votes	% of 1st pref
Calgary	45,914	44,830	1,084	{{bartable	2.36	2	1em	background:red}}
Edmonton	43,743	41,130	2,613	{{bartable	5.97	2	1em	background:red}}
Acadia-Coronation	4,387	4,260	127	{{bartable	2.89	2	1em	background:red}}
Alexandra	4,743	4,279	464	{{bartable	9.78	2	1em	background:red}}
Athabasca	4,083	3,575	508	{{bartable	12.44	2	1em	background:red}}
Bruce	4,203	3,984	219	{{bartable	5.21	2	1em	background:red}}
Camrose	5,506	5,090	416	{{bartable	7.56	2	1em	background:red}}
Clover Bar	5,098	4,679	419	{{bartable	8.22	2	1em	background:red}}
Drumheller	4,314	4,050	264	{{bartable	6.12	2	1em	background:red}}
Edson	4,958	4,658	300	{{bartable	6.05	2	1em	background:red}}
Grande Prairie	4,228	4,017	211	{{bartable	4.99	2	1em	background:red}}
Grouard	4,474	3,926	548	{{bartable	12.25	2	1em	background:red}}
Lac Ste. Anne	3,961	3,543	418	{{bartable	10.55	2	1em	background:red}}
Lacombe	5,008	4,818	190	{{bartable	3.79	2	1em	background:red}}
Olds	5,162	5,032	130	{{bartable	2.52	2	1em	background:red}}
Pembina	4,051	3,798	253	{{bartable	6.25	2	1em	background:red}}
Pincher Creek-Crowsnest	5,532	4,653	879	{{bartable	15.89	2	1em	background:red}}
Ponoka	4,402	4,279	123	{{bartable	2.79	2	1em	background:red}}
Red Deer	5,814	5,472	342	{{bartable	5.88	2	1em	background:red}}
St. Albert	4,635	4,322	313	{{bartable	6.75	2	1em	background:red}}
St. Paul	4,692	4,206	486	{{bartable	10.35	2	1em	background:red}}
Spirit River	3,268	3,002	266	{{bartable	8.14	2	1em	background:red}}
Stony Plain	4,280	3,819	461	{{bartable	10.77	2	1em	background:red}}
Taber	3,838	3,616	222	{{bartable	5.78	2	1em	background:red}}
Vegreville	4,666	4,436	230	{{bartable	4.93	2	1em	background:red}}
Vermilion	4,954	4,654	300	{{bartable	6.06	2	1em	background:red}}
Wainwright	5,311	4,752	559	{{bartable	10.53	2	1em	background:red}}
Wetaskiwin	5,255	4,940	315	{{bartable	5.99	2	1em	background:red}}

Calgary

The Independent Movement (also called the "Citizens' Slate) fielded six candidates for the five seats. The other parties nominated fewer candidates than the maximum seats sought.

Party	Candidates	MLAs elected	1940	1935	±	1940	1935	±
6	–	6	3	–	3	4	6	2
Total	14	20	6	5	6	1

Edmonton

The Independent Movement presented seven candidates for the five seats being contested.

Party	Candidates	MLAs elected	1940	1935	±	1940	1935	±
7	–	7	3	–	3	5	6	1
Total	19	27	8	5	6	1

References

(January 23, 1940). "Liberals Against Independents If "Machined into Field" - Gray". The Lethbridge Herald.
{{Cite canlaw. (1939)
. (2006). ["A Century of Democracy: Elections of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 1905-2005"](https://archive.org/details/centennialseries04perr/page/134/mode/2up). *[[Legislative Assembly of Alberta]]*.
. (March 23, 1940). "Take 12 Counts In Calgary Vote". *[[Calgary Albertan]]*.
. (March 25, 1940). "General Statement By Returning Officer: Electoral Division of Edmonton". *[[Edmonton Bulletin]]*.

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