1967 Alberta general election

Background

Social Credit campaign

The Social Credit government had prepared well for the election in advance, with the party maintaining a significant war chest. The Social Credit government came under criticism for low non-renewable resource royalty rates compared to other developed nations, which it counted by saying the royalties were the highest in Canada. Social Credit focused on their governance record rather than make significant policy commitments, although the Social Credit government did commit to study rising car insurance rates. Furthermore the Social Credit government argued they spent the most per capita on social issues despite having the lowest tax rate.

An internal controversy occurred when Albert Bourcier, a Social Credit MLA from 1935 to 1952 filed papers to contest the Edmonton-Jasper Place constituency against incumbent Social Credit MLA John Horan. Bourcier was still an active member of the Social Credit Party, but was ejected from the party prior to the election. It was the second time Bourcier was ejected from the party, the first being in 1949 as a sitting MLA. Horan was re-elected with 36.3 per cent of the vote, while Bourcier received 1.5 per cent of the vote.

New Democratic Party campaign

The New Democratic Party (NDP) built a campaign on the foundation of higher oil royalties, greater participation by small businesses in oil and gas resources, transition electricity utilities to provincial ownership, provide for provincial car insurance, and development of rural natural gas infrastructure.

Progressive Conservative campaign

New leader Peter Lougheed and his supporters worked tirelessly to convince candidates to run in all 65 constituencies, however the Progressive Conservatives were only able to nominate 47 candidates, two more than the Liberal Party, but less than the full slate put forward by the Social Credit Party and the New Democratic Party. Lougheed sought candidates who were already public figures, often meeting with editors of local weekly newspapers, mayors and presidents of boards of trade to inquire who the community's leaders were. As the writ came closer Lougheed and the Progressive Conservatives realized they could not defeat Social Credit, instead focusing on becoming the Official Opposition. The campaign created red, white and blue promotional materials with the slogan "Alberta Needs an Alternative", while Lougheed's own material added his personal slogan "Let's Start It in Calgary West".

Lougheed sought a public debate amongst the four party leaders, however as a long time incumbent Manning was not willing to risk a debate which could produce little benefit and much harm for the Socreds. Manning's position on the debate changed when a group of Edmonton church leaders decided to host a leaders debate, Manning, a devout Christian and host of "Back to the Bible Hour" radio broadcasts, accepted the debate. Lougheed's performance in the debate was lauded by the Edmonton Journal and was credited by biographer George Wood as boosting the Progressive Conservatives in the Edmonton area, including Don Getty's improbable victory over Social Credit Education Minister Randolph McKinnon in Strathcona West. Other media began to take notice with Maclean's stating the only politician capable of having "an outside chance of challenging Manning" was Lougheed.

During the campaign, the Progressive Conservatives called for the sale of Alberta Government Telephones.

Lougheed was subsequently elected to the legislature in Calgary-West capturing 62 per cent of the vote, and the Progressive Conservatives captured 26 per cent of the vote province-wide with five other successful candidates, and subsequently Lougheed became Leader of the Opposition. The group of elected Conservatives known as the "original six" included Calgary MLAs Len Werry, David Russell; Edmonton area MLAs Lou Hyndman and Don Getty, and the party's only rural candidate and former federal Member of Parliament Hugh Horner. The Edmonton Journal positively remarked on Lougheed's success following the 1967 election, stating Albertans had a responsible and credible alternative as opposition.

Eligibility to vote

The 1967 Alberta general election had four sets of criteria for a person to be eligible to vote. A eligible voter must be a Canadian citizen or British subject prior to April 14, 1967; 19 years of age or older on voting day; a resident of Alberta for 12 months preceding April 14, 1967; and a resident of the constituency on April 14, 1967. Indigenous Albertans were eligible to vote for the first time in a provincial general election.

Results

Note:

• Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election{{Bar box|title=Popular vote|titlebar=#ddd|width=600px|barwidth=410px|bars=

Daylight saving time plebiscite

The Province of Alberta voted on its fifth provincial plebiscite. Voters were asked to endorse a proposal to adopt daylight saving time (summer time). The proposal was rejected by a very slim margin. The question was asked again in the next election, and passed at that time.

Background

In 1948, the Government of Alberta formally set the province's time zone with the passage of The Daylight Saving Time Act, which mandated the entire province observe Mountain Standard Time, and prevented any municipality from observing daylight saving time or any other time zone. The bill came after Calgary (1946 and 1947), and Edmonton (1946) held municipal plebiscites which approved the move to daylight saving time. Edmonton under Mayor Harry Ainlay actually began to use DLT, which was forbidden under the new law.

Alberta's urban municipalities were in favour of daylight saving time and pressured the provincial government to hold a plebiscite or provide the authority for municipalities to locally observe daylight saving time. A joint motion of Calgary City Council and Edmonton City Council for a plebiscite was put to the Legislature in July 1963, with the support of Social Credit Minister and Edmonton Alderman Ethel Sylvia Wilson, without success.

A further effort in March 1964 by Liberal MLA and Calgary Alderman Bill Dickie to allow the matter to be settled by a municipal plebiscite also failed in the Legislature. In the debate, Social Credit MLA William Patterson described Daylight Saving Time as "that fandangled thing", and Minister Allen Russell Patrick stated municipal Daylight Savings Time would be difficult for tourists to understand.

A motion introduced by Bill Dickie was approved by the Legislature in February 1966 to hold a plebiscite on Daylight Saving Time. And on March 29, 1966, Minister Alfred Hooke introduced An Act to amend The Daylight Saving Time Act (Bill 75), to permit the government to hold a plebiscite on the issue.

On April 17, 1967, the Government of Alberta approved Order-in-Council 607/67 which provided the instructions for the plebiscite on Daylight Saving Time.

The prescribed question was "Do you favour Province-wide Daylight Saving Time?" with the two available responses as "Yes" and "No".

Across Canada, by 1967, each province besides Alberta and Saskatchewan had adopted Daylight Saving Time. Many Alberta businesses provided for modified summer hours, including the Alberta Stock Exchange which started at 7 a.m. to align with exchanges in Toronto and Montreal. Air Canada released a statement expressing the difficulty of distributing flight schedules with flights in Alberta.

Arguments for and against

Arguments for daylight saving time were put forward by the construction industry including the Alberta Construction Association and Edmonton Home Builders Association. The Calgary Herald editorial board published a number of editorials in advance of the plebiscite advocating for the province to observe daylight saving time, and further advocated for all of Canada to move to daylight saving time. Calgary residents and businessmen Bill Creighton and David Matthews led a campaign for daylight saving times, arguing the benefits of an additional hour of late sunlight for sports. Creighton was able to garner endorsements from the Alberta Amateur Athletics Union and other local golf, baseball, football and tennis associations. The Calgary Tourist and Convention Association endorsed daylight saving, noting that tourists perceived the province as "backwards" for not adopting the time shift. Liberal leader Michael Maccagno personally supported observing daylight saving time.

Arguments against daylight saving time were made by the group Alberta Council for Standard Time founded by Calgary lawyer and drive-in movie operator R.H. Barron. The Council ran a number of advertisements in local papers advocating for standard time, those arguments included the danger for children walking to school in the dark or twilight, and possible reductions to academic performance.

Aftermath

The plebiscite resulted in a narrow victory for retaining Mountain Standard Time, with 51.25 per cent of the population voting against daylight saving time. Alberta's large urban communities of Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat voted in favour, while the rural parts of the province voted against the proposal.

The new Progressive Conservative caucus continued to pressure the Social Credit government to provide individual municipalities the power to institute Daylight Saving Time. A February 1968 motion by Edmonton MLA Don Getty and Bill Dickie for municipal authority to institute daylight saving time was rejected by the Legislature.

In the aftermath of the plebiscite, the Calgary Herald blamed the defeat on "rural cousins" and the well organized Council for Standard Time, noting Calgarians voted two-to-one in favour of adopting daylight saving. The editorial board for the Calgary Herald decried the failure of the plebiscite, but predicted that the province would eventually adopt daylight saving time.

Results

Results by riding

|- |Alexandra||| |Anders O. Aalborg 2,880 57.85% | |Kenneth E. Oates 940 18.88% | |Charles F. Swan 304 6.11% | |Lester A. Lindgren 835 16.77% | ||||

| | | |Dave Hunter 939 24.43% | |George Opryshko 1,170 30.44% | ||||

| |Roy Wilson 2,066 42.17% | | | | | |Jack Fraser 374 7.63%||| |Clarence Copithorne (Ind.) 2,428 49.56%|||

| | | | | |Kenneth Joseph Kerr 316 7.31% | ||||

| | | | | |Calvin Steinley 549 10.69% | | Ben M. MacLeod (Coal.) 2,018 39.63% ||

| |Charles E. Johnston 6,461 37.63%||| |Len F. Werry 6,828 39.77% | |John Donachie 1,876 10.93% | |Evelyn Moore 1,905 11.09% | ||||

| |Charles Henry Cook 3,359 35.10% | |John Starchuk 1,275 13.32% | |Mrs. Margaret Hanley 973 10.17% | ||||

| |Jim Crawford 2,613 23.69% | |Sandy Skoryko 803 7.28% | |Kurt Gebauer 1,955 17.72% | ||||

| |Len Pearson 3,840 27.43% | |Ronald M. Helmer 3,406 24.33%||| |William Daniel Dickie 5,743 41.02% | |Max Wolfe 950 6.79% | ||||

| |Henry M. Beaumont 3,915 38.84% | |Charles W. Loughridge 638 6.33% | |Walter H. Siewert 1,157 11.48% | ||||

| |Eric Charles Musgreave 3,820 32.56% | |Darryl Raymaker 1,702 14.51% | |Lisa Baldwin 1,220 10.40% | |||| | |- |Calgary-South||| |Arthur J. Dixon 5,401 41.76% | |Joe Clark 4,940 38.19% | |Willis E. O'Leary 1,146 8.86% | |Jack D. Peters 1,388 10.73% | ||||

| |Art Davis 3,956 35.49%||| |David J. Russell 4,796 43.03% | |Reginald J. Gibbs 1,088 9.76% | |Ted Takacs 1,229 11.03% | |||| | |- |Calgary-West | |Donald S. Fleming 4,028 28.95%||| |Peter Lougheed 8,548 61.43% | |Natalie Chapman 402 2.89% | |Allan M. Early 868 6.24% | ||||

| |Emmett G. Mohler 1,736 24.91% | |G. Rod Knaut 699 10.03% | |Rudy P. Swanson 1,412 20.26% | ||||

| |Larry L. Lang 1,692 37.60% | | | |Leslie N. Howard 104 2.31% | |Robert D. Burt (Ind.) 573 12.73%|||

| |Daniel F. Hollands 2,215 27.73% | |Kazmer D. Curry 468 5.86% | |Alfred O. Arnston 1,175 14.71% | ||||

| | | | | |William George McFall 769 22.87% | ||||

| |Tom Hanson 1,579 26.51% | | | |Garry B. Law 345 5.79% | ||||

| | | | | |Phil Thompson 1,080 35.03% | | John A. Hammond (Coal.) 547 18.82% ||

| |Tony Thibaudeau 3,461 28.15% | |L. John Corbiere 1,303 10.60% | |Gordon S.B. Wright 2,763 22.47% | |||| | |- |Edmonton-Centre||| |Ambrose Holowach 3,146 39.12% | |Harold W. Veale 2,558 31.81% | |Joseph A. Tannous 747 9.29% | |Henry Tomaschuk 1,313 16.33% | |Pat G.A. O'Hara (Ind.) 194 2.41%|||

| |Gerard Joseph Amerongen 3,000 25.92% | |Barry Vogel 1,851 15.99% | |Tom Hennessey 2,210 19.09% | |Albert V. Bourcier (Ind. SoCred) 176 ||

| |Alan T. Cooke 3,616 25.06% | |Peter Achtem 1,418 9.83% | |Ivor G. Dent 4,276 29.64% | ||||

| |Paul Norris 4,205 32.48% | |Thomas Leia 1,173 9.06% | |Dave Belland 2,664 20.58% | |Oscar A. Green (Ind.) 188 1.45%|||

| |Ronald W. Downey 2,023 25.22% | | | |Grant W. Notley 2,433 30.33% | ||||

| |William A. Johnson 4,016 32.46%||| |Lou Hyndman 4,753 38.42% | |J. Bernard Feehan 2,316 18.72% | |Thomas C. Pocklington 1,254 10.14% | ||||

| |Arthur O. Jorgensen 2,372 34.59% | |||| |William A. Switzer 2,803 40.87% | |C. Neil Reimer 1,656 24.15% | ||||

| | | |George M. Repka 1,132 12.93% | |Alan Bush 2,748 31.40% | ||||

| | | |Gunnar Walhstrom 985 14.94% | |Stan Daniels 2,207 33.49% | ||||

| |Bill Cross 2,140 40.14% | | | |Ralph G. Jorgenson 504 9.45% | ||||

| |Harry Lobay 1,613 34.22% | |||| |Michael Maccagno 2,212 46.93% | |Fred Ustina 758 16.08% | ||||

| |William Patterson 1,731 30.14%||| |Hugh F. Horner 2,573 44.80% | |Raymond Mills 723 12.59% | |Swen Symington 674 11.74% | ||||

| |John William Cookson 1,999 36.49% | | | |Glen R. Nelson 777 14.18% | ||||

| |Emanuel Prycz 1,206 24.96% | |Russell Olekshy 383 7.93% | |Alex A. Sklarenko 1,021 21.13% | ||||

| |Wilfred Bowns 4,128 29.69% | |John I. Boras 2,237 16.09% | |Klaas Buijert 1,335 9.60% | ||||

| | | | | |John K. Head 572 11.60% | |Arthur W. Ulrich (Ind.) 978 19.83%|||

| |George Whitehead 1,773 32.47% | |Melba J. Cochlan 149 2.73% | |Sid J. Cornish 673 12.32% | ||||

| |James Horsman 2,701 24.59% | |Roy Weidermann 2,025 18.43% | |Ted. J. Grimm 1,819 16.56% | ||||

| |Thomas E. Hughes 2,097 44.43% | |Ron A. Baker 88 1.86% | |Georgina M. Smith 212 4.49% | ||||

| | | |Stan Bell 1,129 18.12% | |Eva Banta 485 7.78% | |Chas. Purvis (Ind. Con.) 547 8.80% ||

| | | | | |Harry Reinders 1,338 25.02% | |Edward R. Whitney (Ind.) 1,149 21.49%|||

| |Edward G. Samuel 2,098 34.57% | |Edward P. MacCallum 484 7.98% | |George A.E. Garnett 576 9.49% | ||||

| |Alexander B. Wells 722 14.10% | |F. Benton Murphy 255 4.98% | |Garth A. Turcott 1,772 34.60% | ||||

| | | |Derek R. Broughton 514 9.70% | |Ed Nelson 1,464 27.64% | ||||

| |James L. Foster 4,628 34.84% | |Robert H. Scammell 636 4.79% | |Ethel Taylor 1,799 13.54% | ||||

| |Basil Zailo 1,314 35.93% | | | |Norman T. Flack 737 20.15% | ||||

| | | | | |Gilbert H.C. Farthing 792 16.60% | |Will Sinclair (Ind.) 1,406 29.48%|||

| |Ernie Moore 1,103 18.88% | |Eugene F. Price 547 9.36% | |Arthur C. Bunney 680 11.64% | ||||

| | | |John L. Listhaeghe 413 8.82% | |Bert M. Strand 1,634 34.91% | ||||

| |Stanley M. Walker 1,469 18.43% | |Robert A. Russell 2,297 28.82% | |Norman Dolman 1,339 16.80% | ||||

| | | |Armand Lamothe 1,489 28.99% | |Pierre M. Vallee 788 15.34% | |Leroy P. Christensen (Ind. P.C.) 571 11.12%|||

| |Bob McKnight 1,461 30.15% | | | |Morton H. Neilson 635 13.11% | ||||

| |Frank Flanagan 1,670 26.14% | | | |Maurice R. McCullagh 1,855 29.03% | |Cornelia R. Wood (Ind. SoCred) 517 8.13% ||

| |Larry Boddy 2,493 24.92% | |Ian Nicoll 1,794 17.93% | |Gordon E. Weese 1,627 16.26% | ||||

| |C. Jack Thorpe 2,976 23.43% | |Percy Marshall 1,458 11.48% | |Ray Field 1,909 15.03% | ||||

| |Oscar H. Kruger 2,594 26.86% | |John Kloster 968 10.02% | |Bill McLean 2,123 21.98% | |||| | |- |Strathcona West | |Randolph H. McKinnon 5,153 36.87%||| |Donald Ross Getty 6,764 48.39% | |Edmund H. Leger 890 6.37% | |Frank Kuzemski 1,115 7.98% | ||||

| |Emil D. Gundlock 1,170 20.76% | |Theodore Rudd 683 12.12% | |Dick Verwoerd 292 5.18% | ||||

| |Gordon Leslie 1,113 20.34% | |James A. Lore 1,317 24.07% | |George E. Pieper 268 4.90% | ||||

| |Mike W. Kawulych 1,742 30.98% | |Wilfrid L. Horton 345 6.14% | |Albin Lukawiecki 1,010 17.96% | ||||

| |Hilda Wilson 1,199 27.23% | | | |Harry E. Yaremchuk 642 14.58% | ||||

| | | | | |Glenn Valleau 789 17.03% | ||||

| |Dallas Schmidt 2,408 38.20% | | | |Robert P. Christensen 1,000 15.86% | ||||

| | | | | |Louis Souter 1,298 37.41% | ||||

References

;Works cited

;Primary Sources

References

1. (April 13, 1965). "Alberta Session Winds Up". [[Calgary Herald]].
2. ''[https://canlii.ca/t/53vjh An Act to amend The Election Act]'', SA 1965, c 23, retrieved from [[CanLII]] on July 21, 2021
3. (May 15, 1967). "Socreds Again Kick Out Bourcier; Opposition To Horan The Reason". [[Edmonton Journal]].
4. "Edmonton-Jasper Place Official Results 1967 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation.
5. (May 12, 1967). "Important Notice. Alberta Provincial Election. May 23rd, 1967". [[Calgary Herald]].
6. ''[https://canlii.ca/t/53x4c An Act Respecting the use of Daylight Saving Time within the Province]'', SA 1948, c 18, retrieved from [[CanLII]] on July 21, 2021
7. (July 9, 1963). "Daylight Saving Vote Sought". [[Edmonton Journal]].
8. (March 11, 1964). "Under the Dome". [[Calgary Herald]].
9. (February 25, 1966). "Daylight Time: Legislature Votes to Hold Plebiscite". [[Edmonton Journal]].
10. ''[https://canlii.ca/t/53vp0 An Act to amend The Daylight Saving Time Act]'', SA 1966, c 27, retrieved from [[CanLII]] on July 21, 2021
11. (April 29, 1967). "Daylight Saving...Everyone Out Of Step". [[Calgary Herald]].
12. (January 15, 1966). "Daylight Saving Time Supported By Builders". [[Calgary Herald]].
13. (May 20, 1967). "Vote for more of me". [[Edmonton Journal]].
14. (May 19, 1967). "Short-Changed". [[Calgary Herald]].
15. (April 29, 1967). "Fast Time". [[Calgary Herald]].
16. (1992). "Direct democracy in Canada: the history and future of referendums". Dundurn Press.
17. (May 18, 1967). "City Sportsmen In Favor of Daylight Savings Time". [[Calgary Herald]].
18. (March 13, 2017). "47 years later, Alberta's original daylight time activist still wants extra sunlight". [[CBC News]].
19. (May 15, 1967). "Tourist Official Supports Provincial DST Campaign". [[Calgary Herald]].
20. (May 9, 1967). "Maccagno Supports DST Move". [[Calgary Herald]].
21. (May 12, 1967). "Opposing Forces Line up for Daylight Time Battle". [[Calgary Herald]].
22. (May 11, 1967). "On May 23 Vote for Bill Jones". [[Edmonton Journal]].
23. (May 24, 1967). "Rural Cousins Defeat DST". [[Calgary Herald]].
24. (May 25, 1967). "Another Time". [[Calgary Herald]].