1993 Alberta general election

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 shifting to the political right and 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, with the party's image being hurt by a perceived lack of fiscal responsibility, the in-fighting that resulted from an attempt to force a leadership review after Getty was defeated in his own riding at the previous election, and a backlash to the unpopular federal Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney. The party membership elected 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.

The election was fought on a new series of electoral boundaries based on the census of 1991, drawn by a committee composed only of Progressive Conservative MLAs led by Bob Bogle, with no input from opposition parties. The new electoral map drew criticism from the Alberta Court of Appeal in 1994 because the committee gave no justification for creating four districts well below average population, one of which was Bogle's own riding of Taber-Warner.

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.

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

The campaign coincided with a leadership election for the federal Progressive Conservatives, after Mulroney announced his resignation as party leader earlier in the year. Vancouver-based MP and cabinet member Kim Campbell quickly became the firm favourite to win, revitalizing the party's flagging popularity in the west, and meaning that Mulroney's unpopularity no longer proved a millstone for the provincial Progressive Conservatives. Campbell would be elected as federal party leader two days before polling day in Alberta, giving the provincial party a last-minute boost; she would, ironically, lead the federal party to a crushing defeat that saw them completely wiped out in Western Canada during the federal election later that year.

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 actually managed to increase their share of the popular vote marginally, although they lost eight seats in the legislature since the vote was not as evenly split as it had been four years earlier. Notably, the PC's were shut out of Edmonton for the first time since 1963, but managed to make gains in Klein's hometown of Calgary where they won all but three seats.

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 won almost 40% of the popular vote and 32 seats in the legislature, including every seat in Edmonton. They formed what was the largest opposition caucus in Alberta history, eventually succeeded by Rachel Notley’s New Democratic Party opposition after the 2023 election. 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 had missed the party's best chance in over 70 years to form government. Decore's decision was also motivated by two battles against cancer in the preceding three years, which had seriously affected his health; he would ultimately be diagnosed for a third time a few years later, and died in 1999.

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.

The Social Credit Party, which had been largely moribund for the previous decade after governing the province from 1935 to 1971, would experience a minor comeback under new leader Randy Thorsteinson, who positioned the party as the de facto provincial branch of the Reform Party of Canada, which was led by Preston Manning, son of former Alberta premier Ernest Manning, and enjoying considerable support in Western Canada. Campbell's election as leader of the federal Progressive Conservatives would see them enjoy a temporary resurgence of popularity that stalled Reform's, and thereby Social Credit's momentum, though the 2.4% of the popular vote earned by the latter was credited for bringing them back from the verge of extinction.

Results

Overall voter turnout was 60.21%.

Overall results

Detailed results

Notes:

• Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x – less than 0.005% of the popular vote{{Bar box|title=Popular vote|titlebar=#ddd|width=600px|barwidth=410px|bars=

Results by riding

|- |Athabasca-Wabasca||| |Mike Cardinal 4,144 59.72% | |Simon Waquan 1,921 27.68% | |Emil Zachkewich 843 12.15% | | | | ||

| |Paula Andrews 4,183 33.47% | |Cindy McCallum 1,048 8.39% | | | |Brian L. Horejsi (Ind.) 607 4.86% Ginger (V.M.) Sheets-Revitt (Nat. Law) 77 0.62% ||

| |Dale Greig 3,309 28.79% | |Harold E. Wharton 1,076 9.36% | |Dale W. Harris 561 4.88% | |Adam Hauch (C.o.R.) 143 1.25% Leonard Stahl (Ind.) 67 0.58% || | |- |Bonnyville | |Ernie Isley 4,222 45.44%||| |Leo Vasseur 4,364 46.97% | |Agathe Gaulin 666 7.17% | | | ||||

| |Peter Hansen 2,424 27.43% | |Richard Knutson 558 6.31% | |Reuban Huber 436 4.93% | ||||

| |Rob Van Walleghem 5,369 35.30% | |Anne McGrath 1,908 12.55% | |Patrick John Hudson 376 2.47% | |David Crowe (Green) 287 1.89% Roberta McDonald (C.o.R.) 120 0.79% Alan Livingston (Nat. Law) 78 0.51%|||

| |Steven Yu 4,313 40.41%||| |Gary Dickson 4,826 45.22% | |Israel Lachovsky 1,062 9.95% | | | |Rebecca Matiowsky (Green) 212 2.00% Ralph Holt (Nat. Law) 185 1.73% ||

| |Keith Hart 3,576 33.03% | |Vinay Dey 686 6.34% | | | |Neeraj Varma (Nat. Law) 86 0.79%||| | |- |Calgary-Currie||| |Jocelyn Burgener 6,699 47.72% | |Mairi Matheson 4,670 33.26% | |Ilona Boyce 1,426 10.16% | | | |Mark Waters (All.) 1,200 8.57% ||

| |Dale Muti 1,689 16.67% | |Barry Pashak 2,306 22.75% | |Lera G. Shirley 366 3.61% | |Alain Horchower (Ind.) 237 2.34%||| | |- |Calgary-Egmont||| |Denis Herard 9,846 57.94% | |Dick Nichols 5,332 31.38% | |Ken Sahil 1,063 6.26% | | | |Les Kaluzny (All.) 543 3.21% Linda Fritz (Nat. Law) 156 0.92% ||

| |Madeleine King 6,142 35.37% | |Eileen Clancy Teslenko 617 3.55% | |Steve Tobler 312 1.80% | |Miel S.R. Gabriel (Ind.) 101 0.58% Bruce Hansen (Nat. Law) 85 0.49%|||

| |Marie Cameron 5,346 37.15% | |Kerin Spaargaren 558 3.88% | | | |Roy Carey (Ind.) 544 3.78% Darlene Holt (Nat. Law) 70 0.49%|||

| |Frances Wright 6,146 39.85% | |Don McMillan 965 6.26% | | | |Anna Novikov (Nat. Law) 155 1.01%|||

| |Brendan Dunphy 7,064 43.01% | |Noreen Murphy 603 3.67% | |Stuart van der Lee 545 3.32% | |Sol Candel (Green) 147 0.90% John Vrskovy (Nat. Law) 61 0.37% ||

| |Jack Driscoll 5,803 42.01% | |Catherine Rose 502 3.63% | | | |Peter Hope (C.o.R.) 122 0.88% Ida Bugmann (Nat. Law) 88 0.64%||| | |- |Calgary-McCall||| |Harry Sohal 4,118 44.69% | |A. Giga 2,921 31.70% | |Sylvia Lilley 900 9.77% | | | |Brian R. Newman (Ind.) 1,066 11.57% Allen Maclennan (C.o.R.) 129 1.41% Maureen Doram (Nat. Law) 55 0.60%|||

| |Keong Yap 2,592 25.57% | |Jean Munn 1,970 19.44% | | | |Blaine Desjardine (Ind.) 613 6.05% Chris Deluce (Nat. Law) 68 0.67%|||

| |Jonathan Horlick 2,791 22.29% | |Robert Andrew Hawkesworth 3,255 26.00% | |George Clark 481 3.84% | |Bruce Jackman (C.o.R.) 116 0.93% Alberta Scraba (Nat. Law) 71 0.57% ||

| |Tom Dixon 4,262 31.46% | |Wendy Charlton 1,935 14.28% | | | |Michael O'Malley (Ind.) 394 2.91%Joyce Gregson (Nat. Law) 160 1.18%|||

| |Harley Torgerson 6,443 45.37%||| |Frank Bruseker 6,763 47.62% | |Paul George Rasporich 495 3.49% | |David Grant 373 2.63% | |Paul Colver (Nat. Law) 110 0.77%|||

| |Yolande Gagnon 5,057 38.81% | |Albert Sole 789 6.06% | | | |Ray Harris (Nat. Law) 176 1.35%||| | |- |Calgary-Shaw||| |Jonathan Niles Havelock 9,328 62.24% | |Bill Walker 4,963 33.11% | |Jason Ness 526 3.51% | | | |Ken Nielsen (Nat. Law) 136 0.91%|||

| |Carrol Jaques 6,860 38.45% | |Sharon Kimmel 1,785 10.00% | | | |Mike Sawyer (Green) 531 2.98% Santo Esposito (Nat. Law) 99 0.55% || | |- |Calgary-West | |Ron Leigh 6,532 44.29%||| |Danny Dalla-Longa 6,927 46.97% | |Nabil (Ben) Hantes 584 3.96% | |Sharon Whitehead 548 3.72% | |Phil Morin (Nat. Law) 135 0.92%|||

| |Bruce A. Jackson 1,326 27.37% | |Larry Zima 163 3.36% | | | |||| | |- |Chinook||| |Shirley McClellan 4,748 64.85% | |Dianne Anderson 1,015 13.86% | |Steven Milner 223 3.05% | |Gus Mattheis 1,025 14.00% | |Kristopher Dietrich (Ind.) 293 4.00%|||

| |Rob Splane 4,816 35.97%||| |Muriel Abdurahman 5,612 41.91% | |W.H. (Skip) Gordon 2,072 15.47% | | | |Kurt Gesell (Ind.) 872 6.51%||| | |- |Cypress-Medicine Hat||| |Lorne Taylor 4,034 49.11% | |Lloyd B. Robinson 2,799 34.07% | |James Ridley 494 6.01% | |Al Strom 855 10.41% | |||| | |- |Drayton Valley-Calmar||| |Tom Thurber 5,261 50.98% | |Brad Janishewski 3,001 29.08% | |Dolly Brown 768 7.44% | |Ed White 1,133 10.98% | |Keith Burger (Nat. Law) 138 1.34%||| | |- |Drumheller||| |Stan Schumacher 7,421 62.76% | |Roger Nelson 2,457 20.78% | |Steve Osborne 1,463 12.37% | | | |David McAndrews (C.o.R.) 454 3.85% ||

| |Hartmann Nagel 4,347 42.90% | |Sheila Maxwell-Marks 1,100 10.86% | | | ||||

| |Ken Alyuila 3,433 26.82%||| |Gene Zwozdesky 6,728 52.56% | |Marie Laing 2,190 17.11% | |Leslie M. Jackson 285 2.23% | |Dennis Clark (Green) 97 0.76% Lucia Hoff (Nat. Law) 40 0.31%|||

| |Brian Hlus 3,060 28.68%||| |Julius E. Yankowsky 5,037 47.22% | |Ed W. Ewasiuk 2,473 23.18% | | | |Ria Kinzel (Nat. Law) 91 0.85%||| | |- |Edmonton-Centre | |John Wheelwright 3,418 28.66%||| |Michael Henry 5,656 47.43% | |Kay Hurtig 2,343 19.65% | |Wes Warren 202 1.69% | |Richard Johnsen (Nat. Law) 95 0.80%|||

| |Bas Roopnarine 2,116 20.71%||| |Debby Carlson 5,466 53.49% | |Gerry Gibeault 2,144 20.98% | |Ken Way 398 3.90% | |Rhonda Day (Nat. Law) 79 0.77%||| | |- |Edmonton-Glengarry | |Don Clarke 2,669 23.28%||| |Laurence Decore 7,548 65.84% | |Greg Reimer 1,088 9.49% | | | |Linda Sikora (Nat. Law) 118 1.03%|||

| |Gwen Harris 5,150 33.31%||| |Howard Sapers 7,745 50.10% | |Arlene Young 1,874 12.12% | |Trevor Blinston 301 1.95% | |Pat Nelson (C.o.R.) 231 1.50% Paula Johnsen (Nat. Law) 122 0.79% ||

| |John Szumlas 4,721 26.30%||| |Bettie Hewes 10,605 59.07% | |Lorraine Crawford 1,820 10.14% | |David H. Friesen 516 2.87% | |David J. Parker (Green) 165 0.92% Roni Shapka (Nat. Law) 90 0.50% ||

| |Ron Liepert 2,787 24.42%||| |Alice Hanson 5,189 45.46% | |John McInnis 2,885 25.28% | |Tim Friesen 428 3.75% | |Cliff Kinzel (Nat. Law) 94 0.82%||| | |- |Edmonton-Manning | |Tony Kallal 2,521 21.45%||| |Peter Sekulic 6,007 51.11% | |Thomas Sigurdson 2,904 24.71% | |George Grant 296 2.52% | |||| | |- |Edmonton-Mayfield | |Lynn Faulder 3,635 26.90%||| |Lance D. White 6,495 48.06% | |Alex McEachern 3,173 23.48% | | | |Annie Anderson (Nat. Law) 181 1.34%||| | |- |Edmonton-McClung | |Henry Mah 4,177 29.69%||| |Grant Mitchell 8,931 63.48% | |Denis Gautier-Villon 799 5.68% | | | |Pat Simpson (Nat. Law) 125 0.89%||| | |- |Edmonton-Meadowlark | |Laurie Pushor 3,978 31.10%||| |Karen Leibovici 7,215 56.40% | |William A. (Bill) Mullen 1,111 8.68% | |Norm Case 354 2.77% | |Margo Cochlan (Nat. Law) 110 0.86%|||

| |W. Bill Pidruchney 2,556 26.85%||| |Don Massey 5,330 55.98% | |Laat Bhinder 1,007 10.58% | |Robert J. Alford 414 4.35% | |Ken Kozak (Ind.) 102 1.07% Raymond Boyko (Green) 46 0.48% Mary D. Romach (Nat. Law) 44 0.46%|||

| |Fay Orr 2,517 21.68%||| |Andrew Beniuk 4,944 42.58% | |Ray Martin 3,749 32.29% | |Alan Cruikshank 264 2.27% | |Maury Shapka (Nat. Law) 88 0.76%|||

| |John Belzerowski 2,828 25.30%||| |Sine Chadi 5,872 52.53% | |Christie Mjolsness 2,362 21.13% | | | |Allan Gwynn (Nat. Law) 95 0.85%||| | |- |Edmonton-Rutherford | |Brenda Platzer 4,283 29.77%||| |Percy Wickman 8,583 59.65% | |Olive Dickason 969 6.73% | |David Wozney 398 2.77% | |Wade McKinley (Nat. Law) 66 0.46% Myles Evely (Green) 64 0.44% || | |- |Edmonton-Strathcona | |Don Grimble 4,071 24.43%||| |Al Zariwny 6,542 39.26% | |Barrie Chivers 5,121 30.73% | |Patrick D. Ellis 460 2.76% | |Elizabeth Paschen (Green) 253 1.52% E. Benjamin Toane (Nat. Law) 108 0.65% Naomi J. Rankin (Comm.) 47 0.28% ||

| |David Hancock 5,351 36.18%||| |Mike Percy 8,628 58.34% | |Daniel Aitken 648 4.38% | | | |Robert Wilde (Green) 73 0.49% Richard Shelford (Nat. Law) 63 0.43%|||

| |Connie Macrae 2,738 27.22%||| |Adam Germain 4,261 42.36% | |Ann Dort-Maclean 1,483 14.74% | | | |Wendell Maceachern (Ind.) 1,563 15.54%|||

| |John A. Croken 2,506 27.88% | |Christine Potts 1,199 13.34% | | | |Herb Wohlgemuth (C.o.R.) 329 3.67% || | |- |Grande Prairie-Wapiti||| |Wayne Jacques 4,457 47.89% | |Dwight Logan 3,942 42.36% | |Trish Wright 880 9.46% | | | |||| | |- |Highwood||| |Don Tannas 8,063 64.77% | |Rusti-Ann Blanke 3,159 25.38% | |Marg Elliot 504 4.05% | |John Bergen 701 5.63% | ||||

| |Daryl J. Beck 2,294 21.67% | |Reg Stotz 544 5.14% | |Norm Bjornson 520 4.91% | |George Flake (Alliance) 1,381 13.08% Len Scott (Ind.) 163 1.54%||| | |- |Lac La Biche-St. Paul | |John Trefanenko 3,897 39.11%||| |Paul Langevin 5,041 50.59% | |Eugene P. Houle 999 10.03% | | | |||| | |- |Lacombe-Stettler||| |Judy Gordon 6,596 57.71% | |Ed Whiteside 3,001 26.26% | |Rolf Pritchard 730 6.39% | |R. Ryan Handley 687 6.01% | |Douglas R. Chitwood (Ind.) 397 3.47%||| | |- |Leduc | |Donald H. Sparrow 5,884 42.87%||| |Terry Kirkland 6,823 49.71% | |Jeff Lambert 812 5.92% | | | |Larry Bogart (Nat. Law) 192 1.40%||| | |- |Lesser Slave Lake||| |Pearl M. Calahasen 4,260 55.30% | |Denise C. Wahlstrom 3,093 40.15% | |Larry Sakaluk 326 4.23% | | | ||||

| |Patricia A. (Pat) Bunn 5,092 39.86%||| |Ken Nicol 6,114 47.86% | |Larry Conley 1,495 11.70% | | | ||||

| |Michael Dietrich 4,534 40.76% | |Jacqueline Preyde 973 8.75% | | | |Jason Kempt (Ind.) 926 8.32%|||

| |Donna L. Graham 2,886 28.85% | |Rod Lachmuth 382 3.82% | | | ||||

| |Garth Vallely 4,790 37.71% | |Bob Wanner 2,366 18.63% | |Marcel Guay 568 4.47% | ||||

| |Donna Gole 3,378 24.77% | |Ruth Scott 355 2.60% | |Derry H. Macfarlane 815 5.98% | |Dennis Combs (C.o.R.) 683 5.02% ||

| |Elmer Cardinal 2,402 32.90% | |Brian Dewar 1,192 16.33% | | | |Ed Kary (C.o.R.) 526 7.23% ||

| |Ernie Patterson 4,231 39.60% | |Mike Dawson 930 8.70% | | | |Susan Aris (Ind.) 640 5.99%||| | |- |Ponoka-Rimbey||| |Halvar C. Jonson 5,977 63.48% | |Bernice Luce 1,841 19.55% | |Doug Hart 747 7.93% | | | |Harold Kenney (C.o.R.) 585 6.23% Robert (Bob) Hodgins (Ind.) 240 2.55%|||

| |Tony Connelly 2,888 29.64% | |Linda Kaiser-Putzenberger 762 7.82% | |Michael Roth 559 5.74% | |Katherine Fisher (Nat. Law) 104 1.07%|||

| |Don Sinclair 4,879 40.00% | |Malcolm Reville 639 5.24% | |Randy Thorsteinson 882 7.23% | |Ken Arnold (Nat. Law) 116 0.95%|||

| |Steve Zarusky 4,582 36.55%||| |Nicholas Taylor 6,429 51.29% | |Robert J. Tomkins 1,306 10.42% | | | |Geoff Toane (Nat. Law) 196 1.56%||| | |- |Rocky Mountain House||| |Ty Lund 5,192 55.69% | |Roxanne V. Prior 1,181 12.67% | |Drew Ludington 604 6.48% | |Lavern J. Ahlstrom 2,330 24.99% | ||||

| |Doug Fulford 6,704 40.31%||| |Bruce Collingwood 7,798 46.89% | |Jim Gurnett 1,955 11.76% | | | |Lorne Hoff (Nat. Law) 147 0.88%|||

| |Norm Kluthe 4,428 39.53%||| |Colleen Soetaert 5,811 51.87% | |Steve Jacobs 813 7.26% | | | |Randy T. Fritz (Nat. Law) 132 1.18%||| | |- |St. Albert | |Dick Fowler 5,746 40.27%||| |Len Bracko 7,267 50.94% | |John Booth 1,031 7.23% | | | |Gordon C. Rever (Nat. Law) 199 1.39%|||

| |Albert Schatzke 4,607 39.16% | |Laurence Johnson 1,481 12.59% | |Gary Morton 674 5.73% | |Lois Burger (Nat. Law) 133 1.13%|||

| |Doug Blatter 2,723 29.33% | |Charlie Bryant 433 4.66% | |Ken Rose 564 6.07% | ||||

| |Don MacDonald 3,783 34.11% | |Gordon Twigg 553 4.99% | |Peter Smits 517 4.66% | |George Shenton (Alliance) 424 3.83 Lawrence Lein (C.o.R.) 118 1.07% || | |- |Vegreville-Viking||| |Ed Stelmach 5,540 40.98% | |Jerry Wilde 3,797 28.09% | |Derek Fox 4,150 30.70% | | | |||| | |- |Vermilion-Lloydminster||| |Steve West 5,524 52.13% | |Greg Michaud 4,295 40.53% | |Grant Bergman 744 7.02% | | | |||| | |- |Wainwright||| |Robert A. (Butch) Fischer 5,294 54.71% | |Evangeline Forcier 1,933 19.98% | |Tom A. Samuel 674 6.96% | |Dale Trefz 1,760 18.19% | ||||

| |Fiona Fowler Cleary 3,101 32.20%||| |Duco Van Binsbergen 3,562 36.99% | |Jerry J. Doyle 2,243 23.29% | |Garry M. Klewchuk 582 6.04% | |Mario Houle (Green) 120 1.25% ||

| |Bob Prestage 4,962 36.19% | |Bruce Hinkley 1,597 11.65% | |Henry Neumann 829 6.05% | |||| | |- |Whitecourt-Ste. Anne||| |Peter Trynchy 5,600 48.11% | |Jurgen Preugschas 4,310 37.03% | |Connie Oskoboiny 912 7.84% | |Earle Cunningham 570 4.90% | |Walter Bliznicenko (Ind.) 218 1.87%||| | |- |}

References

References

1. Stinson, Douglas. (July 1, 1999). "Knowing Where to Draw the Line - Alberta Views - The Magazine for Engaged Citizens".
2. "Alberta Campaigns Since 1935". CBC News.
3. Election Alberta. (July 28, 2008). "2008 General Report".