2004 Alberta general election

Electoral System

Alberta's 83 MLAs were elected through First-past-the-post voting in 83 single-member districts.

Election night summary

Overall voter turnout was 45.12%.

Note: :* The Alberta Alliance and Alberta Party did not contest the 2001 election. :1 The Separation Party results are compared to the Alberta First Party. :2 A judicial recount changed the results in Edmonton Castle Downs, Liberal. Chris Kibermanis lost to Progressive Conservative Thomas Lukaszuk.

Results by region

1 "Edmonton" corresponds to only the city of Edmonton. (Only the ridings whose names begin with "Edmonton".) The four suburban ridings around the city as listed below are grouped with Central Alberta in this table.

Results by riding

Results by riding

Names in bold indicate party leaders and cabinet ministers.

Northern Alberta

Western and Central Alberta

East Central Alberta

Central Edmonton

|- | |Julius Yankowsky 3,059 | |Sam Parmar 1,166 || |Ray Martin 5,268 | |Phil Gamache 457 | |Benoit Couture 141 | |Ken Shipka (Soc. Cred.) 283 ||

| |Don Weideman 2,622 || |Laurie Blakeman 6,236 | |Mary Elizabeth Archer 1,538 | |Tony Caterina 264 | |David J. Parker 336 | |Linda Clements (Soc. Cred.) 111 ||

| |Drew Hutton 3,758 || |Bruce Miller 4,610 | |Larry Booi 4,059 | |Blaine Currie 307 | |Peter Johnston 272 | |Walter Schachenhofer (Soc. Cred.) 112 ||

| |Manjit Dhaliwal 2,574 || |Hugh MacDonald 8,794 | |Keith Turnbull 1,966 | |Delmar Hunt 538 | | | |Dave Dowling (Ind.) 167 ||

| |Terry Martiniuk 2,209 | |Jason Manzevich 1,035 || |Brian Mason 6,053 | |Ray Loyer 315 | | | |Dale W. Ferris (Ind.) 66 ||

| |Aman Gill 4,286 | |Nathan Taylor 1,709 | |Robert Alford 523 | |Eric Steiglitz 386 | |Cameron Johnson (Ind.) 72 ||

| |Naresh Bhardwaj 2,989 || |Weslyn Mather 5,014 | |Lloyd Nelson 1,565 | |Charles Relland 816 | | | |Naomi Rankin (Communist) 42 ||

| |Fred Horne 3,571 || |Kevin Taft 10,279 | |Donna Martyn 1,053 | |David Edgar 315 | |John Lackey 355 | |Dave W. Power (Soc. Cred.) 111 ||

| |Ian McClelland 4,173 || |Rick Miller 7,217 | |George A. Slade 995 | |R. J. (Bob) Ewart 516 | | | |Anit Ashmore (Soc. Cred.) 210 ||

| |Shannon Stubbs 2,256 | |Steven Leard 1,850 || |Raj Pannu 7,430 | |Jeremy Burns 275 | |Adrian Cole 287 | |Kelly Graham (Soc. Cred.) 162 || |Raj Pannu |}

Suburban Edmonton and Environs

|- | |Brent Rathgeber 3,680 | |Brad Smith 3,028 || |David Eggen 4,055 | |Vicki Kramer 526 | | | | ||

| |Thomas Lukaszuk 5,014 || |Chris Kibermanis 5,019 | |Peter Cross 1,317 | |Colin Presizniuk 583 | | | |Ross Korpi (Soc. Cred.) 78 |- || |5,022 | |5,019 | |1,314 | |586 | | |

| |Gurnam Dodd 3,245 || |Bharat Agnihotri 3,444 | |Marilyn Assheton-Smith 2,257 | |Eleanor Maroes 985 | | | |Amelia Maciejewski (Soc. Cred.) 238 ||

| |Tony Vandermeer 3,646 || |Dan Backs 3,873 | |Laurie Lang 2,371 | |Mike Pietramala 515 | |Ross Adshead 240 | |Sean Tisdall (Soc. Cred.) 130 ||

| |Mark Norris 5,331 || |Mo Elsalhy 5,864 | |Lorne Dach 1,362 | |Reuben Bauer 401 | | | |Patrick Conlin (Soc. Cred.) 104 ||

| |Bob Maskell 4,243 || |Maurice Tougas 4,436 | |Lance Burns 1,303 | |Aaron Campbell 444 | |Amanda Doyle 245 | |Peggy Morton (Ind.) 77 ||

| |Donna L. Smith 6,567 | |Brian Fleck 1,634 | |Kathy Rayner 469 | | | |John Andrews (Ind.) 76 ||

| |Louise Rogers 5,587 | |Tim Sloan 994 | |Cora LaBonte 444 | |Lynn Lau 362 | |Gordon Barrett (Soc. Cred.) 474 ||

| |Ray Boudreau 5,559 | |Dale Apostal 1,020 | |Tim Friesen 740 | | | |Glen Blaylock (Soc. Cred.) 170 ||

| |Mary O'Neill 6,064 || |Jack Flaherty 6,474 | |Travis Thompson 1,652 | |Michaela Meldrum 591 | |Conrad Bitangcol 407 | | ||

| |Jon Friel 4,115 | |Tom Elchuk 1,177 | |Ryan Seto 466 | | | |Bruce Stubbs (Ab. Pty.) 775 Brian Rembowski (Soc. Cred.) 327 Roberta McDonald (Separation) 297 | |Recreated District |}

Southern Alberta

|- || |Carol Haley 6,842 | |John Burke 1,633 | |Grant Massie 569 | |Bradley Gaida 758 | |Angela Scully 434 | |Jeff Willerton (Alberta Pty.) 1,036 Bob Lefurgey (Separation) 394 Jerry Gautreau (Soc. Cred.) 178 ||

| |Broyce Jacobs 3,753 | |Paula Shimp 783 | |Luann Bannister 185 || |Paul Hinman 3,884 | |Lindsay Ferguson 225 | | ||

| |Stuart Angle 2,234 | |Cliff Anten 345 | |Dan H. Pierson 651 | | | |Eric Solberg (Soc. Cred.) 561 ||

| |Lori Czerwinski 1,843 | |Catherine Whelan Costen 432 | |Brian Wickhorst 733 | |Sheelagh Matthews 547 | |Cory Morgan (Separation) 299 ||

| |Rod Fong 4,703 || |Bridget Pastoor 5,340 | |Gaye Metz 607 | |Brian Stewart 1,472 | |Erin Matthews 360 | |Darren Popik (Soc. Cred.) 251 ||

| |Bal Boora 3,675 | |Mark Sandilands 1,316 | |Merle Terlesky 949 | |Andrea Sheridan 368 | |Scott Sawatsky (Soc. Cred.) 357 ||

| |Arij Langstraat 1,965 | |Hugh Logie 327 | |Jay Phin 859 | | | |Brian Cook (Soc. Cred.) 556 Grant Shaw (Separation) 432 ||

| |Craig Whitehead 2,030 | |Joyce Thomas 626 | |George Lyster 1,493 | |Chris Watts 468 | |Jim Walker (Separation) 339 ||

| |Karen Charlton 3,482 | |Diana Arnott 560 | |Scott Cowan 1,073 | | | |Jonathan Lorentzen (Soc. Cred.) 246 ||

| |Carol Jacques 1,055 | |Don MacFarlane 405 | |Mark D. Ogden 852 | | | |Jay Kolody (Separation) 559 Rudy Martens (Soc. Cred.) 313 || |Lyle Oberg |}

Suburban Calgary

|- || |Alana DeLong 6,097 | |Kelly McDonnell 3,509 | |Jennifer Banks 1,135 | |James Istvanffy 1,015 | |Marie Picken 713 | | Margaret Askin (Independent) 98 Doug Picken (Soc. Cred.) 97 ||

| |Raleigh DeHaney 1,452 | |Jeanie Keebler 391 | |Gordon Huth 648 | |Ryan Richardson 271 | | ||

| |Stephen Jenuth 3,559 | |Malcolm Forster 407 | |Vincent S. Jansen-Van Doorn 472 | | | | ||

| |Gerry Hart 1,784 | |Elizabeth Thomas 583 | |Travis Chase 589 | |Tyler Charkie 440 | |Leo Ollenberger (Separation) 212 ||

| |Sharon Howe 1,952 | |Rachel Weinfeld 298 | |Robert Wawrzynowski 534 | |Bernie Amell 378 | | |- || |David Rodney 6,334 | |Allan Pollock 2,971 | |Matthew Koczkur 365 | |Tariq Khan 445 | |Ryan Boucher 471 | | ||

| |Darryl Hawkins 2,615 | |Giorgio Cattabeni 395 | |Shawn Hubbard 640 | |David McTavish 443 | |Paul Martin (Independent) 193 ||

| |Darshan Kang 2,958 | |Gurpreet (Preet) Sihota 264 | |Ina Givens 573 | |Sean Robert Brocklesby 359 | | ||

| |Arthur Danielson 1,651 | |Jason Nishiyama 434 | |Cyril Collingwood 674 | |Kevin Colton 355 | | ||

| |Judy Stewart 4,488 | |Bob Brunet 518 | |Jenell Friesen 622 | |Jeffrey Krekoski 636 | | ||

| |John Roggeveen 2,373 | |Jarrett Young 300 | |Barry Chase 620 | |Rick Papineau 380 | |Daniel Doherty (Separation) 171 ||

| |Derek Smith 4,286 | |Chantelle Dubois 434 | |John Keyes 988 | |James Kohut 732 | | || |Karen Kryczka |}

Central Calgary

|- || |Harvey Cenaiko 3,370 | |Terry Taylor 2,777 | |Cliff Hesby 455 | |Nadine Hunka 290 | |Grant Neufeld 656 | |Elizabeth Kaur Fielding (Soc. Cred.) 71 Carl Schwartz (Alberta Pty.) 58 ||

| |Jon Lord 4,413 || |Dave Taylor 4,984 | |Robert Scobel 468 | |Ken Mazeroll 348 | |Kim Warnke 810 | | ||

| |Bill Harvey 2,359 | |Paul Vargis 461 | |Brad Berard 605 | |Rick Michalenko 367 | |Bonnie-Jean Collins (Communist) 56 ||

| |Michael Queenan 2,371 | |Christopher Dovey 599 | |David Crutcher 1,657 | |George Read 914 | | ||

| |Stephen Brown 4,934 | |Becky Kelley 343 | |Diana-Lynn Brooks 485 | |Allison Roth 666 | |Trevor Grover (Soc. Cred.) 68 Lloyd Blimke (Ind.) 51 ||

| |Tore Badenduck 2,801 | |Eric Leavitt 794 | |Mike Kuipers 780 | |Chris Sealy 561 | | ||

| |Avalon Roberts 4,360 | |Holly Heffernan 550 | |Ernest McCutcheon 572 | |Evan Sklarski 531 | |Larry R. Heather (Soc. Cred.) 135 ||

| |Mark Hlady 4,058 || |David Swann 7,155 | |John Donovan 711 | |Ryan Cassell 589 | |Mark MacGillivray 912 | | ||

| |Pat Murray 3,223 | |Aileen L. Machell 630 | |Brent Best 627 | |Susan Stratton 1,264 | | ||

| |Len Borowski 2,605 | |Dirk Huysman 552 | |Bill McGregor 1,073 | |John Johnson 584 | |Raymond Hurst (Soc. Cred.) 163 |- | |Michael W. Smyth 5,585 || |Harry B. Chase 6,303 | |Mark Gabruch 625 | |Ron Beninger 763 | |Richard Larson 753 | |Len Skowronski (Soc. Cred.) 118 || |Murray Smith |}

Electoral re-distribution

Alberta's electoral laws fix the number of legislature seats at 83. As a result of the Alberta Electoral Boundary Re-distribution, 2004, Calgary gained two seats. Edmonton lost one seat, and one "special consideration" division was eliminated. Dunvegan-Central Peace is the sole remaining "special" division - due to its isolation, it is allowed to have a population below 75% of the provincial average. Lesser Slave Lake is now considered to be a standard rural division as its boundaries were re-drawn so that its population is slightly above 75% of the provincial average. One urbanized division outside Calgary and Edmonton was added, and two rural seats were eliminated.

Political parties

For this election, there were 11 political parties registered with Elections Alberta.

Parties that elected MLAs in the previous election

The parties are listed in descending order of number of MLAs elected in 2001.

Progressive Conservative Party

Leader: Ralph Klein

In the 2001 election, the Progressive Conservatives recorded a result that was comparable to those achieved in their years of dominance under Peter Lougheed. The Tories received 627,252 out of 1,013,152 votes cast and won 74 seats, gaining 11 seats over and above their 1997 result at the expense of the Liberals. This result was achieved due to a resurgence of the party in Edmonton, where the Tories won a majority of seats for the first time since 1982. Premier Ralph Klein easily retained his Calgary-Elbow seat.

On April 8, 2002, Doug Griffiths retained the Tories' seat in Wainwright in the only by-election held since the 2001 election, albeit with a substantially reduced plurality. The Tories lost only one seat since the 2001 election, after Edmonton-Norwood MLA Gary Masyk crossed the floor to join the Alberta Alliance. As expected, the Tories nominated a full slate of candidates for the 2004 election.

External link

Liberal Party

Leader: Kevin Taft

The 2001 election was generally regarded to be as a disaster for the Liberals. Although the Liberals retained Official Opposition status and received 276,854 votes, the party lost 11 seats to the Tories and won only seven seats, six of them in Edmonton. Leader Nancy Macbeth even lost her own seat in Edmonton-McClung - she resigned days after the election and was replaced by Ken Nicol, the Opposition's sole representative outside the capital.

Nicol eventually resigned as MLA for Lethbridge East and as Leader of the Opposition to run (unsuccessfully) for the Liberals in the federal election, as did Edmonton-Ellerslie MLA Debby Carlson. These seats remained vacant through dissolution. The Liberals were led in the 2004 election by Edmonton-Riverview MLA Kevin Taft, who was elected to the position in March 2004. The Liberals had 82 candidates in the 2004 election - they were absent from the ballot in Drumheller-Stettler after failing to file papers for their expected candidate, Don McMann before the deadline.

External link

New Democratic Party

Leader: Brian Mason

In 2001, the New Democrats were unable to claim Official Opposition status from the floundering Liberals, but Leader Raj Pannu managed to hold the party's two existing seats—Pannu's own in Edmonton—Strathcona and Brian Mason's seat in Edmonton Highlands (later merged into Edmonton Highlands-Norwood). The "NDs", as they were then known, received 81,339 votes. Pannu resigned the leadership in July 2004, with Mason filling the role of interim leader before being elected to that position in September 2004. The party has also ceased abbreviating its name as "ND in favour of the more traditional "NDP" abbreviation. The NDP nominated a full slate of candidates for the 2004 election.

External link

Other registered parties

The parties are listed in descending order of number of candidates nominated in 2004.

Alberta Alliance

Leader: Randy Thorsteinson

The Alberta Alliance was registered in October 2002 and held its founding convention in February 2003. Its leader, Randy Thorsteinson had led Social Credit through a modest rebirth before quitting that party in April 1999. The party's sole MLA, Gary Masyk (Edmonton-Norwood) crossed the floor from the governing Progressive Conservatives on June 29, 2004. The Alliance nominated a full slate of candidates for the 2004 election, the only other party besides the Tories and the NDP to do so.

External link

Greens

Leader: George Read

Also known as the "Green Party of Alberta", the Alberta Greens ran 10 candidates in the 2001 election, who combined for 2,850 votes. In the 2004 election, the Greens nominated 49 candidates - more than 4 times the highest number of candidates they had previously run in an election.

External link

Social Credit Party

Leader: Lavern Ahlstrom

Prior to the 2001 election, the Social Credit Party was in turmoil following the departure of party leader Randy Thorsteinson. Under Lavern Ahlstrom, the party nominated 12 candidates in the 2001 election (down from 70 in 1997), and received 5,361 votes (down from 64,667). The party had 42 candidates for the 2004 election.

External link

Separation Party

Interim Leader: Bruce Hutton

The Separation Party of Alberta was founded in June 2004 taking over the rights of the Alberta First Party. Bruce Hutton became interim leader. As a separatist party, it is the separatist successor to the Alberta Independence Party, which ran some independent candidates in the 2001 election, but never achieved official party status. The separatist cause was first taken up by the Western Canada Concept in the early 1980s when Gordon Kesler won a by-election. The Separation Party had 12 candidates in the 2004 election. See Alberta separatism.

External Link

Alberta Party

Leader: Bruce Stubbs

The Alberta Party did not nominate any candidates in 2001, but nominated four candidates for the 2004 election.

External Link

Communist Party

Leader: Naomi Rankin

The Communist Party nominated two candidates in the 2001 election, who combined for 117 votes. They ran two candidates in the 2004 election.

The Equity Party

Leader: Emil van der Poorten

The Equity Party ran no candidates in this election, The party was de-registered after the Alberta government amended the Elections Act to force a party to run at least one candidate, the party failed to field a candidate and was de-registered.

Reform Party

Leader: David Salmon

The Alberta Party, Equity Party and the Reform Party did not run any candidates in the 2001 election. The Equity Party and Reform Party were also absent from the ballot in 2004. The party was de-registered after the Alberta government amended the Elections Act to force a party to run at least one candidate, the party failed to field a candidate and was de-registered.

De-registered parties

The Natural Law Party of Alberta was de-registered by Elections Alberta in 2001, after they stopped filing financial statements. In 2001 The Natural Law Party did not nominate any candidates.

Independent candidates

29 independent candidates ran in the 2001 election. These candidates won a total of 10,528 votes. 10 independents ran in 2004.

Standings in the 25th Legislature

Standings after the 25th general election

Standings at dissolution

Timeline

March 27, 2004 - Kevin Taft becomes leader of the Alberta Liberals.

June 29, 2004 - Gary Masyk crosses the floor from the Progressive Conservatives to the Alberta Alliance.

July 13, 2004 - Raj Pannu resigns as leader of the Alberta New Democrats. Brian Mason is appointed interim leader.

September 9, 2004 - Alberta Alliance kicked off five-city "I Blame Ralph" tour in Edmonton. Ralph Klein announces Senate Election

September 18, 2004 - Brian Mason formally becomes leader of the Alberta New Democrats.

October 25, 2004 - At the request of Premier Ralph Klein, Lieutenant-Governor Lois Hole dissolves the legislature and sets the election day for November 22.

October 28, 2004 - Premier Klein is harshly criticized by opposition parties and activist groups after he claims that protestors on Alberta's Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) who had heckled him did not look severely disabled.

October 31, 2004 - Premier Klein's mother, Florence Gray dies at the age of 80 following a year-long illness. All major parties announce they will suspend their provincial campaigns while the premier mourns.

November 4, 2004 - Global Television Network re-iterates that they will not invite Alberta Alliance leader Randy Thorsteinson to their leaders debate, because his party did not elect any members in the previous election and their sole MLA crossed the floor. The decision sparks anger amongst Alliance members and even disappoints the other three leaders.

November 8, 2004 - Close of nomination's and the Global television leaders debate involving Klein, Taft and Mason.

November 13, 2004 - NDP leader Mason releases a brochure entitled Health Care for Dummies in an effort to mock the premier's reluctance to discuss health care in detail during the campaign.

November 18, 2004 - Advance polling stations open.

November 19, 2004, - Advance polling stations open, and Students across the province vote in Alberta Student Vote, 2004.

November 20, 2004 - Advance polling stations open.

November 22, 2004 - Voting day for the 26th Alberta general election.

• 8:00 p.m. local time: Polls close (03:00, November 23 UTC)
• 8:36 p.m.: CBC projects a PC majority (03:36, November 23 UTC)

December 9, 2004 - The Court of Queen's Bench rules that Chris Kibermanis (Lib.) won the election in Edmonton Castle Downs by three votes, upholding the result of the initial, election-night result. The PC candidate, Thomas Lukaszuk, appealed to the Court of Appeal of Alberta.

January 24, 2005 - The Alberta Court of Appeal rules that Lukaszuk won the election in Edmonton Castle Downs by three votes, overturning the result of the first vote-count, which had given the seat to Kibermanis of the Liberals. Kibermanis accepted defeat and did not appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Opinion polls

• Ipsos-Reid, 2004-10-29: PC 50%, Lib 26%, NDP 10%, AAP 9%, Green 4%
• COMPAS Inc. / Calgary Herald, 2004-11-03, 2004-11-04: PC 61%, Lib 19%, NDP 16%, Green 3%, Separation 1%, Other 1%. The pollsters only prompted for the three "major" parties yet Green and Separation showed up over 1% in the results while the Alliance, which is contesting every riding and holds a seat in the legislature, did not. http://www.compas.ca/data/041108-2004AlbertaElection-E.pdf
• Cameron Strategy Inc. / Global News / Calgary Herald, 2004-11-08-11-16: PC 47%, Lib 21%, NDP 11%, AAP 9%, Green 5%
• Ipsos-Reid, 2004-11-12 to 2004-11-17: PC 44%, Lib 29%, NDP 12%, AAP 9%, Green 4% (800 adults, MoE 3.5%)

Works cited

References

Bibliography

References

1. Election Alberta. (July 28, 2008). "2008 General Report".
2. Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission. (February 2003). "Proposed Electoral Division Areas, Boundaries, and Names for Alberta. Final Report to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta". [[Legislative Assembly of Alberta]].
3. (November 5, 2004). "Klein Ever Popular, NDP Rises at Expense of Liberals". COMPAS.
4. (October 30, 2004). "Ready, Set, Go - Alberta Heads to the Polls". Ipsos-Reid.
5. (October 29, 2004). "Alberta Political Scene". Ipsos-Reid.
6. (October 15, 2004). "Alberta's PC's lead the way to an expected November election". Ipsos-Reid.
7. (October 30, 2004). "Ready, Set, Go - Alberta Heads to the Polls". Ipsos-Reid.