Alberta general election, 1993

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.

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". Klein carried out many of these policy changes in his 164 days as Premier. Getty had also left several popular initiatives to Klein to implement, such as shrinking cabinet. 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. He also distanced the Conservatives from Getty's past administration, using different colours, calling the party "Ralph's Team", and leveraging his personality. 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. [http://archives.cbc.ca/politics/provincial_territorial_politics/topics/1472-9846/]

The Conservatives led in polls throughout the election. Both the Liberals and NDP struggled to gain attention in what was generally considered a low-key campaign, which stopped making headlines after the first week. Viewership for the televised debates 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, losing eight seats. The Conservatives increased its share of the popular vote marginally.

The Liberals capitalized on the stagant 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. They formed what still stands as the largest opposition caucus in Alberta history, except for in 1917 when the government majority was smaller but there were far less seats in the legislature. To the surprise of many, Decore stepped down as Liberal leader not long after the election. He was supposedly under pressure from party insiders, who were unhappy to find themselves on opposition benches, and who felt that he missed the chance to form the government.

Ray Martin's New Democrats went down to defeat by being shut out of the legislature for the first time since 1967. Most of their seats in Edmonton were lost to the Liberals, due to the popularity of Decore there. While the second largest party in the legislature, they had the fewest resources and placed third in polls for the entire campaign. Martin's proposal of raising taxes to fight the deficit made the NDP unpopular. As well, Martin suggested that tactical voting was to blame, as the anti-PC vote consolidated around the Liberals. Finally, some defeated NDP legislature members suggested that their platform, if actually implemented, would have been unrealistic.

Results

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 districtsNote:

*¹ Pat Black later changed her last name to Nelson.

ee also

*List of Alberta political parties

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