French
DeutschLeader of the Opposition (Alberta)
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| Leader of the Opposition | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of | Legislative Assembly of Alberta |
| Term length | While leader of the largest party not in government |
| Inaugural holder | Albert Robertson |
| Formation | 1906 |
The leader of the Official Opposition, formally known as the leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, is the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) who leads the Official Opposition, typically the second largest party in the provincial legislature.
Christina Gray has been the leader of the Opposition since June 24, 2024: Naheed Nenshi designated her to the role after he was elected NDP leader on June 22, because he does not have a seat in the assembly.
Alberta has enjoyed long periods of stable government rule, and has elected massive government majority during almost every election in its history. In most other legislatures in Canada, the opposition party is traditionally recognized as a government in waiting, and will alternate periods of government among two or three parties. In Alberta however the opposition has traditionally been very small in terms of seat numbers, and highly unstable in terms of party leadership.[1]
Peter Lougheed in 1971 and Jason Kenney in 2019 are the only leaders of the Opposition to become Premier of Alberta. Harry Strom in 1971 and Rachel Notley in 2019 are the only premiers to become opposition leader.
History
[edit]The Conservative and Liberal years (1905 to 1940)
[edit]
In the early years of the provincial legislature the opposition was dominated by the Conservative Party. This was a party built on remnants of the old Territorial Conservative Association. The party started out in 1905 forming opposition with only 2 seats in the legislative assembly, and proportionally grew as much as 20 seats in 1921 as Albertans grew tired of the scandals of the Liberal government.
The Conservatives looked poised to form government after a strong showing in the 1917 general election,. However both the Liberals and Conservatives were wiped out of the legislature in the 1921 general election by the United Farmers of Alberta. Albertans still distrusting of old line dominion parties opted instead for a new party that had third party status as the Non-Partisan League of Alberta and later became the United Farmers.
With the Conservatives wiped out of the legislature the Liberals formed the opposition from 1921 to 1926 confined to the cities of Calgary and Edmonton. The Liberals were helped by the fact that the United Farmers did not typically run candidates in the cities. From 1926 to 1940 there was no official opposition leader due to a Speaker's ruling that divided the Official Opposition funding between all the party leaders. However the Liberals remained the largest opposition party during this period.
A brand new party, Social Credit under William Aberhart, swept to power in the 1935 provincial election never previously having had a seat in the legislature while the United Farmers were completely wiped out.
The Unity Movement to the rise of Lougheed (1940 to 1971)
[edit]Opposition through the 1940s was dominated by the Unity Movement a coalition by Liberal and Conservatives and some former UFA supporters organized by former UFA MP Alfred Speakman to run candidates as Independents, in the 1940 Alberta general election the movement was successful at forming a large opposition that nearly equaled the popular vote of the ruling Alberta Social Credit Party. The Independents however turned out to be conflicted and hard to sustain as a united force. From 1940 to 1944 the leaders of the opposition changed with every legislative session.
The Independents were promoted through a third party group known as the Independent Citizen's Association. The last Independent opposition leader John Percy Page ran for the Citizen's Association in 1948 but was defeated, ending the Unity Movement.
The Independents' popularity started to decline in the late 1940s with newfound prosperity in Alberta and satisfaction with new Premier Ernest Manning as well as the province's business elite and newspaper editorial boards preferring to back Social Credit rather than risk the socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation of Alberta coming to power as they had in Saskatchewan in 1944. The Liberal Party's support grew as support for the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada declined. The Liberals formed the official opposition from 1951 until the 1967 general election when the Progressive Conservatives shocked the province by winning 6 seats.
In the 1959 general election, 3 opposition parties managed to each win one seat in the legislature, no opposition leader was named until after the 1963 general election.
The Progressive Conservatives led by Peter Lougheed grew to 10 members through winning 2 by-elections and 2 floor crossings. The Progressive Conservatives defeated the 35 year rule of Social Credit in the 1971 general election and held government until 2015.
Modern day opposition (1971 to present)
[edit]From 1971 to 1982 the remains of the former Social Credit government held the opposition, but they were unable to make a smooth transition and did not elect any new members in this period. Having spent virtually all of its history as the ruling party, they were unprepared for a role outside of government and sank into near-paralysis in opposition. The party collapsed in 1982, when its last two caucus members left to sit as independents. The party has not been a significant force in Alberta since.
After the 1982 general election the speaker of the Legislative Assembly had to make a controversial ruling: whether to accept the two former Social Credit members' bid to become the official opposition, or decide if it should go to the NDP, which held two seats. The speaker ruled in favour of the NDP. The new opposition status would help the party grow to 16 seats from 1986 to 1993 until they were wiped out of the legislature by popular Liberal leader Laurence Decore.
The Liberals once again became the official opposition for the first time since 1967 under Laurence Decore, who helped the Liberals soar to popularity not seen since the early 1900s. Decore however did not last long as his health started to fail, and as he was pressured by party insiders to resign since many in the caucus were disappointed that they did not win the 1993 election. The Liberal party lost popularity as the Progressive Conservatives recovered support under Ralph Klein. In the 2004 general election the Liberals gained 16 seats under Kevin Taft. The Liberals held onto official opposition until 2012, when they were replaced by the Wildrose Party under Danielle Smith in the 2012 general election. On December 17, 2014, most of the Wildrose caucus, including Smith, crossed the floor to the Progressive Conservative government, leaving the Wildrose and Liberal parties tied with 5 seats each. The Liberals petitioned the speaker to be declared the Official Opposition but on December 23, 2014, Speaker Gene Zwozdesky ruled that Wildrose would keep Official Opposition status due to incumbency.[2]
List of opposition leaders
[edit]| Portrait | Name Electoral district (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Term start | Term end | |||||
 | Albert Robertson MLA for High River (1864–1952) | March 15, 1906 | February 25, 1909 | Conservative | ||
.jpg) | R. B. Bennett MLA for Calgary (1870–1947) | February 10, 1910 | May 26, 1910 | Conservative | ||
.png) | Edward Michener MLA for Red Deer (1869–1947) | November 10, 1910 | April 5, 1917 | Conservative | ||
_(16246026444).jpg) | George Hoadley MLA for Okotoks (1867–1955) | February 7, 1918 | April 17, 1919 | Conservative | ||
 | James Ramsey MLA for Edmonton East (1864–1939) | February 17, 1920 | April 10, 1920 | Conservative | ||
 | John Robert Boyle MLA for Edmonton (1871–1936) | February 2, 1922 | April 12, 1924 | Liberal | ||
 | Charles Richmond Mitchell MLA for Bow Valley (1872–1942) | February 19, 1925 | March 12, 1926 | Liberal | ||
| John C. Bowen MLA for Edmonton (1872–1957) | March 15, 1926 | June 28, 1926 | Liberal | |||
| No Official Opposition leader 1926–1941 | ||||||
| James H. Walker MLA for Warner (1885–1954) | February 22, 1941 | April 8, 1941 | Independent Movement | |||
| Alfred Speakman MLA for Red Deer (1880–1943) | January 29, 1942 | March 19, 1942 | Independent Movement | |||
| James Mahaffy MLA for Calgary (1905–1986) | February 18, 1943 | March 30, 1943 | Independent Movement | |||
| James H. Walker MLA for Warner (1885–1954) | February 10, 1944 | March 24, 1944 | Independent Movement | |||
 | John Percy Page MLA for Edmonton (1887–1973) | February 22, 1945 | August 17, 1948 | Independent Citizen's Association | ||
| No Official Opposition leader 1948–1952 | ||||||
| James Harper Prowse MLA for Edmonton (1913–1976) | February 21, 1952 | April 15, 1958 | Liberal | |||
 | Grant MacEwan MLA for Calgary (1902–2000) | February 5, 1959 | April 17, 1959 | Liberal | ||
| No Official Opposition leader 1959–1964 | ||||||
| Michael Maccagno MLA for Lac La Biche (1914–2000) | February 13, 1964 | April 11, 1967 | Liberal | |||
 | Peter Lougheed MLA for Calgary West (1928–2012) | February 15, 1968 | April 27, 1971 | Progressive Conservative | ||
| Harry Strom MLA for Cypress (1914–1984) | December 10, 1971 | November 22, 1972 | Social Credit | |||
| James Douglas Henderson MLA for Wetaskiwin-Leduc (1927–2020) | February 15, 1973 | August 21, 1973 | Social Credit | |||
| Robert Curtis Clark MLA for Olds-Didsbury (1937–2020) | September 15, 1973 | November 28, 1980 | Social Credit | |||
| Raymond Speaker MLA for Little Bow (born 1935) | December 16, 1980 | November 1, 1982 | Social Credit | |||
| Grant Notley MLA for Spirit River-Fairview (1939–1984) | November 2, 1982 | October 19, 1984 | New Democratic | |||
 | Ray Martin MLA for Edmonton-Norwood (born 1941) | November 6, 1984 | June 14, 1993 | New Democratic | ||
.jpg) | Laurence Decore MLA for Edmonton-Glengarry (1940–1999) | June 15, 1993 | July 15, 1994 | Liberal | ||
| Grant Mitchell MLA for Edmonton-McClung (born 1951) | November 12, 1994 | April 17, 1998 | Liberal | |||
 | Howard Sapers[3][NB 1] MLA for Edmonton-Glenora (born 1957) (Acting) | April 21, 1998 | July 6, 1998 | Liberal | ||
| Nancy MacBeth MLA for Edmonton-McClung (born 1948) | July 7, 1998 | March 11, 2001 | Liberal | |||
| Ken Nicol MLA for Lethbridge East (born 1944) | March 15, 2001 | March 26, 2004 | Liberal | |||
 | Kevin Taft MLA for Edmonton-Riverview (born 1955) | March 27, 2004 | December 14, 2008 | Liberal | ||
 | David Swann MLA for Calgary-Mountain View (born 1949) | December 15, 2008 | September 10, 2011 | Liberal | ||
 | Raj Sherman MLA for Edmonton-Meadowlark (born 1965) | September 12, 2011 | April 23, 2012 | Liberal | ||
 | Danielle Smith MLA for Highwood (born 1971) | April 24, 2012 | December 17, 2014 | Wildrose | ||
 | Heather Forsyth[NB 2] MLA for Calgary-Fish Creek (born 1950) | December 22, 2014 | May 5, 2015 | Wildrose | ||
 | Brian Jean MLA for Fort McMurray-Conklin (born 1963) | May 5, 2015 | July 24, 2017 | Wildrose | ||
 | Nathan Cooper[NB 3] MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills (born 1980) | July 24, 2017 | October 30, 2017 | United Conservative | ||
 | Jason Nixon[NB 4] MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre (born 1980) | October 30, 2017 | January 29, 2018 | United Conservative | ||
 | Jason Kenney MLA for Calgary-Lougheed (born 1968) | January 29, 2018 | April 30, 2019 | United Conservative | ||
 | Rachel Notley MLA for Edmonton-Strathcona (born 1964) | April 30, 2019 | June 24, 2024 | New Democratic | ||
| | Christina Gray[NB 5] MLA for Edmonton-Mill Woods (born 1978) | June 24, 2024 | present | New Democratic | ||
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Sapers served as Leader of the Opposition from MacBeth's election as Liberal Party leader until her election to the legislature in a by-election.
- ^ Forsyth served as interim Wildrose leader and Leader of the Opposition from Smith's crossing the floor to the Progressive Conservative government until Jean entered the Legislative Assembly in the 29th general election.
- ^ The Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties merged to form the United Conservative Party, and Cooper was named interim leader until the party elected a new permanent one.
- ^ Nixon served as Leader of the Opposition from Kenney's election as UCP leader until his election to the Legislative Assembly in a by-election.
- ^ Gray will serve as Leader of the Opposition from Nenshi's election as NDP leader until he is elected to the Legislative Assembly in a by-election.
References
[edit]- ^ "CBC: Alberta's Wildrose, PC's merge into a consolidated United Conservative Party".
- ^ "Alberta speaker picks Wildrose as Official Opposition". Calgary Herald. December 23, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2014.
- ^ "Official Opposition Appointment" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Alberta: Legislative Assembly, 24th Leg, 2nd Sess. April 21, 1998. p. 1579.
| Crown in Alberta |  | |
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| Lieutenant Governor | ||
| Premier | ||
| Legislature | ||
| Political parties |
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