Alberta general election, 1917

The Alberta general election of 1917 was the fourth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada, held on June 7, 1917 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

Because of World War I, politics was largely on the back burner in the minds of Albertans this election. Eleven Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) were acclaimed under Section 38 of the Election Act, which stipulated that any member of the 3rd Alberta Legislative Assembly, would be guaranteed re-election, with no contest held, if members joined for war time service. In addition, soldiers from Alberta fighting overseas elected two members-at-large.

The large number of acclaimed candidates, and events overseas, made the 1917 election a low-key event compared to the previous three elections.

The Liberal Party, under its new leader, Charles Stewart, won a fourth term in office, defeating the Conservative Party of Edward Michener.

This was also the first election in Alberta that woman had the right to vote and run. Two woman were elected to the opposition benches in the legislature that year.

The 1917 election was also the tightest majority ever formed in Alberta history, with the combined opposition equaling to 70.59% of the MLA's on the government benches.

The vote in Athabasca district was conducted on June 27, 1917 due to the remoteness of the riding.

Contents

1 Results

2 Members of the Legislative Assembly

2.1 Members elected
2.2 Members acclaimed under Section 38
2.3 June 27 1917

3 1917 soldiers' and nurses vote

4 See also

Results

Party		Party Leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular Vote
Party		Party Leader	# of candidates	1913	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Liberal	Charles Stewart	49	38/39¹	34	-12.8%	54,212	48.14%	-1.09%
	Conservative	<center> Edward Michener	48	17	19	+11.8%	47,055	41.79%	-3.31%
	Independent		11	-	2		6,569	5.83%	+2.08%
	Labour	<center>	2		1		3,576	3.17%
	Socialist	<center>	3	-	-	-	784	0.70%	-1.17%
	Non-Partisan	<center>	1		-		416	0.37%
Sub-total			114	55/56¹	56	-	96,985	100%	<center>
<center>	Soldiers' vote (Province at large)		21		2		13,286	21.00%
Total			135	55/56	58	+3.6%	125,898	100%	<center>
Source: Elections Alberta

Note: ¹ C.W. Cross represented two ridings during the previous legislative assembly.

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Members elected

For complete electoral history, see individual districts

	District	Member	Party
4th Alberta Legislative Assembly
	Acadia	John McColl	Liberal
	Beaver River	Wilfrid Gariepy	Liberal
	Bow Valley	C.R. Mitchell	Liberal
	Calgary Centre	Alex Ross	Labour
	Calgary North	W.M. Davidson	Liberal
	Calgary South	Thomas Blow	Conservative
	Camrose	George P. Smith	Liberal
	Cardston	Martin Woolf	Liberal
	Claresholme	Louise McKinney	Independent
	Clearwater	J.E. State	Liberal
	Cochrane	C.W. Fisher	Liberal
	Coronation	J.E. State	Conservative
	Didsbury	H.B. Atkins	Liberal
	Edmonton East	Jason Ramsey	Conservative
	Edmonton West	A.F. Ewing	Conservative
	Edmonton South	H.H. Crawford	Conservative
	Edson	C.W. Cross	Liberal
	Gliechen	Fred Davis	Conservative
	Grouard	J.L Cote	Liberal
	High River	G.D. Stanley	Conservative
	Innisfail	D. Morkeberg	Liberal
	Lac St. Anne	G.R. Barker	Conservative
	Lacombe	A. Gilmour	Conservative
	Leduc	Stanley Tobin	Liberal
	Little Bow	James McNaughton	Liberal
	Macleod	George Skelding	Liberal
	Nanton	J. Wier	Independent
	Okotoks	George Hoadley	Conservative
	Olds	Duncan Marshall	Liberal
	Peace River	William Rae	Liberal
	Pincher Creek	John Kemmis	Conservative
	Ponoka	C.O. Cunningham	Conservative
	Red Deer	Edward Michener	Conservative
	Sedgewick	Charles Stewart	Liberal
	St. Albert	Lucien Boudreau	Liberal
	Stettler	Robert Shaw	Liberal
	St. Paul	Prosper Lessard	Liberal
	Stony Plain	C. Weidenhammer	Conservative
	Sturgeon	John Boyle	Liberal
	Taber	A.J. McLean	Liberal
	Vegreville	J.S. McCallum	Liberal
	Vermillion	Arthur Sifton	Liberal
	Warner	Frank Leffingwell	Liberal
	Wetaskiwin	H.J. Montgomery	Liberal

Members acclaimed under Section 38

District	Member	Party
Alexandria	J.R. Lowery	Conservative
Hand Hills	R.B. Eaton	Liberal
Lethbridge City	John S. Stewart	Conservative
Medicine Hat	Nelson Spenser	Conservative
Pembina	Gordon MacDonald	Liberal
Redcliff	C.S. Pingle	Liberal
Ribstone	Jason Turgeon	Liberal
Rocky Mountain	Robert Campbell	Conservative
Victoria	Francis A. Walker	Liberal
Wainwright	LeRoy Hudson	Conservative
Whitford	Andrew Shandro	Liberal

June 27 1917

	District	Member	Party
	Athabasca	A.G. MacKay	Liberal

1917 soldiers' and nurses vote

All eligible candidates were members of the Canadian Armed Forces from Alberta, and non-partisan. Members elected sat on the opposition benches. While the intent was to have non-partisan representatives for the soldiers, a number of candidates were previously Liberal Party MLAs.

#	Member	Votes
1	Captain Robert Pearson	4,286	Elected
2	Miss Roberta McAdams	4,023	Elected
3	Private G.E. Harper	3,328
4	Lieutenant Colonel J.K. Cornwall	2,331
5	Lieutenant Colonel I.F. Page	1,782
6	Lieutenant Colonel W.H. Hewgill	1,744
7	Private T.A.P. Frost	1,145
8	Major J. Walker	1,109
9	Lieutenant Colonel J.W.H. McKinnery	918
10	Lieutenant Colonel P.E. Bowen	882
11	Private Herbert Stow	716
12	Lieutenant Charles Taylor	519
13	Captain W.D. Ferris	474
14	Captain A.M. Calderon	438
15	Lieutenant Colonel A.M. Jarvis	425
16	Captain Lionel Asquith	423
17	Captain D.W. Grey	374
18	Company Sergent Major H.L. Bateson	221
19	Lieutenant Colonel A.E. Myatt	186
20	Order Room Sergeant A. Joyce	180
21	Acting Staff Sergeant C.M. Camroux	97