Alberta general election, 1971
The Alberta general election of 1971 was the seventeenth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on August 30, 1971 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
The Progressive Conservative of Peter Lougheed broke the 36-year hegemony on Alberta politics of the Social Credit Party. Harry E. Strom, who followed Ernest C. Manning as Social Credit leader and premier, had been unable to revive what was seen as a tired regime.
Although Social Credit lost only a small share of the popular vote, the collapse of the other opposition parties allowed the PC Party to present a credible challenge. Lougheed, with 46% of the popular vote, won 49 of the 75 seats in the legislature, and made the PC Party the new party of the right-wing majority in the province. Social Credit continued to decline after this election, and despite periodic attempts at reviving the party, was never again a significant force in Alberta politics.
The Liberal Party was shut out of the legislature, while Alberta New Democratic Party leader Grant Notley was the only NDPer to win election. He sat as the only New Democrat in the legislature until 1982.
| Contents |
Results
| Party | Party Leader | # of candidates | Seats | Popular Vote | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Elected | % Change | # | % | % Change | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | 75 | 6 | 49 | +717% | 296,934 | 46.40% | +20.40% | ||
| Social Credit | <center> Harry E. Strom | 75 | 55 | 25 | -54.5% | 262,953 | 41.10% | -3.5% | |
| New Democratic | <center> Grant Notley | 70 | - | 1 | 73,038 | 11.42% | -4.56% | ||
| Liberal | <center> | 20 | 3 | - | -100% | 6,475 | 1.01% | -9.80% | |
| Independent | 3 | 1 | - | -100% | 462 | 0.07% | -1.31% | ||
| Total | 243 | 65 | 75 | +15.4% | 639,862 | 100% | <center> | ||
| Source: Elections Alberta | |||||||||
Note:
* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.
Daylight Savings Time plebiscite
The province of Alberta voted on its fourth provincial plebiscite. Voters were again asked to endorse a proposal to adopt Daylight Savings Time (summer time). The proposal was rejected by a very slim margin in 1967. This time however it passed with a wide margin of 61.37% of the vote.
| Do you favour province-wide Daylight Saving Time? | |||
| For | Against | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 386,846 | 242,431 | ||
For break down of results see individual districts
Members elected
For complete electoral history, see individual districts
See also
- 1948 Electrification Plebiscite
- 1957 Liquor Plebiscite
- 1967 Daylight Savings Plebiscite
- List of Alberta political parties
| Preceded by: 1967 Alberta election | Alberta elections | Followed by: 1975 Alberta election |