List of premiers of Alberta

The list of premiers of Alberta consists of all fourteen leaders of government of the Canadian province of Alberta since it was created in 1905. Alberta uses a unicameral Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the premier is the leader of the party that controls the most seats in the Legislative Assembly. The premier is Alberta's head of government, while the Queen of Canada is its head of state and is represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. The premier picks a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of Alberta, and presides over that body.

Members are first elected to the legislature during general elections. General elections must be conducted every five years from the date of the last election, but the premier may ask for early dissolution of the legislative assembly. An election may also happen if the governing party loses the confidence of the legislature, by the defeat of a supply bill or tabling of a confidence motion.

A leader of a party is decided upon by an internal constitution unique to each party that comprises a framework to elect or appoint a leader. The leader must then win a seat in a by-election or general election. If a leader of a governing party fails to win a seat, he or she must sit in the legislature gallery, with the public until a new leader is decided upon or by-election becomes available. While sitting in the gallery a premier can not exercise any legislative powers.

Prior to 1905, Alberta was part of the North-West Territories and was governed by the Lieutenant-Governors of the Northwest Territories until 1897, and the Premier of the Northwest Territories from 1897 to 1905. Since 1905, Alberta has had four political party dynasties.

History

Liberal Party 1905–1921

The Liberal party formed the government in 1905 after Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier appointed Alexander Rutherford as interim premier. The interim government would gain a massive majority on what was generally claimed as gerrymandered electoral boundaries in the 1905 Alberta election. Rutherford emerged from the March 1909 election leading another formidable majority, that clearly reflected the broad popular support he and his government enjoyed. He would resign as premier 14 months later, in May 1910, after his government was implicated in the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway scandal.

Arthur Sifton would replace Rutherford as premier. Shortly before the 1913 election Sifton's Liberals jammed through a controversial bill greatly expanding the size of the legislative assembly. The bill was once again said to gerrymander boundaries in Liberals favor. The press and opposition would term his reign as premier "Siftonism" implying that his reign was a disease on Alberta. Sifton would only last one term as premier as he left to pursue a career in federal politics.

Charles Stewart replaced Sifton and held the Liberal government through the lackluster 1917 election which a large portion of seats were held by acclamation. The opposition was the strongest ever. The Conservatives which formed the official opposition with 19 seats thought they had the upper hand on the waning Liberal government. Both would be surprised by the United Farmers who routed the Liberals and Conservatives in rural areas to form the government in the 1921 election.

United Farmers 1921–1935

Alberta's second dynasty was the United Farmers of Alberta who rose from a minor party known as the Alberta Non-Partisan League, formed in 1916. Henry Wise Wood would lead the party into the 1921 election and form a majority based on winning rural seats. The party did not run in the cities and allied with Labour candidates. Henry did not want the job as premier so the farmers were forced to shop around. John Brownlee was asked first but declined. Herbert Greenfield, the second choice, became the new premier.

Greenfield would resign four years later because he was often absent due to illness. John Brownlee, who had previously been offered the job, succeeded him. Brownlee's reign as government leader was troubled by the onset of the great depression. He resigned in scandal after he was accused of sexual acts with a minor in the Attorney General's office. This and another scandalous divorce by Oran McPherson, speaker of the legislative assembly, gave the United Farmers an image of moral decay. In 1934 Richard Reid would replace Brownlee and lead the United Farmers government into total defeat at the hands of the new Social Credit party.

Social Credit 1935–1971

Albertans turned away from the United Farmers government and began to follow evangelical radio preacher William Aberhart, known as Bible Bill. The Social Credit party was quickly founded. Voters flocked to the radical monetary reforms proposed by Clifford Douglas to look for an escape to the Great Depression. Social Credit was elected with a massive majority in the 1935 election completely wiping out the United Farmers. Aberhart had a difficult time trying to implement the Social Credit theory and began to become unpopular almost losing his government in 1940.

Aberhart died in 1943 and was replaced by Ernest Manning. Under Manning Social Credit moved away from the monetary theory of Douglas towards traditional conservatism. Manning would lead the party through seven straight massive majorities until he resigned in 1967. Harry Strom, a long time cabinet minister, would replace Manning. Strom would lead the party to defeat at the hands of the Progressive Conservatives and Peter Lougheed in the 1971 election. Strom and his government looked old and tired and out of touch compared to the new Progressive Conservatives.

Progressive Conservative 1971–present

The current government of Alberta was first led by Peter Lougheed, defeating the 36 year reign of Social Credit in 1971. Peter Lougheed served as premier winning four elections until 1985 when he retired from public office. Some of Lougheed's notable accomplishments were the Alberta Bill of Rights, and the Heritage Trust Fund.

Don Getty, one of Lougheed’s long time cabinet ministers, would return to politics to win the leadership of the party. His reign would become very unpopular as he led Alberta into large deficit spending, and marked an era of big government which the province could not afford. In the 1989 election he was defeated in his seat in Edmonton-Whitemud while his party won a majority. He would be forced to sit in the gallery until he won a seat in a by-election in Stettler. His refusal to leave as premier would lead Laurence Decore to help the Liberals sky rocket in popularity. Getty would resign and be replaced in a bitter leadership battle by Ralph Klein.

Ralph Klein, the former mayor of Calgary, led the party into the 1993 election, promising a new era of debt reduction and fiscal accountability. He walked away with a slim majority. Ralph Klein's folksy appeal helped the Progressive Conservatives renew themselves. He would lead the party through two elections, gaining in popularity each time. In early 2004 he announced that the Alberta debt was paid in full. He was rewarded with winning the 2004 election, despite running a campaign with no new policies brought forward. His party would lose a number of seats and during the campaign he stated this would be his last election. In 2006 at a Progressive Conservative convention delegates would force him to pick a retirement date by giving him low numbers in a leadership review.

Ed Stelmach would succeed Klein as premier, following his win of the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative party in 2006. He won the 2008 provincial election, and then resigned as the party celebrated its 40 years in power in 2011. Alison Redford is the current Premier of Alberta.

List of Premiers

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death) District	Term of office		Electoral mandates (Assembly)	Political party
Premiers of the North-West Territories
1		Sir Frederick W. A. G. Haultain (1857–1942) MLA for Macleod	7 October 1897	1 September 1905	— (3rd Assembly) 1898 election (4th Assembly) 1902 election (5th Assembly)	Liberal-Conservative Party Named leader in 1897
Premiers of Alberta
1		Alexander Cameron Rutherford (1857–1941) MLA for Strathcona	2 September 1905	26 May 1910	— (none) 1905 election (1st Assembly) 1909 election (2nd Assembly)	Liberal Party Named leader in 1905
2		Arthur Sifton (1856–1921) MLA for Vermilion	26 May 1910	30 October 1917	— (none) 1913 election (3rd Assembly) 1917 election (4th Assembly)	Liberal Party Named leader in 1910
3		Charles Stewart (1868–1946) MLA for Sedgewick	30 October 1917	13 August 1921	— (4th Assembly)	Liberal Party Named leader in 1917
4		Herbert Greenfield (1869–1949) MLA for Peace River	13 August 1921	23 November 1925	1921 election (5th Assembly)	United Farmers Named leader in 1921
5		John Edward Brownlee (1883–1961) MLA for Ponoka	23 November 1925	10 July 1934	— (5th Assembly) 1926 election (6th Assembly) 1930 election (7th Assembly)	United Farmers Named leader in 1925
6		Richard Gavin Reid (1879–1980) MLA for Vermilion	10 July 1934	3 September 1935	— (7th Assembly)	United Farmers Named leader in 1934
7		William Aberhart (1878–1943) MLA for Okotoks-High River (until 1940) MLA for Calgary (from 1940)	3 September 1935	23 May 1943	1935 election (8th Assembly) 1940 election (9th Assembly)	Social Credit Party Named leader in 1935
8		Ernest Manning (1908–1996) MLA for Edmonton (until 1959) MLA for Strathcona East (from 1959)	31 May 1943	12 December 1968	— (9th Assembly) 1944 election (10th Assembly) 1948 election (11th Assembly) 1952 election (12th Assembly) 1955 election (13th Assembly) 1959 election (14th Assembly) 1963 election (15th Assembly) 1967 election (16th Assembly)	Social Credit Party Named leader in 1943
9		Harry Strom (1914–1984) MLA for Cypress	12 December 1968	10 September 1971	— (16th Assembly)	Social Credit Party Named leader in 1968
10		Peter Lougheed (1928–) MLA for Calgary-West	10 September 1971	1 November 1985	1971 election (17th Assembly) 1975 election (18th Assembly) 1979 election (19th Assembly) 1982 election (20th Assembly)	Progressive Conservative Association Named leader in 1965
11		Don Getty (1933–) MLA for Edmonton-Whitemud (until 1989) MLA for Stettler (from 1989)	1 November 1985	13 December 1992	— (20th Assembly) 1986 election (21st Assembly) 1989 election (22nd Assembly)	Progressive Conservative Association Named leader in 1985
12		Ralph Klein (1942–) MLA for Calgary-Elbow	14 December 1992	14 December 2006	— (22nd Assembly) 1993 election (23rd Assembly) 1997 election (24th Assembly) 2001 election (25th Assembly) 2004 election (26th Assembly)	Progressive Conservative Association Named leader in 1992
13		Ed Stelmach (1951–) MLA for Fort Saskatchewan—Vegreville	14 December 2006	7 October 2011	— (26th Assembly) 2008 election (27th Assembly)	Progressive Conservative Association Named leader in 2006
14		Alison Redford (1965–) MLA for Calgary-Elbow	7 October 2011	Incumbent	— (27th Assembly)	Progressive Conservative Association Named leader in 2011

Graphical representation

Living former premiers

As of October 2011, four former premiers are alive, the oldest being Peter Lougheed (1971–1985, born 1928). The most recent former premier to die was Ernest Manning (1943–1968), on February 19, 1996. The most recently-serving premier to die was Harry Strom (1968–1971), on October 2, 1984.

Name	Term	Date of birth
Peter Lougheed	1971–1985	July 26, 1928 (1928-07-26)
Don Getty	1985–1992	August 30, 1933 (1933-08-30)
Ralph Klein	1992–2006	November 1, 1942 (1942-11-01)
Ed Stelmach	2006–2011	May 11, 1951 (1951-05-11)

See also

• Lists of office-holders
• List of premiers of Alberta by time in office

External links

• Premier of Alberta official site