The 1975 Alberta general election was held on March 26, 1975, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to the 18th Alberta Legislature. The election was called on February 14, 1975 prorogued and dissolved of the 17th Alberta Legislature.
The Progressive Conservative Party led by incumbent Premier Peter Lougheed won its second term in government in a landslide, taking over 62 per cent of the popular vote and winning 69 of the 75 seats in the legislature to form a majority government.
After 36 years in government from 1935 to 1971—virtually its entire history—the Social Credit Party was unprepared for a role in opposition. It lost over half of its popular vote from the previous election, and was cut down to only four MLAs—just barely holding onto official party status.
Background.
The 1971 general election resulted in the Progressive Conservative Party led by Peter Lougheed defeating the Social Credit Party which had governed Alberta continuously for 36 years consecutive years. The Progressive Conservatives defeated the Social Credit Party by 5.3 per cent in the popular vote and formed a majority government.
Social Credit leader and former Premier Harry Strom continued as leader of the opposition until 1973 when he resigned, Strom continued in the legislature until the 1975 election, when he did not seek re-election. In the 1973 leadership election, Werner Schmidt, vice-president of Lethbridge Community College, who didn't hold a seat in the Legislative Assembly, ran against former Highways Minister Gordon Taylor, former Education Minister Robert Curtis Clark, and John Ludwig, dean of business education at Alberta College. Clark, who had the support of half of the party's MLAs, led Schmidt on the first ballot, 583 votes to 512 votes. But in an upset victory, Schmidt won on the second ballot with 814 votes, defeating Clark by 39 votes. Social Credit MLA Gordon Taylor grew detached with the party and supported Lougheed's plan to provide gas lines to rural areas. Taylor left the Social Credit caucus in 1975 just before the election.
The New Democratic Party led by leader Grant Notley captured a single seat in the 1971 general election.
The Alberta Liberal Party failed to capture a single seat in the 1971 general election led by leader Bob Russell. Russell contested the 1973 by-election in Calgary-Foothills finishing a distant fourth with 5.8 per cent of the vote. Russell resigned the leadership of the Liberal Party later in 1974, and was succeeded by Nicholas Taylor.
Election campaign.
Progressive Conservative.
Premier Peter Lougheed enjoyed strong support from his home constituency of Calgary-West, meaning he was able to campaign throughout the province.
The Progressive Conservative Party campaigned a platform on administrative competence and promises outlined in an unpassed 1975–76 budget. Leaning on successful negotiations with the federal and Ontario governments and oil companies for the development of oil sands in the "Winnipeg Agreement" only 11 days before the legislature was dissolved. Other promises included the creation of the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, reduction of personal income taxes by at least 28 per cent, and increased social program spending, all of which were built on growing non-renewable natural resource revenue resulting from 1970s energy crisis.
Campaign slogans utilized by the Progressive Conservatives included "Lougheed Leadership", "43 Months of Progress", and "Vote Today for Alberta".
The Progressive Conservative government was criticized for interference with the free market, which was exemplified with the 1974 purchase of Pacific Western Airlines for $37.5-million. The Lougheed government was also criticized for significant government spending authorized through Order-in-Council instead of appropriations through the legislature.
Social Credit Party.
The Social Credit Party ran a campaign advocating for the provincial government to provide low-interest loans to Albertans for housing, farming and small business purposes. Social Credit leader Werner Schmidt promoted greater revenue sharing with municipal governments, and more conciliatory stance to negotiations with the federal government, and greater emphasis on free market enterprise. The Social Credit Party referred to themselves as "the Alberta Party" throughout the election, but was unable to gather significant momentum with the phrase.
The Social Credit Party was only able to muster 70 candidates to contest the provinces 75 electoral districts. Many of the candidates focused their advertising dollars and canvassing efforts on highlighting their individual experience and value as a constituent representative rather than emphasizing the Party's platform.
New Democratic Party.
NDP leader Grant Notley was elected to the Spirit River-Fairview district in 1971 by a slim margin in a competitive three-way race. The pressure in his home riding required Notley to do much of his campaigning in his home riding, and not in locations across the province.
Through his efforts in the legislature, Notley gained a reputation as a hard-working, sincere and capable representative and critic of Peter Lougheed. The NDP mustered candidates in all 75 constituencies, and as the only opposition party with a full slate of candidates, the NDP created the election slogan "The Only Real Opposition".
The NDP's campaign strategy did not emphasis socialist programs in the early stages of the campaign, instead focusing on the Lougheed government's agreement with Syncrude for developing the oil sands. Notley and the NDP believed the Syncrude agreement would be the central issue of the election, as the agreement included significant public financial investments. Notley was able to obtain several confidential government documents relating to the Syncrude project's viability which the NDP released throughout the campaign, however the Progressive Conservatives steered away from debate on the subject. Later in the election the NDP brought forward more traditional socialist programs including children's dental care, increasing old age pensions, government run auto insurance and increasing public ownership of utility companies.
Liberal.
The Liberal Party focused its campaign on leader Nick Taylor's charisma and environmental opposition to the Progressive Conservatives industrialization policy. Instead the Liberal Party emphasized that Alberta's economy should be focused on renewable resources such as agriculture, timber, tourism and modern professional skills. The Liberals emphasized their platform through the campaign slogan "The Alternative".
The Liberal Party was able to field 46 candidates in the province's 75 electoral districts, although with a majority of the Party's support coming from Calgary and Edmonton, many of the rural candidates were paper candidates. Much of the Liberal campaign resources were focused on urban candidates, with most of the resources going towards Taylor's Calgary-Glenmore constituency.
Results.
The Progressive Conservative Party won a lopsided victory, capturing 62.7 per cent of the vote and 69 of 75 seats in the legislature. The "Edmonton Report" cover featured a caricature of Peter Lougheed following the victory accompanied with the title "Peter The Greatest".
The Social Credit Party dropped from 21 seats (from 25 to 4), capturing 18.2 per cent of the vote. Leader Werner Schmidt failed to capture his own seat in Taber-Warner, capturing 2,418 votes (33.43 per cent), coming second to Progressive Conservative Robert Bogle who captured 4,614 votes (63.78 per cent). Independent Social Credit candidate Gordon Taylor was able to retain his seat. Schmidt resigned as leader of the Social Credit Party days after the election.
The Liberal Party grew to nearly 5 per cent of the popular vote, but secured no seats. Nick Taylor came second in his constituency of Calgary-Glenmore with 4,166 votes, behind the Progressive Conservative candidate Hugh Planche who garnered 10,641 votes. Taylor attributed the Liberal's overall poor performance to the connection with the unpopular federal Liberal Party.
The New Democratic Party leader Grant Notley was able to capture his seat in Spirit River-Fairview with 50.83 per cent of the vote, defeating his only opponent, Progressive Conservative Alex Woronuk. Despite garnering 12.9 per cent of the popular vote, the NDP was only able to capture Notley's seat. The NDP was still somewhat pleased that candidates came second in northern areas of the province and all 16 Edmonton constituencies.
Overall voter turnout in the election was 59.58 per cent.
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References.
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