30th Alberta general election

30th Alberta General Election

On or before May 31, 2019

87 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 44 seats needed for a majority Opinion polls   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Rachel Notley Brian Jean Ric McIver Party New Democratic Wildrose Progressive Conservative Leader since October 18, 2014 March 28, 2015 interim until TBD Leader's seat Edmonton-Strathcona Fort McMurray-Conklin Calgary-Hays Last election 54 seats, 40.57% 21 seats, 24.23% 10 seats, 27.80% Seats before 54 22 9   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader David Swann Greg Clark Party Liberal Alberta Party Leader since interim until TBD September 21, 2013 Leader's seat Calgary-Mountain View Calgary-Elbow Last election 1 seat, 4.19% 1 seat, 2.29% Seats before 1 1

Premier before election Rachel Notley New Democratic Elected Premier TBD

The 30th general election of Alberta, Canada, will elect members to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. It will take place on or before May 31, 2019, following a request by Premier Rachel Notley to the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta to dissolve the legislature. The election may occur before the required date.

The Election Act fixes the election to a three-month period, between March 1 and May 31 in the fourth calendar year after the preceding election day which in this case was May 5, 2015. However, this does not affect the powers of the Lieutenant Governor to dissolve the Legislature before this period.^[1]

In the last general election, the Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP) was elected to a majority government under leader Rachel Notley. The NDP formed the government for the first time in Alberta history and ousted the long-ruling Progressive Conservatives, who were reduced to third place. Prentice resigned as party leader and as MLA for Calgary-Foothills on election night.^[2] The Progressive Conservatives had won every provincial election since the 1971 election, making them the longest-serving provincial government in Canadian history. It was only the fourth change of government in Alberta since Alberta became a province in 1905 (in the order of: Alberta Liberal Party, United Farmers of Alberta, Social Credit Party, Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, Alberta New Democratic Party [NDP]), and one of the worst defeats that any provincial government has suffered in Canada. On May 22nd NDP leader and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever was suspended from the NDP caucus over a homophobic remark found posted from Drever’s Instagram account. Notley said that she would review Drever's status within a year.^[3]

Timeline

• May 5, 2015: The Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP) win a majority government in the 29th Alberta General Election, taking out the long-ruling Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (PCs) after close to 44 years in office. The Wildrose Party retains the official opposition, with the PCs drop to third. Outgoing Premier Jim Prentice announces resignation as PC leader and as Calgary-Foothills MLA.
• May 11, 2015: Outgoing cabinet minister Ric McIver is appointed interim leader of the PCs.^[4]
• May 15, 2015: Elections Alberta published the official results.^[5]
• May 22, 2015: Deborah Drever, NDP MLA-elect for Calgary-Bow, is suspended from caucus for controversies over social media posts. ^[6]
• May 24, 2015: Rachel Notley is sworn in as Alberta's 17th Premier, along with her 11-member Cabinet.^[7]
• June 1, 2015: The new MLAs are sworn in.^[8]
• June 11, 2015: The first session of the 29th Alberta Legislative Assembly begins.^[9]
• August 6, 2015: Premier Rachel Notley calls a byelection for Calgary-Foothills, with the vote to be held on September 3.^[10]
• September 3, 2015: Calgary-Foothills byelection. Prasad Panda is elected for the Wildrose.^[11]
• November 23, 2015: Manmeet Bhullar, Progressive Conservative MLA for Calgary-Greenway dies in a highway crash^[12]
• January 8, 2016: Deborah Drever, Independent MLA for Calgary-Bow rejoins the government Alberta New Democratic Party. ^[13]
• February 23, 2016: Rachel Notley announces a byelection for Calgary-Greenway that will be held on March 22.^[14]
• March 22, 2016: The Calgary-Greenway byelection is held. Prabhdeep Gill for the Progressive Conservatives wins.^[15]

Opinion polls

The following is a list of scientific opinion polls of published voter intentions.

Polling Firm	Last Date of Polling	Link	NDP	Wildrose	PC	Liberal	Alberta Party	Other
ThinkHQ	March 16, 2016	HTML	27	34	25	8	4	1
Mainstreet Research	February 3, 2016	HTML	27	33	31	5	4
ThinkHQ	December 6, 2015	HTML	29	33	25	8	3	2
Insights West	November 10, 2015	HTML	33	28	21	13	2	3
Mainstreet Research	November 1, 2015	HTML	36	37	20	3	4
Mainstreet Research	October 1, 2015	HTML	33	39	21	3	4
Mainstreet Research	June 30, 2015	HTML	31	40	24	3	2
Election 2015	May 5, 2015	HTML	40.6	24.2	27.8	4.2	2.3	0.9

References

1. Election Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. E-1, s. 38.1, as amended by S.A. 2011, c. 19
2. "Jim Prentice resignation as MLA too fast, strategist says". CBC News, May 6, 2015.
3. "Here's the image that finally got NDP MLA Deborah Drever suspended from caucus". Calgary Herald, May 22, 2015.
4. "Ric McIver named interim leader of Alberta's PC party," CBC News May 11, 2015.
5. "Official Poll Results". Elections Alberta. 2015-05-15. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
6. "Here's the image that finally got NDP MLA Deborah Drever suspended from caucus". Calgary Herald, May 22, 2015.
7. "Rachel Notley sworn in as Alberta premier, reveals cabinet," CBC News May 24, 2015.
8. "Alberta MLAs sworn in after historic election," CBC News June 1, 2015.
9. "Medicine Hat MLA elected Speaker of the 29th Legislature," CTV News June 11, 2015.
10. "Notley calls Sept 3 Calgary-Foothills byelection," 630 CHED Edmonton Aug 6, 2015.
11. ," Elections Alberta September 3, 2015.
12. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-conservative-mla-manmeet-bhullar-killed-in-highway-crash-1.3331978
13. http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/brian-mason-deborah-drever-to-make-announcement-in-calgary
14. http://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/notley-announces-byelection-date
15. Wood, James. "Tories hold Calgary-Greenway riding after byelection". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 24 March 2016.