1986 Alberta general election
The 1986 Alberta general election was held on May 8, 1986, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The Alberta Progressive Conservatives were re-elected to a majority of seats, this time under a new leader, Don Getty.
Peter Lougheed, who had created the modern Alberta Progressive Conservatives in the 1960s, led it to power in 1971 and served as premier of Alberta for fourteen years, retired from politics in 1985. The PC Party elected Don Getty as its new leader.
Getty did not have the confidence of as many Albertans as Lougheed had had, and the party's popular vote fell by ten percentage points. The PCs still won a fifth term in government, with over half the votes in the province, and 61 of the 83 seats in the legislature. While the PC's continued to dominate in Calgary and rural Alberta, unlike previous PC victories the party was badly routed in the provincial capital Edmonton where it won only four seats.
The New Democratic Party, now led by Ray Martin, made itself the focus of opposition to the PC government, winning almost 30% of the vote, and sixteen seats in the legislature, mostly in Edmonton where they became the dominant political party. This was a salutary result after the tragic death of its leader, Grant Notley, in 1984. It again took 16 seats in the next election. These two elections were the NDP's best result in any election until it won government in the 2015 election.
The Liberal Party of Nicholas Taylor returned to the legislature for the first time since 1969 with four seats.
Representative Party of Alberta, led by former Social Credit Party of Alberta|Socred minister Raymond Speaker, took two seats. The Social Credit Party of Alberta nominated no candidates, a first in more than 50 years. The party had governed Alberta for 36 years before getting bounced out of power by the Tories in 1971. Unlike the previous 12 elections, it won no seats in 1982. Former Socred minister Raymond Speaker and another veteran Socred MLA, Walt Buck, were elected as Independents in 1982 and had formed the Representative Party of Alberta. Speaker and Buck retained their seats in 1986, but no other RPA candidates were elected.
Western Canada Concept, a western separatist party that had won almost 12% of the vote in 1982, collapsed under the leadership of Jack Ramsay, who later served as a Reform Party of Canada Member of Parliament.
The 22-member opposition in the Alberta Legislature was the largest since 1971. Although the opposition MLAs were still outnumbered three to one by Conservative MLAs, they presented a significant competitive voice to the dominant Conservative Party. The NDP, long the most able, visible and popular opposition group in the Legislature now were granted status of Official Opposition. The existence of the moderately large opposition is counter to the pattern of Alberta both before and after of having minuscule opposition in the Legislature, one party dominance for a long period followed by landslide in favour of a new party.
Thus the 1986 Legislature was part of a break, short lived as it happened, in the usual pattern of Alberta politics that some describe as ideologically conservative, anachronistic, odd and unpredictable. It was thought by some that Alberta politics was beginning to resemble that of Canada's other provinces.
UofA prof Allan Tupper said the rise of a new, competent opposition was a healthy development in Alberta's politics and would likely contribute positively to Alberta's economic and social well-being.
However, in 1993, the NDP caucus was obliterated, and the Liberal became the Official Opposition. And Conservatives received 61 percent of the seats and thus still held overwhelming dominance in the Legislature, with a three to two ratio of seats over the opposition.
Ten women were elected to the Legislature in this election - six Conservatives, three NDP-ers and one Liberal.
Results
Overall voter turnout was 47.25%.Note:
Results by riding
Independent Dorothy Bohdan109
1.57%
Independent
Jim Othen
67
0.96%
Bruce Potter
28
0.40%