Legislative Assembly of Alberta


The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. Since 2012 the Legislative Assembly has had 87 members, elected through first past the post from single-member electoral districts. Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal assent by the lieutenant governor of Alberta, as the viceregal representative of the King of Canada. The Legislative Assembly and the Lieutenant Governor together make up the unicameral Alberta Legislature.
The maximum period between general elections of the assembly, as set by Section 4 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is five years, which is further reinforced in Alberta's Legislative Assembly Act. Convention dictates the premier controls the date of election and usually selects a date in the fourth or fifth year after the preceding election. Amendments to Alberta's Election Act introduced in 2024 fixed the date of election to the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year following the preceding election. Alberta has never had a minority government and an election as a result of a vote of no confidence has never occurred.
To be a candidate for election to the assembly, a person must be a Canadian citizen older than 18 who has lived in Alberta for at least six months before the election and has registered with Elections Alberta under the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act. Senators, senators-in-waiting, members of the House of Commons, and criminal inmates are ineligible.
The 30th Alberta Legislature was dissolved on May 1, 2023. The members-elect of the 31st Alberta Legislature were elected on May 29., under recall election legislation introduced by the UCP, 21 MLAs have recall petition campaigns in progress; this includes Premier Danielle Smith. 20 of the petitions are against UCP members.

History

The first session of the first Legislature of Alberta opened on March 15, 1906, in the Thistle Rink, Edmonton, north of Jasper Avenue. After the speech from the throne, the assembly held its sessions in the McKay Avenue School. In this school Alberta MLAs chose the provincial capital, Edmonton, and the future site for the Alberta Legislature Building: the bank of the North Saskatchewan River. Allan Merrick Jeffers, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design was the architect who was chosen to build the assembly building. From 1908 to 1911 the Legislative Assembly met in a hall annexed to the old Terrace Building.
In September 1912 Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Governor General of Canada, declared the new Legislature building officially open.
Louise McKinney and Roberta MacAdams were the first women elected to the assembly, in the 1917 election, the first women in any legislature of the British Empire.
From 1926 to 1955, Edmonton and Calgary MLAs were elected through a form of proportional representation, while in that period, the other MLAs were elected using instant-runoff voting.
In 1965, the Alberta Election Act was amended to give the vote to Treaty Indians.
Early majorities in the Legislature were held by the Alberta Liberal Party, followed by the United Farmers of Alberta and Alberta Social Credit Party. The Progressive Conservatives held the legislature from 1971 until 2015, when the Alberta New Democratic Party held a majority for a single term. Since 2019, the United Conservative Party has held successive majorities.

Current members

Most members of the 31st Alberta Legislature were elected in the 31st Alberta general election held on May 29, 2023, but some were elected in subsequent by-elections. Peter Guthrie and Scott Sinclair were elected as UCP candidates but have since become Progressive Tory and Independent, respectively. Bold indicates cabinet members, and party leaders are italicized.
MemberPartyElectoral districtFirst electedNo. of terms
'Progressive ToryAirdrie-Cochrane20192nd term
United ConservativeAirdrie-East20153rd term
United ConservativeAthabasca-Barrhead-Westlock20153rd term
New DemocraticBanff-Kananaskis20231st term
United ConservativeBonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul20152nd term*
United ConservativeBrooks-Medicine Hat20123rd term*
New DemocraticCalgary-Acadia20231st term
New DemocraticCalgary-Beddington20231st term
New DemocraticCalgary-Bhullar-McCall20153rd term
'United ConservativeCalgary-Bow20192nd term
New DemocraticCalgary-Buffalo20153rd term
'United ConservativeCalgary-Cross20192nd term
New DemocraticCalgary-Currie20231st term
United ConservativeCalgary-East20192nd term
New DemocraticCalgary-Edgemont20231st term
New DemocraticCalgary-Elbow20231st term
New DemocraticCalgary-Falconridge20231st term
'United ConservativeCalgary-Fish Creek20231st term
New DemocraticCalgary-Foothills20231st term
New DemocraticCalgary-Glenmore20231st term
United ConservativeCalgary-Hays20124th term
New DemocraticCalgary-Klein20231st term
United ConservativeCalgary-Lougheed20231st term
New DemocraticCalgary-Mountain View20153rd term
United ConservativeCalgary-North20192nd term
New DemocraticCalgary-North East20231st term
'United ConservativeCalgary-North West20192nd term
'United ConservativeCalgary-Peigan20192nd term
'United ConservativeCalgary-Shaw20192nd term
'United ConservativeCalgary-South East20192nd term
New DemocraticCalgary-Varsity20231st term
United ConservativeCalgary-West2014 4th term
United ConservativeCamrose20192nd term
'United ConservativeCardston-Siksika20192nd term
'United ConservativeCentral Peace-Notley20192nd term
United ConservativeChestermere-Strathmore20231st term
United ConservativeCypress-Medicine Hat20231st term
'United ConservativeDrayton Valley-Devon20231st term
'United ConservativeDrumheller-Stettler20192nd term
New DemocraticEdmonton-Beverly-Clareview20231st term
New DemocraticEdmonton-Castle Downs20153rd term
New DemocraticEdmonton-City Centre20153rd term
New DemocraticEdmonton-Decore20231st term
New DemocraticEdmonton-Ellerslie2025 1st term
New DemocraticEdmonton-Glenora20153rd term
New DemocraticEdmonton-Gold Bar20153rd term
New DemocraticEdmonton-Highlands-Norwood20192nd term
New DemocraticEdmonton-Manning20153rd term
New DemocraticEdmonton-McClung20153rd term
New DemocraticEdmonton-Meadows20192nd term
New DemocraticEdmonton-Mill Woods20153rd term
New DemocraticEdmonton-North West20045th term*
New DemocraticEdmonton-Riverview20153rd term
New DemocraticEdmonton-Rutherford20231st term
New DemocraticEdmonton-South20231st term
New DemocraticEdmonton-South West20231st term
'New DemocraticEdmonton-Strathcona2025 1st term
New DemocraticEdmonton-West Henday20231st term
New DemocraticEdmonton-Whitemud20192nd term
'United ConservativeFort McMurray-Lac La Biche20153rd term*
United ConservativeFort McMurray-Wood Buffalo20153rd term
United ConservativeFort Saskatchewan-Vegreville20192nd term
United ConservativeGrande Prairie20231st term
United ConservativeGrande Prairie-Wapiti20231st term
'United ConservativeHighwood20192nd term
'United ConservativeInnisfail-Sylvan Lake2018 3rd term
United ConservativeLac Ste. Anne-Parkland20192nd term
United ConservativeLacombe-Ponoka20231st term
United ConservativeLeduc-Beaumont20231st term
IndependentLesser Slave Lake20231st term
'United ConservativeLethbridge-East20192nd term
New DemocraticLethbridge-West2024 1st term
United ConservativeLivingstone-Macleod20231st term
'United ConservativeMaskwacis-Wetaskiwin20192nd term
'United ConservativeMorinville-St. Albert20192nd term
United ConservativeOlds-Didsbury-Three Hills2025 1st term
'United ConservativePeace River20192nd term
'United ConservativeRed Deer-North20192nd term
United ConservativeRed Deer-South20192nd term
'United ConservativeRimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre20153rd term
New DemocraticSherwood Park20231st term
'United ConservativeSpruce Grove-Stony Plain20192nd term
New DemocraticSt. Albert20153rd term
'United ConservativeStrathcona-Sherwood Park20192nd term
'United ConservativeTaber-Warner20153rd term
United ConservativeVermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright20192nd term
'United ConservativeWest Yellowhead20192nd term