Ed Stelmach
Encyclopedia
Edward Michael "Ed" Stelmach, MLA
(icon; born May 11, 1951) is a Canadian politician
and served as the 13th Premier of Alberta, Canada, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian
immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and speaks fluent Ukrainian
. He spent his entire pre-political adult life as a farmer, except for some time spent studying at the University of Alberta
. His first foray into politics was a 1986 municipal election, when he was elected to the county council of Lamont County
. A year into his term, he was appointed reeve. He continued in this position until his entry into provincial politics.
In the 1993 provincial election
, Stelmach was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Vegreville-Viking
(later Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville
). A Progressive Conservative
, he served in the cabinets of Ralph Klein—at various times holding the portfolios of Intergovernmental Relations, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Agriculture, Food, and Rural Development—where he developed a reputation as a low-key politician who avoided the limelight. When Klein resigned the party's leadership in 2006, Stelmach was among the first to present his candidature to replace him. After a third place finish on the first ballot of the leadership race, he won an upset second ballot victory over former provincial treasurer Jim Dinning
.
Stelmach's premiership was heavily focused on management of the province's oil reserves, especially those of the Athabasca Oil Sands
. He has rejected calls from environmentalists to slow the pace of development in the Fort McMurray area, and has similarly opposed calls for carbon tax
es or other measures designed to discourage oil consumption. Other policy initiatives have included commencing an overhaul of the province's health governance system, amendments to the Alberta human rights code, a re-introduction of all-party committees to the Legislature, and the conclusion of a major labour agreement with Alberta's teachers. His government has also attracted controversy for awarding itself a 30% pay increase shortly after its re-election, and has enjoyed strained relations with Calgary
, one of Klein's former strongholds. Despite this, Stelmach increased the Progressive Conservatives' already substantial majority in the 2008 election. With the advent of the late-2000s recession, Stelmach has had to cope with a deteriorating economic situation and the Alberta government's first budget deficit in 16 years.
Stelmach was succeeded as Premier by Alison Redford
on October 7, 2011.
. His grandparents settled near Andrew, Alberta
in 1898, after bypassing Saskatchewan
because they did not care for the terrain. His parents, Nancy and Michael Stelmach, had five children, of whom Edward was the youngest, ten years younger than his closest sibling. He was raised a Ukrainian Catholic, and continues to attend church regularly, sing in the church choir, and act as volunteer caretaker for the cemetery. Through high school, he worked as a well-digger and a Fuller Brush
salesman, where he said his grasp of Ukrainian helped him make sales. After graduating high school—his grade 12 yearbook called him a future Prime Minister of Canada—he attended the University of Alberta
, intending to become a lawyer. He continued there, working as an assistant manager at Woodward's
, until 1973, when his oldest brother, Victor, died. While his family had intended for Victor to take over the farm that his grandparents had settled 75 years before, Stelmach dropped out of university, returned home, and bought the land from his parents. He continues to farm the land today.
As a teenager, he met Marie Warshawski at the wedding of a mutual friend. They married in 1973, and have three sons and a daughter.
Stelmach entered politics in 1986 with his election to the council of Lamont County; one year later, he was appointed county reeve, a position he held until his entry into provincial politics in 1993.
as a Progressive Conservative
in the 1993 provincial election
, defeating incumbent New Democrat
Derek Fox
in the riding
of Vegreville-Viking
. Stelmach became a member of the Deep Six
, a group of enthusiastically fiscally conservative rookie MLAs; in addition to supporting Premier Ralph Klein's aggressive deficit-cutting, Stelmach practiced fiscal restraint himself, incurring low office expenses and declining a government vehicle. During his first term, Stelmach served as Deputy Whip and, later, Chief Government Whip for the P.C. caucus. As a backbencher
, he sponsored the Lloydminster Hospital Act Repeal Act. This was a government bill that dissolved the then-existing Lloydminster
hospital board in preparation for an arrangement compliant with both the Alberta government's new system of regional health authorities and the Saskatchewan
government's system. Lloydminster sits on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and the hospital, although built and operated by the Alberta government, sits on the Saskatchewan side. It passed the legislature with little debate. In 1996, shortly before an April by-election in Redwater
, Stelmach was accused of "pork barrel
politics" for presenting, along with colleague Peter Trynchy
and P.C. candidate Ross Quinn, a large cheque to a local seniors centre. Stelmach said that he had only stepped in to help the riding after its MLA, Nicholas Taylor
, had been appointed to the Senate.
After the 1997 provincial election
, Klein appointed Stelmach Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Rural development. While he held this office, his department encouraged the establishment of feedlot
s. The opposition parties charged that the government was not regulating these sufficiently, but Stelmach responded that municipalities had the authority necessary to effectively regulate them. On the Canadian Wheat Board
controversy, Stelmach sided with farmers who wanted an end to the federal body's monopoly on grain sales in the western provinces. Legislatively, Stelmach sponsored five bills while in the Agriculture, Food, and Rural Development portfolio, all of which passed through the legislature. 1997's Meat Inspection Amendment Act required meat inspectors to acquire a search warrant
before entering a private dwelling, but also allowed for fines to be voluntarily paid without requiring a court case. It was called by Liberal
agriculture critic Ken Nicol
"a really good bill". The Livestock and Livestock Products Amendment Act of the same year eliminated government guarantee of the Livestock Patrons' Assurance Fund, designed to protect cattle producers from payment defaults by livestock dealers, in favour of leaving the Fund entirely in the hands of the industry. It too was supported by the Liberals, with Nicol calling it "very easy for us to accept". In 1998, Stelmach sponsored the Agriculture Statutes (Penalties) Amendment Act, which overhauled the penalty system for violation of various agricultural statutes, setting maximum fines and leaving the precise amount up to judges on a case by case basis. It also passed with Liberal support, as MLA Ed Gibbons
said that it "really makes a lot of sense". Another 1998 bill was the Marketing of Agricultural Products Amendment Act, which allowed provincial agricultural marketing boards to revise their marketing plans, and was supported by the opposition. Finally, Stelmach initiated the Agriculture Statutes (Livestock Identification) Amendment Act, which allowed the government to delegate the inspection of branding
to the cattle industry. The bill was the subject of considerable debate on second reading
, but was ultimately supported by the Liberals on the third and final reading.
In 1999, Klein shifted Stelmach to the new Infrastructure portfolio, where he made traffic safety a priority, increasing fines for traffic offenses, sometimes by as much as 700%. He also briefly aroused controversy by proposing reversing the slow and fast lanes on provincial highways, on the grounds that this would equalize the rate at which the lanes broke down and therefore save on maintenance costs; nothing came of the proposal. He established a fund for capital projects, but has been criticized for not doing enough to address the deterioration of the province's infrastructure. In 2001, Klein separated Transportation out of the Infrastructure portfolio and appointed Stelmach to it, where the new minister advocated the use of public-private partnership
s to build ring road
s around Edmonton
and Calgary
. He also introduced a program of graduated driver licensing
and initiated a review of traffic safety programs. Stelmach was re-elected by his largest majority yet during the 2001 election
, and retained the Transportation portfolio until 2004, when he was re-assigned to the position of Minister of Intergovernmental Relations. He resigned this position in 2006 in order to contest the P.C. leadership election (Klein had required that ministers intending to campaign to succeed him resign from cabinet).
As minister, Stelmach kept a low profile. Mark Lisac, who was the Edmonton Journal
's provincial affairs columnist during much of Stelmach's time in cabinet, later recalled that Stelmach "never did anything that was flashy or controversial in any way" and that "not a thing" stood out about Stelmach's ministerial service. This low-key style earned Stelmach the moniker "Steady Eddie", which would follow him to the Premier's office.
and Iris Evans
). However, former provincial Treasurer Jim Dinning
had twice as many caucus endorsements (despite not having held elected office since 1997) and was generally considered the race's front-runner. Stelmach ran a low-profile campaign, touring the province in a custom-painted campaign bus
, while most media attention was focussed on the rivalry between Dinning and the socially conservative Ted Morton
.
According to the race's rules, the three candidates receiving the most votes on the first ballot would move on to a second ballot, which would use a preferential voting system to select a winner. Stelmach finished third on the first ballot with 15.3% of the vote, 3,329 votes ahead of fourth place Lyle Oberg
and 10,647 votes behind second place Morton. However, the fourth, fifth, and sixth place candidates (Oberg, Dave Hancock, and Mark Norris) all endorsed Stelmach for the second ballot. On this ballot, he finished in first place on the first count, fewer than five hundred votes ahead of Dinning. A majority of Morton's votes went to Stelmach on the second count, and he was elected leader.
, whose head suggested that Albertans should assume that Stelmach's anonymous donors placed him in a conflict of interest
until he proved otherwise. Stelmach also acknowledged receiving a $10,000 donation from the Beaver Regional Waste Management Service's Commission, a landfill operator owned by five municipalities in Stelmach's riding. While asserting that the donation was legal, Stelmach admitted that it was "clearly unethical", blamed overzealous campaign volunteers for soliciting it, and returned it after the end of the campaign.
In the wake of the leadership campaign, Stelmach, along with Oberg, Hancock, and Norris, organized two $5,000 per plate dinners in January 2007 to pay campaign debts. After critics argued that the dinners were essentially selling access to the premier and two senior ministers, Stelmach cancelled them.
Norman Kwong
read the throne speech to open the legislative session, Stelmach requested a dissolution of the legislature with an election to follow March 3. Shortly before the writ was dropped, a group calling itself Albertans for Change began to buy print and television ads that attacked Stelmach for lacking a plan and portrayed him as unfit to lead the province. The group was funded by the Alberta Building Trades Council and the Alberta Federation of Labour
, which led to a series of ads purchased by the National Citizens Coalition
and Merit Contractors, in which it was accused of "putting your[union members'] money where [union leadership's] mouths are." 
Despite a campaign that was called disorganized and uninspired, Stelmach's Progressive Conservatives won 72 seats in the 83-seat Legislative Assembly, an increase from the 62 that the party had won in the previous election
and only two seats short of Ralph Klein's 2001 landslide
. Political analysts attributed the party's win to its ability to present Stelmach as "a cautious, straightforward and hard-working man with a plan for Alberta's future".
The voter turnout in the election was 41%, the lowest in Alberta's history, and roughly a quarter of these had to swear an oath on election day after discovering they weren't on the voter's list. Opposition politicians and media blamed Stelmach's government for these problems, arguing that riding-level returning officers, who were nominated by Progressive Conservative constituency associations and who were responsible for voter enumeration, were not appointed early enough. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
, "about half" of the 83 returning officers in the 2008 election had ties to the P.C. Party; the returning officer in Stelmach's Fort Saskatchewan–Vegreville riding had donated between $500 and $1,000 to Stelmach's leadership campaign.
Alberta Chief Returning Officer Lorne Gibson, as one of his 182 post-election recommendations to the government, suggested that the appointment of returning officers be handled by his own, non-partisan, office. He had previously made this suggestion in 2006, but the government had not acted on it. He also recommended following the election that his office, rather than the government's Justice department, be responsible for prosecuting election-related offenses; the latter did not lay charges in any of 19 alleged campaign finance violations Gibson brought to its attention. In February 2009, Gibson appeared before the legislature's all-party committee on legislative offices to answer questions about the conduct of the election; there, he echoed opposition claims that the government, and not his office, was to blame for most problems. Shortly after, the committee voted 8–3 against re-appointing him, with all Progressive Conservatives on the committee opposing his re-appointment and all opposition MLAs supporting it. Opposition leaders David Swann
and Brian Mason
suggested that Gibson was being punished for criticizing the government.
. The rapid development of these reserves was fuelling the Alberta economy's strong growth, but also raised environmental questions. After winning the Premiership, Stelmach emphasized that he had no intention of taking measures that would slow down oilsands development and suggested that the economy would find its own appropriate growth rate. He aggressively defended Alberta's oil at home and abroad, and called the idea that it was extracted at an unacceptably high environmental cost "a myth". When Liberal Party of Canada
leader Stéphane Dion
proposed a federal carbon tax
to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, Stelmach rejected the policy on the basis that it would hurt the economy and would unfairly penalize the western provinces. Instead, he has championed the development of carbon capture technology. In July 2008, Stelmach announced $2 billion worth of funding for carbon capture initiatives, for which he was applauded by industry groups. However, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business
called it "a huge amount of money to spend on something that isn't proven", and Mike Hudema
of Greenpeace
suggesting that there were better environmental uses of the money available.
Though Stelmach pledged not to do anything to curb the development of the oilsands, he did promise to review royalty rates—the rates paid by oil companies for the privilege of extracting Alberta's oil. He also committed to reducing the proportion of bitumen that left Alberta to be upgraded out of province, likening the export of bitumen to "scraping off the top soil" from farmland. Soon after becoming Premier, he commissioned the Alberta Royalty Review
panel to make recommendations on the province's royalty regime; opposition politicians had accused the government of undercharging substantially. Stelmach rejected many of the panel's recommendations, but did increase royalty rates by approximately 20% (25% less than recommended by the panel). Just after the 2008 election, Stelmach's government announced a five year royalty break worth $237 million per year to encourage development that it feared would have become uneconomical under the new plan. He was less decisive in increasing in-province bitumen upgrading; in 2008 he conceded that Alberta would continue upgrading between sixty and sixty-five percent of the bitumen it produced for the foreseeable future, rather than the seventy-two percent target he had previously announced for 2016. This admission came in the wake of his government's approval of three new pipeline
s designed to export bitumen.
In January 2008, Stelmach unveiled the province's "made in Alberta"—as distinct from imposed by the federal government or by international treaty—plan to cut carbon emissions in order to fight global warming
. The plan called for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions by 14% (from 2007 levels) by 2050. Environmental groups and opposition parties suggested that this was insufficient in light of British Columbia
's plan to cut emissions by 80% (from 2007 levels) during the same period, but Stelmach argued that Alberta's position as a supplier of oil to the rest of the country justified higher emissions. This was followed in June by the unveiling of the government's campaign to ask Albertans to make "one simple act"—such as composting, using reusable shopping bags, and replacing incandescent light bulb
s with the more efficient fluorescent bulbs
. Opponents argued that the emphasis on personal responsibility by individuals did nothing to address the greater environmental damage caused by the development of the Athabasca Oil Sands
.
In late April 2008 hundreds of ducks landed in a northern Alberta tailings pond belonging to Syncrude
, where most died. The incident was a blow to Stelmach's efforts to convince the world that Alberta's oil sands were environmentally friendly. The number of ducks that died was originally reported at around 500, but in March 2009 Syncrude revealed that the number was in fact more than 1,600. In response to accusations from opposition and environmental groups that his government, which had known the actual number since the summer of 2008, had participated in covering it up to save face, Stelmach asserted that it had refrained from making the higher number public for fear of jeopardizing its investigation of whether Syncrude had violated any provincial regulations in the incident. Investigations were centred around the questions of whether Syncrude had immediately reported the incident as required (the government had first heard of it from an anonymous tip, though Syncrude reported it several hours later) and whether the company had the required measures in place to prevent ducks from landing on its tailings ponds (it had noisemakers designed to deter waterfowl, but these had not been set up at the time of the incident due to winter weather conditions). Syncrude was eventually charged with "failing to have systems in place to divert waterfowl", which carries a maximum fine of $800,000.
Partially in an effort to counter-act negative publicity from oil sands-related issues—for example, the March 2009 edition of National Geographic Magazine
contained a 20 page article portraying Alberta's oil sands operations as being highly environmentally damaging—in 2009 Stelmach's government spent $25 million on a rebranding
campaign for the province. Among other things, it replaced the "Alberta Advantage" slogan that had long been in use with "Alberta: Freedom to create. Spirit to achieve." The campaign became the subject of some ridicule when the Edmonton Journal
revealed that one of the photos used in it was not taken in Alberta, but at a North Sea
beach in Northumberland
. While the government initially claimed that it had intentionally used a foreign image to represent Alberta's engagement with the world, it later admitted that this was not the case, and that the photo had been used in error. Stelmach responded to the image, which showed two children running along a beach, by saying that "children, no matter where they are around the world, they are the next generation. And air quality, water quality, no matter where we live on this big globe, we're all responsible, and that's the message we're trying to portray."
; Stelmach instead opted to appoint a new EUB chair.
Stelmach's government also responded with legislation entitled the Alberta Utilities Commission Act (Bill 46), which would split the EUB into two parts: the Alberta Utilities Commission (responsible for regulating utilities) and the Energy Resources Conservation Board (responsible for regulating oil and gas). The legislation was controversial, as elements of the EUB's governing legislation that provided for public notice and consultation in the event of energy construction projects were left out. Opposition parties and advocacy groups charged that this was an assault on both landowners' rights and the environment. The legislation ultimately passed, and took effect at the beginning of 2008.
Stelmach clashed with rural landowners again in 2009 when his government introduced the Land Assembly Project Area Act, designed to make it easier for the government to acquire large blocks of land for public purposes such as ring road
s or reservoir
s. The Act allowed the government to identify land that it may be interested in expropriating
at some point in the future and to indefinitely prohibit any development on that land that could conflict with the government's purposes. Despite vigorous opposition from landowners and the opposition parties, the bill passed the legislature in late April.
driven by high energy prices and major oilsands development. This growth continued into 2007–2008, when the government's surplus was $4.6 billion. Both of these surpluses were higher than expected, and Stelmach's government followed a policy of placing one third of unanticipated surpluses into savings and two thirds into construction projects. Critics, including Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman
and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
, charged that the government was not saving enough money in anticipation of a fall in energy prices.
In her April 2008 budget, Stelmach's Finance Minister Iris Evans
forecast a $1.6 billion surplus for 2008–2009. By August, she had revised this prediction to $8.5 billion. The major reason for this change is an increase in oil prices: while she had estimated in April that they would average $78 per barrel over the fiscal year, by August increases—including a high of $147 per barrel in July—have led her to make a new estimate of a $119.25 per barrel average. By November, prices had fallen to $55 per barrel, and Evans estimated a $2 billion surplus. By February 2009, the government of Alberta appeared poised to run a $1 billion deficit. In April 2009, Evans released her budget for 2009–2010, in which she anticipated a $4.6 billion deficit. This is the largest deficit in Alberta's history, and its first in sixteen years. The government's fiscal plan includes deficits until 2012–2013, when it again anticipates a surplus.
Stelmach's approach to this deteriorating fiscal situation, part of a global recession, has been to invest heavily in infrastructure in an effort to stimulate the economy and take advantage of low construction costs. He has gone so far as to advocate borrowing for capital construction, a departure from the Klein government's notoriously anti-debt approach. However, his government was also one of only two in Canada (the other being Saskatchewan
's) to cut overall spending in the 2009–2010 budget. This approach drew the ire of Liberal leader David Swann
, who supported increased government spending for economic stimulus purposes, but drew support from some economists and was defended by Evans on the basis that capital spending was at twice the per capital level of the Canadian average.
concluded a deal with the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) in which the province agreed to contribute $2.1 billion towards the $6.6 billion unfunded pension liability. This liability resulted from insufficient contributions to the teachers' pension plan during the period leading up to 1992. In exchange, the ATA agreed to a five-year contract extension. The deal was applauded by the opposition Liberals
and New Democrats
, but was criticized by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
, which called for a plebiscite on the issue.
paid to ministers who resign or are defeated in elections—under the program implemented by Ralph Klein's government to replace the previously existing pension
program, departing MLAs receive three months' pay for every year they served, with the level of the pay based on their three highest-earning years. The increases were attacked by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
and the opposition parties, but Stelmach defended the raises as the first received by cabinet ministers in fifteen years and as being necessary to attract qualified people to politics.
In early 2009, in response to the Late-2000s recession, Stelmach announced that his caucus would decline an automatic 4.9% cost of living pay increase. The following week, the legislature's all-party Standing Committee on Member Services extended this to all MLAs by voting unanimously to freeze MLA salaries for the fiscal year.
and New Democratic parties had long called for their removal. This elimination was announced in a throne speech immediately before the dissolution of the legislature
for the 2008 election, although it was initially promised to take effect by 2012. During this campaign, Stelmach promised to increase the capacity of Alberta universities to train doctors and nurses over four years, eventually resulting in the graduation of 225 more doctors, 350 more registered nurse
s, and 220 licensed practical nurse
s. After the registrar of the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons
called the plan unfeasible, Health Minister Dave Hancock clarified that most of the increase would in fact come from the immigration of foreign doctors to Alberta, rather than from in-province training.
Following the election, Stelmach's new Minister of Health, Ron Liepert
, released the government's new health plan. In it, Liepert refused to characterize the problems in the health care system as being the result of doctor shortage
s, and instead promised structural reforms. He indicated that these may include consolidating health authorities
, closing rural hospitals, and de-listing some health services from coverage under the province's public health insurance
scheme. In May, the government took the first step in implementing these structural reforms by combining the province's nine health authorities into one health "superboard".
In June 2008, three senior health officials announced that they would be leaving the province's employment at the expiration of their contracts in August. Liepert blamed their departures on better offers from other employers, although New Democrat leader Brian Mason
speculated that the government's health restructuring may have been to blame. Detractors pointed out that the optics of allowing the employees to depart for more money elsewhere soon after the government had approved a substantial pay hike for cabinet ministers were not good.
As the province's fiscal situation worsened in late 2008, the government adapted its health policy. In December, Liepert announced a new seniors drug plan that made drugs free for seniors making less than $21,325 but required those making more to pay as much as $7,500 for their drugs. In response to protests from seniors, he amended the plan in April 2009 to reduce both the income level at which seniors would have to start paying and the amount which those seniors would have to pay. Liepert said that the plan, $10 million more expensive than the one he had announced in December, would see 60% of seniors pay less than they did under the status quo. The same month, Stelmach's government's budget revealed changes to which medical services it would cover: those de-listed included chiropractic
services, at an annual savings of $53 million, and sex change
operations, at an annual savings of $700,000. While the Canada Health Act
requires the federal government to financially penalize provinces that do not support all "medically necessary" procedures, Liepert maintained that the de-listed services were not "medically necessary" from the perspective of the Act, and said that he anticipated no trouble from the federal government.
During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, Stelmach initially announced that the government would make the vaccine available to all Albertans, though vaccine shortages resulted in a limited number of clinics, which experienced long lineups. In response, Liberal leader David Swann
accused the government of managing limited vaccine supplies poorly by not giving priority to the most vulnerable groups. Liepert defended the government's record by saying that high risk populations had been given priority, but that the government's policy was to turn nobody away; he blamed many of the problems on the federal government's delivery to the province of fewer doses of the vaccine than promised. Further controversy erupted when it was revealed that hockey players on the Calgary Flames
were vaccinated with vaccine received directly from Alberta Health, which prompted Stelmach to announce an investigation. Two Alberta Health employees were fired as a result of the investigation.
, the Supreme Court of Canada
had found that the legislation's failure to include sexual orientation among the grounds on which discrimination was prohibited violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
and had "read in" this protection. However, the text of the act continued not to mention sexual orientation. Gay rights activists and opposition politicians hoped that the government's proposed changes to the Act would change this. Conservatives and libertarians, including National Post
columnist Colby Cosh
, hoped that the changes would also include removal of a section of the act empowering the Alberta Human Rights Commission to investigate and prosecute complaints of publications "exposing a person or a class of persons to contempt", believing that the powers granted to the commission amounted to censorship
. This section had been used to unsuccessfully prosecute Ezra Levant
for publishing the cartoons at the centre of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
in his Western Standard
magazine, and to successfully prosecute the Red Deer Advocate
for publishing a letter to the editor entitled "Homosexual agenda wicked".
The changes that were eventually tabled included the enshrining of sexual orientation as protected grounds, but not the removal of the section dealing with "exposing to contempt". This omission was criticized—Levant said that it made him "deeply embarrassed as a conservative"—but Stelmach said that his caucus was comfortable that another provision, requiring that the impugned section should not "be deemed to interfere with the free expression of opinion on any subject", protected Albertans against its abusive use. The proposal also included a section entitling parents to advance notice from schools if their children were going to be taught "subject-matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation" and the right to remove their children from such classes. Stelmach called this a "very, very fundamental right" and suggested that it would allow parents to opt out of having their children learn about evolution
, though his Education Minister Dave Hancock argued that the new wording didn't extend beyond current practice. Alberta Teachers' Association
President Frank Bruseker
expressed concern that this would make the teaching of science and geography in public schools very difficult, and suggested that parents who did not wish to have their children exposed to evolution should home school them or send them to private schools. New Democratic Party leader Brian Mason
suggested that the changes would make Alberta "sound like Arkansas
".
Klein's government had received criticism for reducing the importance of the legislature by sitting it fewer days than any other province's legislature and for directing business through standing policy committees of the Progressive Conservative caucus. These committees met in private, unlike the legislature's all-party committees, which fell almost entirely out of use during the Klein years. In April 2007, Stelmach initiated the creation of four new legislative "policy field committees" which would include opposition representation. The same month, his government introduced new legislation on conflicts of interest
, such that former cabinet ministers would have to wait one year before doing business with the government or lobbying it on behalf of third parties (up from six months). It also created a similar cooling-off period for senior bureaucrats, which lasted six months. However, an Order in Council passed by Stelmach's cabinet shortly before the 2008 election delayed the implementation of these rules until one month after the election, meaning that cabinet ministers who retired or lost their bids for re-election would be exempt from the new rules.
have been critical of Stelmach, suggesting that, as a farmer from the central part of the province, he is biased against Calgary and urban Alberta in general. They pointed to the fact that the city, which was considered the heartland of Jim Dinning
's support during the leadership race, had only three members (Ron Liepert
, Ron Stevens
, and Greg Melchin
) in his first eighteen-member cabinet (Stelmach supporters pointed out that Edmonton
had only one minister, Dave Hancock). Stelmach also found himself in a feud with Calgary mayor Dave Bronconnier
during his first year as premier as Bronconnier accused Stelmach of failing to keep a promise to the city regarding infrastructure spending during his first budget. Several Stelmach supporters suggested that the mayor, a Liberal
, might be angling to take over as leader of the official opposition if Kevin Taft
fumbled. During the by-election to fill Ralph Klein's Calgary Elbow
seat, P.C. candidate Brian Heninger went so far as to tell a voter he'd like to choke his party's leader (Stelmach told media that this was the sort of enthusiasm he wanted from his MLAs). Heninger was defeated by Liberal
Craig Cheffins
and, in the 2008 election, Calgary was the only area of the province in which Stelmach lost seats on his way to an increased majority.
After Deputy Premier Ron Stevens
resigned his Calgary-Glenmore
seat to accept a judgeship, a 2009 by-election elected outgoing Wildrose Alliance Party (WRA) leader Paul Hinman
to replace him. Hinman had been the WRA's only MLA until he lost his Cardston-Taber-Warner
to Progressive Conservative Broyce Jacobs
in the 2008 election. Shortly after Hinman's election, polls showed that the Wildrose Alliance, under new leader Danielle Smith
, was the second most popular party province-wide, and led the Conservatives 34 percent to 30 percent in Calgary.
, the last Social Credit
premier of the province. Strom was regarded as honest but ineffective and lacking charisma; he survived only long enough as Premier to lose the 1971 election
soundly. Thus ended the last long one-party rule, and observers asked if history would repeat with Stelmach. After Stelmach's landslide win in the 2008 election, however, the comparisons largely ceased.
In late 2009, the Conservatives' plunging popularity at the polls and the surge in support for the right-wing Wildrose Alliance led to speculation that Stelmach would receive lukewarm support at his mandatory leadership review, to be held at the November 2009 Progressive Conservative convention. Klein's resignation came in the wake of his receiving only 55% support at such a review, and Klein suggested that Stelmach should resign if he received less than 70%. The question was whether party leaders would blame Stelmach for the party's decline and look for new leadership in the face of Stelmach's own weakening poll numbers. Instead, Stelmach met the criterion set up by his critics and won 77.4% support, a strong endorsement.
was declared the new leader of the party, and Stelmach resigned as premier on October 7.
1 Numbers from the 2004 election refer to the Alberta Alliance Party
which, along with the Wildrose Party of Alberta
(which did not contest the 2004 election), merged in 2007 to form the Wildrose Alliance Party.
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is one of two components of the Legislature of Alberta, the other being the Queen, represented by the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta. The Alberta legislature meets in the Alberta Legislature Building in the provincial capital, Edmonton...
(icon; born May 11, 1951) is a Canadian politician
Politics of Canada
The politics of Canada function within a framework of parliamentary democracy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is head of state...
and served as the 13th Premier of Alberta, Canada, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and speaks fluent Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
. He spent his entire pre-political adult life as a farmer, except for some time spent studying at the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
. His first foray into politics was a 1986 municipal election, when he was elected to the county council of Lamont County
Lamont County, Alberta
Lamont County is a municipal district in central Alberta, Canada, located in Census Division Number 10, northeast of Edmonton. The county contains 27 Townships. Its seat of government is Lamont.-History:...
. A year into his term, he was appointed reeve. He continued in this position until his entry into provincial politics.
In the 1993 provincial election
Alberta general election, 1993
The Alberta general election of 1993 was the twenty-third general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on June 15, 1993 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta...
, Stelmach was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Vegreville-Viking
Vegreville-Viking
Vegreville—Viking was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada from 1993 until 2004.-MLAs:The riding was represented by Ed Stelmach of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta for its entire existence.-Election results:...
(later Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville
Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville
Fort Saskatchewan—Vegreville is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting....
). A Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta...
, he served in the cabinets of Ralph Klein—at various times holding the portfolios of Intergovernmental Relations, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Agriculture, Food, and Rural Development—where he developed a reputation as a low-key politician who avoided the limelight. When Klein resigned the party's leadership in 2006, Stelmach was among the first to present his candidature to replace him. After a third place finish on the first ballot of the leadership race, he won an upset second ballot victory over former provincial treasurer Jim Dinning
Jim Dinning
Jim Dinning is a Canadian Progressive Conservative politician and businessman. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta , and now serves on the board of directors of a variety of Canadian companies. Dinning ran for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives to replace...
.
Stelmach's premiership was heavily focused on management of the province's oil reserves, especially those of the Athabasca Oil Sands
Athabasca Oil Sands
The Athabasca oil sands are large deposits of bitumen, or extremely heavy crude oil, located in northeastern Alberta, Canada - roughly centred on the boomtown of Fort McMurray...
. He has rejected calls from environmentalists to slow the pace of development in the Fort McMurray area, and has similarly opposed calls for carbon tax
Carbon tax
A carbon tax is an environmental tax levied on the carbon content of fuels. It is a form of carbon pricing. Carbon is present in every hydrocarbon fuel and is released as carbon dioxide when they are burnt. In contrast, non-combustion energy sources—wind, sunlight, hydropower, and nuclear—do not...
es or other measures designed to discourage oil consumption. Other policy initiatives have included commencing an overhaul of the province's health governance system, amendments to the Alberta human rights code, a re-introduction of all-party committees to the Legislature, and the conclusion of a major labour agreement with Alberta's teachers. His government has also attracted controversy for awarding itself a 30% pay increase shortly after its re-election, and has enjoyed strained relations with Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, one of Klein's former strongholds. Despite this, Stelmach increased the Progressive Conservatives' already substantial majority in the 2008 election. With the advent of the late-2000s recession, Stelmach has had to cope with a deteriorating economic situation and the Alberta government's first budget deficit in 16 years.
Stelmach was succeeded as Premier by Alison Redford
Alison Redford
Alison Merrilla Redford Q.C., MLA, is a Canadian politician, and the 14th and current Premier of Alberta, Canada. Upon winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, in October 2011, she became the first female premier in Alberta...
on October 7, 2011.
Background
Edward Michael Stelmach was born on a farm near Lamont, Alberta, the grandson of immigrants from Zavyche, UkraineUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. His grandparents settled near Andrew, Alberta
Andrew, Alberta
-External links:**...
in 1898, after bypassing Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
because they did not care for the terrain. His parents, Nancy and Michael Stelmach, had five children, of whom Edward was the youngest, ten years younger than his closest sibling. He was raised a Ukrainian Catholic, and continues to attend church regularly, sing in the church choir, and act as volunteer caretaker for the cemetery. Through high school, he worked as a well-digger and a Fuller Brush
Fuller Brush Company
The Fuller Brush Company sells branded and private label products for personal care as well as commercial and household cleaning; it is a subsidiary of CPAC Inc., which since 2007 has been owned by the private equity group Buckingham Capital Partners. Fuller Brush was founded in 1906, by Alfred...
salesman, where he said his grasp of Ukrainian helped him make sales. After graduating high school—his grade 12 yearbook called him a future Prime Minister of Canada—he attended the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
, intending to become a lawyer. He continued there, working as an assistant manager at Woodward's
Woodward's
Woodward's was the name of a department store chain which operated in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada for one hundred years, before its sale to the Hudson's Bay Company .-History:...
, until 1973, when his oldest brother, Victor, died. While his family had intended for Victor to take over the farm that his grandparents had settled 75 years before, Stelmach dropped out of university, returned home, and bought the land from his parents. He continues to farm the land today.
As a teenager, he met Marie Warshawski at the wedding of a mutual friend. They married in 1973, and have three sons and a daughter.
Stelmach entered politics in 1986 with his election to the council of Lamont County; one year later, he was appointed county reeve, a position he held until his entry into provincial politics in 1993.
MLA and minister
Stelmach ran for the Legislative Assembly of AlbertaLegislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is one of two components of the Legislature of Alberta, the other being the Queen, represented by the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta. The Alberta legislature meets in the Alberta Legislature Building in the provincial capital, Edmonton...
as a Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta...
in the 1993 provincial election
Alberta general election, 1993
The Alberta general election of 1993 was the twenty-third general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on June 15, 1993 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta...
, defeating incumbent New Democrat
Alberta New Democratic Party
The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...
Derek Fox
Derek Fox
Derek Fox is an insurance agent and former provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1986 to 1993.-Political career:...
in the riding
Electoral district (Canada)
An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...
of Vegreville-Viking
Vegreville-Viking
Vegreville—Viking was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada from 1993 until 2004.-MLAs:The riding was represented by Ed Stelmach of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta for its entire existence.-Election results:...
. Stelmach became a member of the Deep Six
Deep Six (Alberta politics)
The Deep Six were a group of six Progressive Conservative Members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta first elected in the 1993 provincial election. Sitting as backbenchers, they supported the government of Ralph Klein in its spending cuts to reduce the provincial deficit, and advocated still...
, a group of enthusiastically fiscally conservative rookie MLAs; in addition to supporting Premier Ralph Klein's aggressive deficit-cutting, Stelmach practiced fiscal restraint himself, incurring low office expenses and declining a government vehicle. During his first term, Stelmach served as Deputy Whip and, later, Chief Government Whip for the P.C. caucus. As a backbencher
Backbencher
In Westminster parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislator who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition...
, he sponsored the Lloydminster Hospital Act Repeal Act. This was a government bill that dissolved the then-existing Lloydminster
Lloydminster
Lloydminster is a Canadian city which has the unusual geographic distinction of straddling the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan...
hospital board in preparation for an arrangement compliant with both the Alberta government's new system of regional health authorities and the Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
government's system. Lloydminster sits on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and the hospital, although built and operated by the Alberta government, sits on the Saskatchewan side. It passed the legislature with little debate. In 1996, shortly before an April by-election in Redwater
Redwater (provincial electoral district)
Redwater was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada from 1940 until 1971 and again from 1993 until 2004.-MLAs:The district elected the following members to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta:-1957 liquor plebiscite:...
, Stelmach was accused of "pork barrel
Pork barrel
Pork barrel is a derogatory term referring to appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district...
politics" for presenting, along with colleague Peter Trynchy
Peter Trynchy
Peter Trynchy is a former businessman, farmer and long serving municipal and provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1971 until 2001...
and P.C. candidate Ross Quinn, a large cheque to a local seniors centre. Stelmach said that he had only stepped in to help the riding after its MLA, Nicholas Taylor
Nicholas Taylor
Nicholas "Nick" William Taylor is a retired geologist, businessman and politician and former Canadian Senator from Alberta, Canada....
, had been appointed to the Senate.
After the 1997 provincial election
Alberta general election, 1997
The Alberta general election of 1997 was the twenty-fourth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on March 11, 1997 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
, Klein appointed Stelmach Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Rural development. While he held this office, his department encouraged the establishment of feedlot
Feedlot
A feedlot or feedyard is a type of animal feeding operation which is used in factory farming for finishing livestock, notably beef cattle, but also swine, horses, sheep, turkeys, chickens or ducks, prior to slaughter. Large beef feedlots are called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations . They...
s. The opposition parties charged that the government was not regulating these sufficiently, but Stelmach responded that municipalities had the authority necessary to effectively regulate them. On the Canadian Wheat Board
Canadian Wheat Board
The Canadian Wheat Board was established by the Parliament of Canada on 5 July 1935 as a mandatory producer marketing system for wheat and barley in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and a small part of British Columbia...
controversy, Stelmach sided with farmers who wanted an end to the federal body's monopoly on grain sales in the western provinces. Legislatively, Stelmach sponsored five bills while in the Agriculture, Food, and Rural Development portfolio, all of which passed through the legislature. 1997's Meat Inspection Amendment Act required meat inspectors to acquire a search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
before entering a private dwelling, but also allowed for fines to be voluntarily paid without requiring a court case. It was called by Liberal
Alberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...
agriculture critic Ken Nicol
Ken Nicol (politician)
Ken Nicol is a Canadian politician and academic.He served as the MLA for Lethbridge East from 1993 to 2004. During his final three years, he was the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party, and leader of the official opposition in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta...
"a really good bill". The Livestock and Livestock Products Amendment Act of the same year eliminated government guarantee of the Livestock Patrons' Assurance Fund, designed to protect cattle producers from payment defaults by livestock dealers, in favour of leaving the Fund entirely in the hands of the industry. It too was supported by the Liberals, with Nicol calling it "very easy for us to accept". In 1998, Stelmach sponsored the Agriculture Statutes (Penalties) Amendment Act, which overhauled the penalty system for violation of various agricultural statutes, setting maximum fines and leaving the precise amount up to judges on a case by case basis. It also passed with Liberal support, as MLA Ed Gibbons
Ed Gibbons
Ed Gibbons is a Canadian politician. He is a current municipal councilor in Edmonton, Alberta and a former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
said that it "really makes a lot of sense". Another 1998 bill was the Marketing of Agricultural Products Amendment Act, which allowed provincial agricultural marketing boards to revise their marketing plans, and was supported by the opposition. Finally, Stelmach initiated the Agriculture Statutes (Livestock Identification) Amendment Act, which allowed the government to delegate the inspection of branding
Livestock branding
Livestock branding is a technique for marking livestock so as to identify the owner. Originally, livestock branding only referred to a hot brand for large stock, though the term is now also used to refer to other alternative techniques such as freeze branding...
to the cattle industry. The bill was the subject of considerable debate on second reading
Reading (legislature)
A reading of a bill is a debate on the bill held before the general body of a legislature, as opposed to before a committee or other group. In the Westminster system, there are usually several readings of a bill among the stages it passes through before becoming law as an Act of Parliament...
, but was ultimately supported by the Liberals on the third and final reading.
In 1999, Klein shifted Stelmach to the new Infrastructure portfolio, where he made traffic safety a priority, increasing fines for traffic offenses, sometimes by as much as 700%. He also briefly aroused controversy by proposing reversing the slow and fast lanes on provincial highways, on the grounds that this would equalize the rate at which the lanes broke down and therefore save on maintenance costs; nothing came of the proposal. He established a fund for capital projects, but has been criticized for not doing enough to address the deterioration of the province's infrastructure. In 2001, Klein separated Transportation out of the Infrastructure portfolio and appointed Stelmach to it, where the new minister advocated the use of public-private partnership
Public-private partnership
Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...
s to build ring road
Ring road
A ring road, orbital motorway, beltway, circumferential highway, or loop highway is a road that encircles a town or city...
s around Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
and Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
. He also introduced a program of graduated driver licensing
Graduated driver licensing
Graduated driver licensing systems are designed to provide new drivers of motor vehicles with driving experience and skills gradually over time in low-risk environments. There are typically three steps or stages through which new drivers pass...
and initiated a review of traffic safety programs. Stelmach was re-elected by his largest majority yet during the 2001 election
Alberta general election, 2001
The Alberta general election of 2001 was the twenty-fifth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on March 12, 2001 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
, and retained the Transportation portfolio until 2004, when he was re-assigned to the position of Minister of Intergovernmental Relations. He resigned this position in 2006 in order to contest the P.C. leadership election (Klein had required that ministers intending to campaign to succeed him resign from cabinet).
As minister, Stelmach kept a low profile. Mark Lisac, who was the Edmonton Journal
Edmonton Journal
The Edmonton Journal is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network.-History:The Journal was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as a rival to Alberta's first newspaper, the 23-year-old...
's provincial affairs columnist during much of Stelmach's time in cabinet, later recalled that Stelmach "never did anything that was flashy or controversial in any way" and that "not a thing" stood out about Stelmach's ministerial service. This low-key style earned Stelmach the moniker "Steady Eddie", which would follow him to the Premier's office.
2006 leadership election
Stelmach was the first candidate to declare his intention to run for the P.C. leadership, and picked up endorsements from nineteen members of his caucus (including cabinet ministers Pearl CalahasenPearl Calahasen
Pearl Calahasen is a Canadian politician, who currently represents the electoral district of Lesser Slave Lake in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta...
and Iris Evans
Iris Evans
Iris Evans is a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and is Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations for the Canadian province. From November 25, 2004 to December 15, 2006 she served as Alberta's Minister of Health and Wellness in Premier Ralph Klein's cabinet...
). However, former provincial Treasurer Jim Dinning
Jim Dinning
Jim Dinning is a Canadian Progressive Conservative politician and businessman. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta , and now serves on the board of directors of a variety of Canadian companies. Dinning ran for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives to replace...
had twice as many caucus endorsements (despite not having held elected office since 1997) and was generally considered the race's front-runner. Stelmach ran a low-profile campaign, touring the province in a custom-painted campaign bus
Campaign bus
A campaign bus is a bus used as both a vehicle and a center of operations in a political campaign. The modern use of campaign buses is often calculated to bring to mind whistlestop train tour tours that political candidates had historically used to reach large numbers of voters while campaigning...
, while most media attention was focussed on the rivalry between Dinning and the socially conservative Ted Morton
Ted Morton
Frederick Lee Morton , known commonly as Ted Morton, is a Canadian politician and Minister of Energy for the Province of Alberta. As a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta he represents the constituency of Foothills-Rocky View as a Progressive Conservative...
.
According to the race's rules, the three candidates receiving the most votes on the first ballot would move on to a second ballot, which would use a preferential voting system to select a winner. Stelmach finished third on the first ballot with 15.3% of the vote, 3,329 votes ahead of fourth place Lyle Oberg
Lyle Oberg
Lyle Oberg is an Albertan politician and former member of the Legislative Assembly.Oberg was born near Forestburg, Alberta in 1960. A physician by profession, Oberg was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta as an Progressive Conservative in 1993. He was first appointed to the...
and 10,647 votes behind second place Morton. However, the fourth, fifth, and sixth place candidates (Oberg, Dave Hancock, and Mark Norris) all endorsed Stelmach for the second ballot. On this ballot, he finished in first place on the first count, fewer than five hundred votes ahead of Dinning. A majority of Morton's votes went to Stelmach on the second count, and he was elected leader.
Financing
Stelmach raised more than $1.1 million for his leadership campaign. After his victory, he revealed the names of the donors of 85% of this money, but declined to release the names of eighty supporters, citing their requests for privacy. These supporters had donated a total of more than $160,000. Party rules did not require any disclosure, and the disclosures by candidates varied—Norris named all of his donors, while Morton did not reveal any. Stelmach's partial disclosure was deemed insufficient by opposition leaders and Democracy WatchDemocracy Watch (Canada)
Democracy Watch, established in 1993, is a Canadian organization that advocates on democratic reform, government accountability and corporate responsibility issues...
, whose head suggested that Albertans should assume that Stelmach's anonymous donors placed him in a conflict of interest
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
until he proved otherwise. Stelmach also acknowledged receiving a $10,000 donation from the Beaver Regional Waste Management Service's Commission, a landfill operator owned by five municipalities in Stelmach's riding. While asserting that the donation was legal, Stelmach admitted that it was "clearly unethical", blamed overzealous campaign volunteers for soliciting it, and returned it after the end of the campaign.
In the wake of the leadership campaign, Stelmach, along with Oberg, Hancock, and Norris, organized two $5,000 per plate dinners in January 2007 to pay campaign debts. After critics argued that the dinners were essentially selling access to the premier and two senior ministers, Stelmach cancelled them.
2008 election
Stelmach was sworn in as Premier December 14, 2006. On February 4, 2008, immediately after Lieutenant GovernorLieutenant Governor of Alberta
The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta is the viceregal representative in Alberta of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the nine other jurisdictions of Canada and resides predominantly in her oldest realm, the United...
Norman Kwong
Norman Kwong
Norman Lim "Normie" Kwong, CM, AOE is a former professional athlete, sports executive, and was the 16th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta...
read the throne speech to open the legislative session, Stelmach requested a dissolution of the legislature with an election to follow March 3. Shortly before the writ was dropped, a group calling itself Albertans for Change began to buy print and television ads that attacked Stelmach for lacking a plan and portrayed him as unfit to lead the province. The group was funded by the Alberta Building Trades Council and the Alberta Federation of Labour
Alberta Federation of Labour
The Alberta Federation of Labour is the Alberta provincial trade union federation of the Canadian Labour Congress. It was founded in 1912 and has a membership of approximately 125,000 from 31 unions.-External links:*...
, which led to a series of ads purchased by the National Citizens Coalition
National Citizens Coalition
The National Citizens Coalition is a Canadian conservative lobby group that campaigns against public services, trade unions, and in favour of smaller government and lower taxes. Incorporated in Ontario in 1975, the NCC was founded by insurance agent Colin M. Brown, who began an advertising...
and Merit Contractors, in which it was accused of "putting your
Alberta general election, 2004
The Alberta general election of 2004 was the twenty-sixth general election for the province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
and only two seats short of Ralph Klein's 2001 landslide
Alberta general election, 2001
The Alberta general election of 2001 was the twenty-fifth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on March 12, 2001 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
. Political analysts attributed the party's win to its ability to present Stelmach as "a cautious, straightforward and hard-working man with a plan for Alberta's future".
The voter turnout in the election was 41%, the lowest in Alberta's history, and roughly a quarter of these had to swear an oath on election day after discovering they weren't on the voter's list. Opposition politicians and media blamed Stelmach's government for these problems, arguing that riding-level returning officers, who were nominated by Progressive Conservative constituency associations and who were responsible for voter enumeration, were not appointed early enough. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, "about half" of the 83 returning officers in the 2008 election had ties to the P.C. Party; the returning officer in Stelmach's Fort Saskatchewan–Vegreville riding had donated between $500 and $1,000 to Stelmach's leadership campaign.
Alberta Chief Returning Officer Lorne Gibson, as one of his 182 post-election recommendations to the government, suggested that the appointment of returning officers be handled by his own, non-partisan, office. He had previously made this suggestion in 2006, but the government had not acted on it. He also recommended following the election that his office, rather than the government's Justice department, be responsible for prosecuting election-related offenses; the latter did not lay charges in any of 19 alleged campaign finance violations Gibson brought to its attention. In February 2009, Gibson appeared before the legislature's all-party committee on legislative offices to answer questions about the conduct of the election; there, he echoed opposition claims that the government, and not his office, was to blame for most problems. Shortly after, the committee voted 8–3 against re-appointing him, with all Progressive Conservatives on the committee opposing his re-appointment and all opposition MLAs supporting it. Opposition leaders David Swann
David Swann
David Swann, MLA is a medical doctor and Alberta Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary Mountain View. He was until recently the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition in the Alberta Legislature....
and Brian Mason
Brian Mason
Brian Mason is a Canadian politician and leader of the Alberta New Democrats . Mason was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood in a 2001 byelection, and his career in politics spans more than 20 years.Mason first became politically active...
suggested that Gibson was being punished for criticizing the government.
Energy and environmental policy
Much of Stelmach's term as Premier has been dominated by questions related to the Athabasca Oil SandsAthabasca Oil Sands
The Athabasca oil sands are large deposits of bitumen, or extremely heavy crude oil, located in northeastern Alberta, Canada - roughly centred on the boomtown of Fort McMurray...
. The rapid development of these reserves was fuelling the Alberta economy's strong growth, but also raised environmental questions. After winning the Premiership, Stelmach emphasized that he had no intention of taking measures that would slow down oilsands development and suggested that the economy would find its own appropriate growth rate. He aggressively defended Alberta's oil at home and abroad, and called the idea that it was extracted at an unacceptably high environmental cost "a myth". When Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
leader Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
proposed a federal carbon tax
Carbon tax
A carbon tax is an environmental tax levied on the carbon content of fuels. It is a form of carbon pricing. Carbon is present in every hydrocarbon fuel and is released as carbon dioxide when they are burnt. In contrast, non-combustion energy sources—wind, sunlight, hydropower, and nuclear—do not...
to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, Stelmach rejected the policy on the basis that it would hurt the economy and would unfairly penalize the western provinces. Instead, he has championed the development of carbon capture technology. In July 2008, Stelmach announced $2 billion worth of funding for carbon capture initiatives, for which he was applauded by industry groups. However, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business
Canadian Federation of Independent Business
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is an alliance of independent small and medium-sized businesses in Canada, formed in 1971. Its current president is Catherine Swift.-External links:*...
called it "a huge amount of money to spend on something that isn't proven", and Mike Hudema
Mike Hudema
Micheal George Henry ' Hudema is a Canadian activist who has worked for advocacy organizations including Greenpeace, the Rainforest Action Network, Global Exchange, the University of Alberta Students' Union, and the Ruckus Society...
of Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
suggesting that there were better environmental uses of the money available.
Alberta Royalty Review
The Alberta Royalty Review was an independent panel established by the government of Alberta to review the level of resource royalties collected by the provincial government from petroleum and natural gas companies...
panel to make recommendations on the province's royalty regime; opposition politicians had accused the government of undercharging substantially. Stelmach rejected many of the panel's recommendations, but did increase royalty rates by approximately 20% (25% less than recommended by the panel). Just after the 2008 election, Stelmach's government announced a five year royalty break worth $237 million per year to encourage development that it feared would have become uneconomical under the new plan. He was less decisive in increasing in-province bitumen upgrading; in 2008 he conceded that Alberta would continue upgrading between sixty and sixty-five percent of the bitumen it produced for the foreseeable future, rather than the seventy-two percent target he had previously announced for 2016. This admission came in the wake of his government's approval of three new pipeline
Pipeline transport
Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquids and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air are also used....
s designed to export bitumen.
In January 2008, Stelmach unveiled the province's "made in Alberta"—as distinct from imposed by the federal government or by international treaty—plan to cut carbon emissions in order to fight global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
. The plan called for reducing greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...
emissions by 14% (from 2007 levels) by 2050. Environmental groups and opposition parties suggested that this was insufficient in light of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
's plan to cut emissions by 80% (from 2007 levels) during the same period, but Stelmach argued that Alberta's position as a supplier of oil to the rest of the country justified higher emissions. This was followed in June by the unveiling of the government's campaign to ask Albertans to make "one simple act"—such as composting, using reusable shopping bags, and replacing incandescent light bulb
Incandescent light bulb
The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe makes light by heating a metal filament wire to a high temperature until it glows. The hot filament is protected from air by a glass bulb that is filled with inert gas or evacuated. In a halogen lamp, a chemical process...
s with the more efficient fluorescent bulbs
Compact fluorescent lamp
A compact fluorescent lamp , also called compact fluorescent light, energy-saving light, and compact fluorescent tube, is a fluorescent lamp designed to replace an incandescent lamp; some types fit into light fixtures formerly used for incandescent lamps...
. Opponents argued that the emphasis on personal responsibility by individuals did nothing to address the greater environmental damage caused by the development of the Athabasca Oil Sands
Athabasca Oil Sands
The Athabasca oil sands are large deposits of bitumen, or extremely heavy crude oil, located in northeastern Alberta, Canada - roughly centred on the boomtown of Fort McMurray...
.
In late April 2008 hundreds of ducks landed in a northern Alberta tailings pond belonging to Syncrude
Syncrude
Syncrude Canada Ltd. is the world's largest producer of synthetic crude oil from oil sands and the largest single source producer in Canada. It is located just outside Fort McMurray in the Athabasca Oil Sands, and has a nameplate capacity of of oil, equivalent to about 13% of Canada's consumption...
, where most died. The incident was a blow to Stelmach's efforts to convince the world that Alberta's oil sands were environmentally friendly. The number of ducks that died was originally reported at around 500, but in March 2009 Syncrude revealed that the number was in fact more than 1,600. In response to accusations from opposition and environmental groups that his government, which had known the actual number since the summer of 2008, had participated in covering it up to save face, Stelmach asserted that it had refrained from making the higher number public for fear of jeopardizing its investigation of whether Syncrude had violated any provincial regulations in the incident. Investigations were centred around the questions of whether Syncrude had immediately reported the incident as required (the government had first heard of it from an anonymous tip, though Syncrude reported it several hours later) and whether the company had the required measures in place to prevent ducks from landing on its tailings ponds (it had noisemakers designed to deter waterfowl, but these had not been set up at the time of the incident due to winter weather conditions). Syncrude was eventually charged with "failing to have systems in place to divert waterfowl", which carries a maximum fine of $800,000.
Partially in an effort to counter-act negative publicity from oil sands-related issues—for example, the March 2009 edition of National Geographic Magazine
National Geographic Magazine
National Geographic, formerly the National Geographic Magazine, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded...
contained a 20 page article portraying Alberta's oil sands operations as being highly environmentally damaging—in 2009 Stelmach's government spent $25 million on a rebranding
Rebranding
Rebranding is the creation of a new name, term, symbol, design, or a combination of them for an established brand with the intention of developing a differentiated position in the mind of stakeholders and competitors....
campaign for the province. Among other things, it replaced the "Alberta Advantage" slogan that had long been in use with "Alberta: Freedom to create. Spirit to achieve." The campaign became the subject of some ridicule when the Edmonton Journal
Edmonton Journal
The Edmonton Journal is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network.-History:The Journal was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as a rival to Alberta's first newspaper, the 23-year-old...
revealed that one of the photos used in it was not taken in Alberta, but at a North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
beach in Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
. While the government initially claimed that it had intentionally used a foreign image to represent Alberta's engagement with the world, it later admitted that this was not the case, and that the photo had been used in error. Stelmach responded to the image, which showed two children running along a beach, by saying that "children, no matter where they are around the world, they are the next generation. And air quality, water quality, no matter where we live on this big globe, we're all responsible, and that's the message we're trying to portray."
Energy and Utilities Board affair and land use policy
In June 2007, the government-mandated Alberta Energy and Utilities Board admitted that it had hired private investigators to spy on landowners who opposed the construction of a major power line in the Rimbey area. Stelmach initially downplayed the incident, but ordered a judicial investigation once the province's Information and Privacy Commissioner initiated an investigation of his own. This investigation found that the EUB had violated provincial law and infringed on the landowners' privacy, while the judicial investigation criticized the EUB's tactics as "repulsive". The opposition parties called for the dismissal of the entire EUB and Energy Minister Mel KnightMel Knight
Mel Knight is the Minister of Energy of Alberta and a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.-Early life:...
; Stelmach instead opted to appoint a new EUB chair.
Stelmach clashed with rural landowners again in 2009 when his government introduced the Land Assembly Project Area Act, designed to make it easier for the government to acquire large blocks of land for public purposes such as ring road
Ring road
A ring road, orbital motorway, beltway, circumferential highway, or loop highway is a road that encircles a town or city...
s or reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
s. The Act allowed the government to identify land that it may be interested in expropriating
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
at some point in the future and to indefinitely prohibit any development on that land that could conflict with the government's purposes. Despite vigorous opposition from landowners and the opposition parties, the bill passed the legislature in late April.
Fiscal policy
Ralph Klein's major focus for much of his premiership had been the elimination of the provincial deficit, and the government ran a record $8.9 billion surplus during Stelmach's first year in office. Alberta was in the midst of a major economic expansionEconomic expansion
An economic expansion is an increase in the level of economic activity, and of the goods and services available in the market place. It is a period of economic growth as measured by a rise in real GDP.The explanation of such fluctuations in aggregate economic activity is one of the primary...
driven by high energy prices and major oilsands development. This growth continued into 2007–2008, when the government's surplus was $4.6 billion. Both of these surpluses were higher than expected, and Stelmach's government followed a policy of placing one third of unanticipated surpluses into savings and two thirds into construction projects. Critics, including Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman
Laurie Blakeman
Laurie Blakeman is a Canadian politician, who currently represents the electoral district of Edmonton Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta...
and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Canadian Taxpayers Federation
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is a Canadian federally incorporated, non-profit organization and taxpayers union that claims to have over 70,000 supporters across Canada. The organization advocates lower taxes, and a reduction of what it considers to be waste in government...
, charged that the government was not saving enough money in anticipation of a fall in energy prices.
In her April 2008 budget, Stelmach's Finance Minister Iris Evans
Iris Evans
Iris Evans is a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and is Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations for the Canadian province. From November 25, 2004 to December 15, 2006 she served as Alberta's Minister of Health and Wellness in Premier Ralph Klein's cabinet...
forecast a $1.6 billion surplus for 2008–2009. By August, she had revised this prediction to $8.5 billion. The major reason for this change is an increase in oil prices: while she had estimated in April that they would average $78 per barrel over the fiscal year, by August increases—including a high of $147 per barrel in July—have led her to make a new estimate of a $119.25 per barrel average. By November, prices had fallen to $55 per barrel, and Evans estimated a $2 billion surplus. By February 2009, the government of Alberta appeared poised to run a $1 billion deficit. In April 2009, Evans released her budget for 2009–2010, in which she anticipated a $4.6 billion deficit. This is the largest deficit in Alberta's history, and its first in sixteen years. The government's fiscal plan includes deficits until 2012–2013, when it again anticipates a surplus.
Stelmach's approach to this deteriorating fiscal situation, part of a global recession, has been to invest heavily in infrastructure in an effort to stimulate the economy and take advantage of low construction costs. He has gone so far as to advocate borrowing for capital construction, a departure from the Klein government's notoriously anti-debt approach. However, his government was also one of only two in Canada (the other being Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
's) to cut overall spending in the 2009–2010 budget. This approach drew the ire of Liberal leader David Swann
David Swann
David Swann, MLA is a medical doctor and Alberta Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary Mountain View. He was until recently the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition in the Alberta Legislature....
, who supported increased government spending for economic stimulus purposes, but drew support from some economists and was defended by Evans on the basis that capital spending was at twice the per capital level of the Canadian average.
Teachers pension liability
During his first year in office, Stelmach and his education minister Ron LiepertRon Liepert
Ronald Liepert is a Canadian politician and current Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Calgary-West as a Progressive Conservative.-Early life:...
concluded a deal with the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) in which the province agreed to contribute $2.1 billion towards the $6.6 billion unfunded pension liability. This liability resulted from insufficient contributions to the teachers' pension plan during the period leading up to 1992. In exchange, the ATA agreed to a five-year contract extension. The deal was applauded by the opposition Liberals
Alberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...
and New Democrats
Alberta New Democratic Party
The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...
, but was criticized by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Canadian Taxpayers Federation
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is a Canadian federally incorporated, non-profit organization and taxpayers union that claims to have over 70,000 supporters across Canada. The organization advocates lower taxes, and a reduction of what it considers to be waste in government...
, which called for a plebiscite on the issue.
Pay increases
Shortly after winning an increased majority in the 2008 election, Stelmach's cabinet approved substantial raises for themselves, increasing the salary paid to cabinet ministers from $142,000 to $184,000 and that paid to the Premier from $159,450 to $213,450. The increases also affect the severanceSeverance package
A severance package is pay and benefits an employee receives when they leave employment at a company. In addition to the employee's remaining regular pay, it may include some of the following:* An additional payment based on months of service...
paid to ministers who resign or are defeated in elections—under the program implemented by Ralph Klein's government to replace the previously existing pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
program, departing MLAs receive three months' pay for every year they served, with the level of the pay based on their three highest-earning years. The increases were attacked by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Canadian Taxpayers Federation
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is a Canadian federally incorporated, non-profit organization and taxpayers union that claims to have over 70,000 supporters across Canada. The organization advocates lower taxes, and a reduction of what it considers to be waste in government...
and the opposition parties, but Stelmach defended the raises as the first received by cabinet ministers in fifteen years and as being necessary to attract qualified people to politics.
In early 2009, in response to the Late-2000s recession, Stelmach announced that his caucus would decline an automatic 4.9% cost of living pay increase. The following week, the legislature's all-party Standing Committee on Member Services extended this to all MLAs by voting unanimously to freeze MLA salaries for the fiscal year.
Health policy
Stelmach's policy on health care has been highlighted by his removal of the province's health care premiums effective the end of 2008. Critics had denounced the premiums as being regressive, both because they were the same amount regardless of the payer's income and because people with better-paying jobs often had their premiums covered by their employer. The opposition LiberalAlberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...
and New Democratic parties had long called for their removal. This elimination was announced in a throne speech immediately before the dissolution of the legislature
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is one of two components of the Legislature of Alberta, the other being the Queen, represented by the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta. The Alberta legislature meets in the Alberta Legislature Building in the provincial capital, Edmonton...
for the 2008 election, although it was initially promised to take effect by 2012. During this campaign, Stelmach promised to increase the capacity of Alberta universities to train doctors and nurses over four years, eventually resulting in the graduation of 225 more doctors, 350 more registered nurse
Registered nurse
A registered nurse is a nurse who has graduated from a nursing program at a university or college and has passed a national licensing exam. A registered nurse helps individuals, families, and groups to achieve health and prevent disease...
s, and 220 licensed practical nurse
Licensed Practical Nurse
Licensed practical nurse is the term used in much of the United States and most Canadian provinces to refer to a nurse who cares for "people who are sick, injured, convalescent, or disabled under the direction of registered nurses and physicians. The term licensed vocational nurses is used in...
s. After the registrar of the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons
Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons
The Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons is responsible for the registration, regulation, and discipline of physicians in Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1906 by an Act of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.-External links:*...
called the plan unfeasible, Health Minister Dave Hancock clarified that most of the increase would in fact come from the immigration of foreign doctors to Alberta, rather than from in-province training.
Following the election, Stelmach's new Minister of Health, Ron Liepert
Ron Liepert
Ronald Liepert is a Canadian politician and current Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Calgary-West as a Progressive Conservative.-Early life:...
, released the government's new health plan. In it, Liepert refused to characterize the problems in the health care system as being the result of doctor shortage
Doctor shortage
Physician supply refers to the number of trained physicians working in a health care system or active in the labour market. The supply depends primarily on the number of graduates of medical schools in a country or jurisdiction, but also on the number who continue to practice medicine as a career...
s, and instead promised structural reforms. He indicated that these may include consolidating health authorities
Health regions of Canada
Health regions of Canada are used to administer public health to Canadians. Public health is primarily a provincial jurisdiction in Canada's federal system, so health regions are organized and given responsibilities by the provinces, causing differences among the health units across the country.-...
, closing rural hospitals, and de-listing some health services from coverage under the province's public health insurance
Universal health care
Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...
scheme. In May, the government took the first step in implementing these structural reforms by combining the province's nine health authorities into one health "superboard".
In June 2008, three senior health officials announced that they would be leaving the province's employment at the expiration of their contracts in August. Liepert blamed their departures on better offers from other employers, although New Democrat leader Brian Mason
Brian Mason
Brian Mason is a Canadian politician and leader of the Alberta New Democrats . Mason was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood in a 2001 byelection, and his career in politics spans more than 20 years.Mason first became politically active...
speculated that the government's health restructuring may have been to blame. Detractors pointed out that the optics of allowing the employees to depart for more money elsewhere soon after the government had approved a substantial pay hike for cabinet ministers were not good.
As the province's fiscal situation worsened in late 2008, the government adapted its health policy. In December, Liepert announced a new seniors drug plan that made drugs free for seniors making less than $21,325 but required those making more to pay as much as $7,500 for their drugs. In response to protests from seniors, he amended the plan in April 2009 to reduce both the income level at which seniors would have to start paying and the amount which those seniors would have to pay. Liepert said that the plan, $10 million more expensive than the one he had announced in December, would see 60% of seniors pay less than they did under the status quo. The same month, Stelmach's government's budget revealed changes to which medical services it would cover: those de-listed included chiropractic
Chiropractic
Chiropractic is a health care profession concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders of the neuromusculoskeletal system and the effects of these disorders on general health. It is generally categorized as complementary and alternative medicine...
services, at an annual savings of $53 million, and sex change
Sex change
Sex change is a term often used for gender reassignment therapy, that is, all medical procedures transgendered people can have, or specifically to sexual reassignment surgery, which usually refers to genitalia surgery only...
operations, at an annual savings of $700,000. While the Canada Health Act
Canada Health Act
The Canada Health Act is a piece of Canadian federal legislation, adopted in 1984, which specifies the conditions and criteria with which the provincial and territorial health insurance programs must conform in order to receive federal transfer payments under the Canada Health Transfer...
requires the federal government to financially penalize provinces that do not support all "medically necessary" procedures, Liepert maintained that the de-listed services were not "medically necessary" from the perspective of the Act, and said that he anticipated no trouble from the federal government.
During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, Stelmach initially announced that the government would make the vaccine available to all Albertans, though vaccine shortages resulted in a limited number of clinics, which experienced long lineups. In response, Liberal leader David Swann
David Swann
David Swann, MLA is a medical doctor and Alberta Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary Mountain View. He was until recently the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition in the Alberta Legislature....
accused the government of managing limited vaccine supplies poorly by not giving priority to the most vulnerable groups. Liepert defended the government's record by saying that high risk populations had been given priority, but that the government's policy was to turn nobody away; he blamed many of the problems on the federal government's delivery to the province of fewer doses of the vaccine than promised. Further controversy erupted when it was revealed that hockey players on the Calgary Flames
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is the third major-professional ice hockey team to represent the city of Calgary, following the...
were vaccinated with vaccine received directly from Alberta Health, which prompted Stelmach to announce an investigation. Two Alberta Health employees were fired as a result of the investigation.
Human Rights, Citizenship, and Multiculturalism Act
In spring 2009, Stelmach's government announced its intention to overhaul the Alberta Human Rights, Citizenship, and Multiculturalism Act. In 1998's Vriend v. AlbertaVriend v. Alberta
Vriend v. Alberta [1998] 1 S.C.R. 493 is an important Supreme Court of Canada case that determined that a legislative omission can be the subject of a Charter violation...
, the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
had found that the legislation's failure to include sexual orientation among the grounds on which discrimination was prohibited violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
and had "read in" this protection. However, the text of the act continued not to mention sexual orientation. Gay rights activists and opposition politicians hoped that the government's proposed changes to the Act would change this. Conservatives and libertarians, including National Post
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
columnist Colby Cosh
Colby Cosh
Colby Cosh is a Canadian commentator, writer and editor of non-fiction, and blogger.-Life and career:Cosh was born in Edmonton, Alberta and grew up in Bon Accord, Alberta, north of Edmonton. He graduated from the University of Alberta in 1993, doing further study in European intellectual history...
, hoped that the changes would also include removal of a section of the act empowering the Alberta Human Rights Commission to investigate and prosecute complaints of publications "exposing a person or a class of persons to contempt", believing that the powers granted to the commission amounted to censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
. This section had been used to unsuccessfully prosecute Ezra Levant
Ezra Levant
Ezra Isaac Levant is a Canadian lawyer, conservative political activist and media figure. He is the founder and former publisher of the Western Standard, hosts The Source daily on Sun News Network, and has written several books on politics....
for publishing the cartoons at the centre of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
in his Western Standard
Western Standard
The Western Standard is a Calgary, Alberta-based libertarian-conservative publication that billed itself as Canada's only conservative national news magazine...
magazine, and to successfully prosecute the Red Deer Advocate
Red Deer Advocate
The Red Deer Advocate is a daily newspaper in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.Published by Black Press, the newspaper was first established in 1901 as the Red Deer Echo, changing its name to Alberta Advocate in 1903 and Red Deer Advocate in 1906...
for publishing a letter to the editor entitled "Homosexual agenda wicked".
The changes that were eventually tabled included the enshrining of sexual orientation as protected grounds, but not the removal of the section dealing with "exposing to contempt". This omission was criticized—Levant said that it made him "deeply embarrassed as a conservative"—but Stelmach said that his caucus was comfortable that another provision, requiring that the impugned section should not "be deemed to interfere with the free expression of opinion on any subject", protected Albertans against its abusive use. The proposal also included a section entitling parents to advance notice from schools if their children were going to be taught "subject-matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation" and the right to remove their children from such classes. Stelmach called this a "very, very fundamental right" and suggested that it would allow parents to opt out of having their children learn about evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
, though his Education Minister Dave Hancock argued that the new wording didn't extend beyond current practice. Alberta Teachers' Association
Alberta Teachers' Association
The Alberta Teachers' Association is the union and professional association for the teachers of Alberta, Canada. It represents all teachers and teacher administrators in all schools in Alberta's public, separate and francophone school divisions. It also represents teachers in some charter and...
President Frank Bruseker
Frank Bruseker
Frank Bruseker is a former provincial level politician and current union leader from Alberta, Canada.-Political career:Bruseker was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1989 Alberta general election. He defeated Progressive Conservative incumbent Stan Cassin to pick up the Calgary...
expressed concern that this would make the teaching of science and geography in public schools very difficult, and suggested that parents who did not wish to have their children exposed to evolution should home school them or send them to private schools. New Democratic Party leader Brian Mason
Brian Mason
Brian Mason is a Canadian politician and leader of the Alberta New Democrats . Mason was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood in a 2001 byelection, and his career in politics spans more than 20 years.Mason first became politically active...
suggested that the changes would make Alberta "sound like Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
".
Democratic reform
Conflicts of Interest
"Conflicts of Interest" is an episode from the fourth season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Arc significance:* Garibaldi begins to work for William Edgars. In the process Garibaldi is reintroduced to his ex-girlfriend, Lise, who is currently married to Edgars.* The "Voice of...
, such that former cabinet ministers would have to wait one year before doing business with the government or lobbying it on behalf of third parties (up from six months). It also created a similar cooling-off period for senior bureaucrats, which lasted six months. However, an Order in Council passed by Stelmach's cabinet shortly before the 2008 election delayed the implementation of these rules until one month after the election, meaning that cabinet ministers who retired or lost their bids for re-election would be exempt from the new rules.
Relationship with Calgary
Many CalgariansCalgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
have been critical of Stelmach, suggesting that, as a farmer from the central part of the province, he is biased against Calgary and urban Alberta in general. They pointed to the fact that the city, which was considered the heartland of Jim Dinning
Jim Dinning
Jim Dinning is a Canadian Progressive Conservative politician and businessman. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta , and now serves on the board of directors of a variety of Canadian companies. Dinning ran for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives to replace...
's support during the leadership race, had only three members (Ron Liepert
Ron Liepert
Ronald Liepert is a Canadian politician and current Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Calgary-West as a Progressive Conservative.-Early life:...
, Ron Stevens
Ron Stevens
Ron Stevens, Q.C. is a Canadian politician. He was a member of the current Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Calgary-Glenmore as a Progressive Conservative until his resignation on May 15, 2009...
, and Greg Melchin
Greg Melchin
Greg Melchin is a politician and accountant who formerly served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and Cabinet Minister in the Alberta government.-Early life:Greg was born in Raymond, Alberta...
) in his first eighteen-member cabinet (Stelmach supporters pointed out that Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
had only one minister, Dave Hancock). Stelmach also found himself in a feud with Calgary mayor Dave Bronconnier
Dave Bronconnier
David 'Dave' Thomas Bronconnier is a Canadian politician, who served as the 35th Mayor of Calgary, Alberta.- Biography :...
during his first year as premier as Bronconnier accused Stelmach of failing to keep a promise to the city regarding infrastructure spending during his first budget. Several Stelmach supporters suggested that the mayor, a Liberal
Alberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...
, might be angling to take over as leader of the official opposition if Kevin Taft
Kevin Taft
Kevin Taft is a Liberal politician in Alberta, Canada. He was the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, from 2004 to 2008...
fumbled. During the by-election to fill Ralph Klein's Calgary Elbow
Calgary Elbow
Calgary-Elbow is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. Its current MLA is Alison Redford, a Progressive Conservative, who defeated incumbent Liberal candidate Craig Cheffins in the 2008 Alberta general election....
seat, P.C. candidate Brian Heninger went so far as to tell a voter he'd like to choke his party's leader (Stelmach told media that this was the sort of enthusiasm he wanted from his MLAs). Heninger was defeated by Liberal
Alberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...
Craig Cheffins
Craig Cheffins
Craig Cheffins is a former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for the Calgary Elbow riding. Running as a Liberal, he won the seat in a 2007 by-election, but lost the seat in the 2008 general election.-Political life:...
and, in the 2008 election, Calgary was the only area of the province in which Stelmach lost seats on his way to an increased majority.
After Deputy Premier Ron Stevens
Ron Stevens
Ron Stevens, Q.C. is a Canadian politician. He was a member of the current Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Calgary-Glenmore as a Progressive Conservative until his resignation on May 15, 2009...
resigned his Calgary-Glenmore
Calgary-Glenmore
Calgary Glenmore is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada.The electoral riding of Calgary Glenmore is one of two original Calgary ridings of the seven that still survives from the 1959 redistribution of the Calgary riding...
seat to accept a judgeship, a 2009 by-election elected outgoing Wildrose Alliance Party (WRA) leader Paul Hinman
Paul Hinman
Paul Hinman is a provincial politician and small business entrepreneur from Alberta, Canada. He was formerly the leader of the Wildrose Alliance. He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 2004 to 2008 representing the electoral district of Cardston-Taber-Warner...
to replace him. Hinman had been the WRA's only MLA until he lost his Cardston-Taber-Warner
Cardston-Taber-Warner
Cardston-Taber-Warner is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is mandated to return a single member to the for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
to Progressive Conservative Broyce Jacobs
Broyce Jacobs
Broyce G. Jacobs is a Canadian politician and current Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Cardston-Taber-Warner as a Progressive Conservative.-Early life:Jacobs was born in Cardston, Alberta...
in the 2008 election. Shortly after Hinman's election, polls showed that the Wildrose Alliance, under new leader Danielle Smith
Danielle Smith
Danielle Molles Smith is one of five martial artists who developed the women's self-defense system known as "Model Mugging" and is the current head teacher dojo cho of Aikido of Monterey in California."...
, was the second most popular party province-wide, and led the Conservatives 34 percent to 30 percent in Calgary.
Politics and public opinion
Critics at first compared Stelmach to Harry StromHarry Strom
Harry Edwin Strom was the ninth Premier of Alberta, Canada, from 1968 to 1971. His two and a half years as Premier were the last of the thirty-six year Social Credit dynasty, as his defeat by Peter Lougheed saw its replacement by a new era Progressive Conservative government...
, the last Social Credit
Social Credit Party of Alberta
The Alberta Social Credit Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on the social credit monetary policy and conservative Christian social values....
premier of the province. Strom was regarded as honest but ineffective and lacking charisma; he survived only long enough as Premier to lose the 1971 election
Alberta general election, 1971
The Alberta general election of 1971 was the seventeenth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on August 30, 1971 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
soundly. Thus ended the last long one-party rule, and observers asked if history would repeat with Stelmach. After Stelmach's landslide win in the 2008 election, however, the comparisons largely ceased.
In late 2009, the Conservatives' plunging popularity at the polls and the surge in support for the right-wing Wildrose Alliance led to speculation that Stelmach would receive lukewarm support at his mandatory leadership review, to be held at the November 2009 Progressive Conservative convention. Klein's resignation came in the wake of his receiving only 55% support at such a review, and Klein suggested that Stelmach should resign if he received less than 70%. The question was whether party leaders would blame Stelmach for the party's decline and look for new leadership in the face of Stelmach's own weakening poll numbers. Instead, Stelmach met the criterion set up by his critics and won 77.4% support, a strong endorsement.
Resignation
On January 25, 2011, Stelmach announced that he would not seek re-election; he also promised a leadership race before the next election. He did not specify his date of resignation at that time, however he submitted his letter of resignation in June, writing that he would leave office on October 1. In the early hours of October 2, 2011, Alison RedfordAlison Redford
Alison Merrilla Redford Q.C., MLA, is a Canadian politician, and the 14th and current Premier of Alberta, Canada. Upon winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, in October 2011, she became the first female premier in Alberta...
was declared the new leader of the party, and Stelmach resigned as premier on October 7.
As party leader
| Alberta general election, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Party | Party leader | # of candidates |
Seats | Popular vote | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 Alberta general election, 2004 The Alberta general election of 2004 was the twenty-sixth general election for the province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.... |
font style="font-size: 75%;">Dissol. Dissolution of parliament In parliamentary systems, a dissolution of parliament is the dispersal of a legislature at the call of an election.Usually there is a maximum length of a legislature, and a dissolution must happen before the maximum time... |
2008 | % Change | # | % | % Change |
Progressive Conservative Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta... |
Ed Stelmach | 83 | 62 | 60 | 72 | +20% | 501,028 | 52.66% | +5.83% |
Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time... |
Kevin Taft Kevin Taft Kevin Taft is a Liberal politician in Alberta, Canada. He was the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, from 2004 to 2008... |
82 | 16 | 16 | 9 | -43.8% | 250,862 | 26.37% | -2.99% |
New Democratic Party | Brian Mason Brian Mason Brian Mason is a Canadian politician and leader of the Alberta New Democrats . Mason was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood in a 2001 byelection, and his career in politics spans more than 20 years.Mason first became politically active... |
83 | 4 | 4 | 2 | -50% | 81,043 | 8.52% | -1.69% |
Wildrose Alliance Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta The Wildrose Party, formerly Wildrose Alliance Party, is a conservative provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. It includes free market conservative, libertarian and socially conservative factions and was formed in 2008 following a merger of the Wildrose Party of Alberta and the Alberta... 1 |
Paul Hinman Paul Hinman Paul Hinman is a provincial politician and small business entrepreneur from Alberta, Canada. He was formerly the leader of the Wildrose Alliance. He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 2004 to 2008 representing the electoral district of Cardston-Taber-Warner... |
61 | 1 | 1 | - | -100% | 64,370 | 6.77% | -1.93% |
Greens | George Read George Read (Canadian politician) George Read is the former leader of the Green Party of Alberta and formerly a key organizer for the federal Green Party of Canada in Alberta.- Green Party organizing :... |
79 | - | - | - | - | 43,563 | 4.58% | +1.82% |
Social Credit | Len Skowronski Len Skowronski Leonard "Len" Skowronski is the leader of the provincial Social Credit Party in Alberta, Canada. He was elected at a leadership convention held on November 3, 2007 in Red Deer to replace Lavern Ahlstrom who resigned.... |
8 | - | - | - | - | 2,051 | 0.22% | -1.00% |
Separation Separation Party of Alberta The Separation Party of Alberta is a political party that advocates the secession of Alberta from Canada. Its leader is Bruce Hutton.-History:... |
Bruce Hutton Bruce Hutton Bruce Hutton is leader of the Separation Party of Alberta.Hutton joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1963. In 1999, he founded Law-abiding Unregistered Firearms Association to protest the recently introduced federal gun registry. In 2004, he became leader of the Separation... |
1 | - | - | - | - | 120 | 0.01% | -0.52% |
Communist Communist Party (Alberta) Communist Party – Alberta is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. It is a provincial branch of the Communist Party of Canada.-History:... |
Naomi Rankin Naomi Rankin Naomi Rankin is the current leader of the Communist Party of Alberta in Alberta, Canada.She has been leader of the Communist Party since 1992 and has run in every provincial and federal election in Alberta since 1982, for the Communist Party or the Communist Party of Canada... |
2 | - | - | - | - | 96 | 0.01% | xx |
Alberta Party Alberta Party The Alberta Party Political Association, more commonly known as the Alberta Party, is a political party in the province of Alberta, Canada... |
Bruce Stubbs Bruce Stubbs Bruce Stubbs is a farmer and political figure in Alberta, Canada. He first came to public attention as a leading member of G.U.A.R.D. , a group opposed to the United Alternative process which formed the Canadian Alliance from the Reform Party of Canada.He is a former leader of the Alberta Party, a... |
1 | - | - | - | - | 51 | 0.01% | -0.27% |
Independent Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do... |
7 | - | 1 | - | -100% | 8,267 | 0.87% | +0.76% | |
| Vacant | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 407 | 83 | 83 | 83 | - | 951,451 | 100% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Numbers from the 2004 election refer to the Alberta Alliance Party
Alberta Alliance Party
The Alberta Alliance was a right wing provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Many of its members were former supporters of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance federal political party and its predecessor, the Reform Party of Canada. Members also joined from such other provincial fringe parties...
which, along with the Wildrose Party of Alberta
Wildrose Party of Alberta
The Wildrose Party of Alberta was a right wing provincial political party founded in Alberta, Canada in 2007. The party took its name from Alberta's provincial flower....
(which did not contest the 2004 election), merged in 2007 to form the Wildrose Alliance Party.
As MLA
| 2008 Alberta general election results (Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville Fort Saskatchewan—Vegreville is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting.... ) |
font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 53.6% | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
Progressive Conservative | Ed Stelmach | 11,162 | 77.6% |
Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time... |
Earl J. Woods | 1,343 | 9.3% |
NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation... |
Clayton Marsden | 1,235 | 9.3% |
Green Green Party of Alberta The Green Party of Alberta, also known as the Alberta Greens, was a provincial political party in the province of Alberta, Canada.The Alberta Greens were formed in 1986 and received official party status on April 6, 1990... |
Ryan Scheie | 551 | 3.8% | |||||
| 2004 Alberta general election Alberta general election, 2004 The Alberta general election of 2004 was the twenty-sixth general election for the province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.... results (Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville Fort Saskatchewan—Vegreville is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting.... ) |
font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 51.5% | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
Progressive Conservative | Ed Stelmach | 6,160 | 48.3% |
Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time... |
Peter Schneider | 3,160 | 24.8% |
NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation... |
Wes Buyarski | 1,633 | 12.8% |
Alberta Alliance | Byron King | 1411 | 11.1% |
Social Credit Social Credit Party of Alberta The Alberta Social Credit Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on the social credit monetary policy and conservative Christian social values.... |
Mark Patterson | 379 | 3.0% | |
| 2001 Alberta general election Alberta general election, 2001 The Alberta general election of 2001 was the twenty-fifth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on March 12, 2001 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.... results (Vegreville-Viking Vegreville-Viking Vegreville—Viking was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada from 1993 until 2004.-MLAs:The riding was represented by Ed Stelmach of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta for its entire existence.-Election results:... ) |
font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 61.8% | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
Progressive Conservative | Ed Stelmach | 7,191 | 60.8% |
Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time... |
Ross Demkiw | 3,391 | 28.7% |
NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation... |
Greg Kurolok | 1,243 | 10.5% | |||||||||
| 1997 Alberta general election Alberta general election, 1997 The Alberta general election of 1997 was the twenty-fourth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on March 11, 1997 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.... results (Vegreville-Viking Vegreville-Viking Vegreville—Viking was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada from 1993 until 2004.-MLAs:The riding was represented by Ed Stelmach of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta for its entire existence.-Election results:... ) |
font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 64.2% | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
Progressive Conservative | Ed Stelmach | 6,090 | 49.8% |
Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time... |
Ross Demkiw | 3,639 | 29.8% |
NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation... |
Greg Kurolok | 1,684 | 13.8% |
Social Credit | Clifford Gundermann | 810 | 6.6% | |||||
| 1993 Alberta general election Alberta general election, 1993 The Alberta general election of 1993 was the twenty-third general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on June 15, 1993 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta... results (Vegreville-Viking Vegreville-Viking Vegreville—Viking was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada from 1993 until 2004.-MLAs:The riding was represented by Ed Stelmach of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta for its entire existence.-Election results:... ) |
font style="font-size: 90%;">Turnout 69.7% | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
Progressive Conservative Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta... |
Ed Stelmach | 5,540 | 41.1% |
NDP Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation... |
Derek Fox Derek Fox Derek Fox is an insurance agent and former provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1986 to 1993.-Political career:... |
4,150 | 30.1% |
Liberal Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time... |
Jerry Wilde | 3,797 | 28.2% | |||||||||
Party leadership contests
| Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election, 2006 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Second ballot (post redistribution) | ||
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
| Ed Stelmach | 77,577 | 58.3% |
| Jim Dinning Jim Dinning Jim Dinning is a Canadian Progressive Conservative politician and businessman. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta , and now serves on the board of directors of a variety of Canadian companies. Dinning ran for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives to replace... |
55,509 | 41.7% |
| Second ballot | ||
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
| Ed Stelmach | 51,764 | 35.9% |
| Jim Dinning Jim Dinning Jim Dinning is a Canadian Progressive Conservative politician and businessman. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta , and now serves on the board of directors of a variety of Canadian companies. Dinning ran for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives to replace... |
51,282 | 35.6% |
| Ted Morton Ted Morton Frederick Lee Morton , known commonly as Ted Morton, is a Canadian politician and Minister of Energy for the Province of Alberta. As a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta he represents the constituency of Foothills-Rocky View as a Progressive Conservative... |
41,243 | 28.6% |
| First ballot | ||
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
| Jim Dinning Jim Dinning Jim Dinning is a Canadian Progressive Conservative politician and businessman. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta , and now serves on the board of directors of a variety of Canadian companies. Dinning ran for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives to replace... |
29,470 | 30.2% |
| Ted Morton Ted Morton Frederick Lee Morton , known commonly as Ted Morton, is a Canadian politician and Minister of Energy for the Province of Alberta. As a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta he represents the constituency of Foothills-Rocky View as a Progressive Conservative... |
25,614 | 26.2% |
| Ed Stelmach | 14,967 | 15.3% |
| Lyle Oberg Lyle Oberg Lyle Oberg is an Albertan politician and former member of the Legislative Assembly.Oberg was born near Forestburg, Alberta in 1960. A physician by profession, Oberg was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta as an Progressive Conservative in 1993. He was first appointed to the... |
11,638 | 11.9% |
| Dave Hancock | 7,595 | 7.8% |
| Mark Norris | 6,789 | 6.9% |
| Victor Doerksen Victor Doerksen Victor Doerksen is a politician, accountant and former cabinet minister in Alberta, Canada.-Early life:Doerksen was born in Bassano, Alberta on November 25, 1953. He was employed by the Bank of Montreal for 12 years... |
873 | 0.9% |
| Gary McPherson | 744 | 0.8% |