1935 Alberta general election

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1935 Alberta general election

← 1930 August 22, 1935 (1935-08-22) 1940 →
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63 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
32 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout81.8%
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
LIB
Leader William Aberhart (de facto) William R. Howson David M. Duggan
Party Social Credit Liberal Conservative
Leader since September 3, 1935
October 21, 1932
1930
Leader's seat Did not run Edmonton Edmonton
Last election pre-creation 11 seats, 24.6% 6 seats, 14.8%
Seats before 0 13 6
Seats won 56 5 2
Seat change Increase56 Decrease8 Decrease4
Popular vote 163,700 69,845 19,358
Percentage 54.2% 23.1% 6.4%
Swing Decrease1.5% Decrease8.4%

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Richard G. Reid Fred J. White
Party United Farmers Labour
Leader since 1934 between 1921 & 1926
Leader's seat Vermilion (lost re-election)
Last election 39 seats, 39.4% 4 seats, 7.6%
Seats before 36 4
Seats won 0 0
Seat change Decrease36 Decrease4
Popular vote 33,063 5,086
Percentage 11.0% 1.7%
Swing Decrease28.4% Decrease5.9%

Premier before election

Richard G. Reid
United Farmers

Premier after election

William Aberhart
Social Credit

The 1935 Alberta general election was held on August 22, 1935, to elect members of the

Social Credit Party of Alberta won a sweeping victory, unseating the 14-year government of the United Farmers of Alberta
. It was one of only five times that Alberta has changed governments.

Premier

Richard G. Reid
succeeded him, but was unable to change the party's fortunes. The government had fallen into disfavour as it had proven unable to address the Depression, which had hit Alberta particularly hard, and due to the government's unwillingness to accede to demands to adopt Social Credit policies and programs.

Social Credit won 56 of the 63 seats in the legislature, and over 50% of the

popular vote
, well beyond even the most optimistic Socred projections. Many of those gains came at the expense of the UFA, which lost all of its seats in one of the worst defeats ever suffered by a provincial government in Canada. Reid and Brownlee, for instance, were heavily defeated by Socred challengers, with Reid being pushed into third place. The UFA did receive 11 percent of the vote so its due share was about ten members - the province's limited use of PR did not ensure that it won any seats at all.

The UFA's wipeout happened just a month after the Prince Edward Island Tories lost all 18 of their seats at that year's provincial election. A similar wipeout would not happen again until the 1987 New Brunswick general election, when the governing New Brunswick Tories lost all 39 of their seats.

The Alberta Liberals in this election ran with the tactically fatal slogan, the "rest of Canada can't be wrong"—referring to the popularity of the Liberal Party in the rest of the country. It did not work; they had their seat count cut in half. However, due to the UFA being swept from the legislature, the Liberals wound up as the Official Opposition. The Conservatives lost four of their six seats.

The Socreds' expectations for the election had been so low that they had not even named a formal leader for the campaign. When the newly elected Socred MLAs held their first caucus meeting, the first order of business was to select a leader and premier-designate. The obvious choice was the party's founder and guiding force, Calgary-based Baptist pastor William Aberhart. Persuaded to accept the mantle of leadership, Aberhart was sworn in as premier on September 3.

This provincial election, like the previous two, saw district-level

Single transferable voting) used to elect the MLAs of Edmonton and Calgary. City-wide districts were used to elect multiple MLAs in the cities. All the other MLAs were elected in single-member districts through Instant-runoff voting
.

The turnout of the 1935 election topped 80%, and no election in Alberta has come close to this mark.

This election campaign is seen as the most negative in Alberta's history, with reports of Social Credit members, operating openly and on Aberhart's directives, defacing the campaign signs of opponents and drowning their speeches by honking car horns. Many campaign ads also focused mostly on attacking the opposing parties.

After the 1935 election results were in, newspapers across North America took notice, with the Boston Herald running the headline "Alberta Goes Crazy!".[1]

This shift marked the first in Social Credit's nine consecutive election victories, for a total of 36 years in office–one of the longest unbroken runs in government in the Commonwealth. The UFA never recovered from this wipeout defeat, withdrawing from politics altogether in 1937. Many of UFA's erstwhile supporters shifted to supporting the CCF, whose full name "CCF (Farmer-Labour-Socialist)" indicates how it was a merging of UFA and other previous farmer and labor parties.

Results

Elections to the
8th Alberta Legislative Assembly
(1935)
Party Leader Candidates First-preference votes Seats
Votes ± % Fpv Change (pp) 1930 1935 ±
Social Credit William Aberhart 63 163,700 163,700Increase 54.25 54.25 54.25
 
56 / 63
56Increase
United Farmers Richard G. Reid 45 33,063 41,124Increase 11.00 -28.41
 
39
0 / 63
39Decrease
Liberal William R. Howson 61 69,845 23,570Increase 23.14 -1.45
 
11
5 / 63
6Decrease
Conservative David M. Duggan 39 19,358 8,596Decrease 6.41 -8.44
 
6
2 / 63
4Decrease
Labour Fred J. White 11 5,086 9,268Decrease 1.68 -5.95
 
4
0 / 63
4Decrease
Independent 7 2,740 20,526Decrease 0.90 -11.46
 
3
0 / 63
3Decrease
Communist Jan Lakeman 9 5,771 3,588Increase 1.91 0.75 0.75
 
Independent Liberal 1 955 955Increase 0.31
United Front 1 560 560Increase 0.19
Independent Conservative 1 258 258Increase 0.08
Independent Labour 1 224 224Increase 0.07
Reconstruction 1 192 192Increase 0.06
Total 240 301,752 100.00%
Rejected ballots 8,269 562Increase
Turnout 310,021 114,095Increase 81.8% 15.1Increase
Registered voters 378,249 84,454Increase

MLAs elected

Synopsis of results

Results by riding – 1935 Alberta general election (all except Calgary and Edmonton)[2]
Riding First-preference votes Turnout
[a 1]
Final counts Winning party
Name SC UFA Lib Con Lab Comm Ind Total SC UFA Lib I-Lib 1930 1935
 
Acadia 1,834 628 289 2,751 90.3% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Alexandra 2,479 924 561 202 197 4,363 78.3% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Athabasca 1,764 950 315 3,029 71.0% Elected on 1st count Lib SC
Beaver River 1,751 572 775 147 3,245 66.8% Elected on 1st count Lib SC
Bow Valley 1,776 401 591 204 2,972 85.9% Elected on 1st count Ind SC
Camrose 4,335 1,039 1,395 6,769 86.7% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Cardston 2,027 565 471 3,063 95.4% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Clover Bar 2,503 844 1,105 264 4,716 86.0% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Cochrane 1,880 591 628 337 3,436 87.9% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Coronation 2,674 844 625 4,143 87.4% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Cypress 1,689 587 798 51 3,125 83.0% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Didsbury 2,731 610 607 303 4,251 85.0% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Drumheller 2,158 341 342 778 3,619 84.4% Elected on 1st count Ind SC
Edson 2,154 1,620[a 2] 1,414 5,188 76.0% 2,443 2,068 Lab SC
Empress 1,453 324 239 2,016 84.5% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Gleichen 2,093 895 569 439 3,996 84.3% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Grande Prairie 2,741 1,809 2,387 464 7,401 75.6% 3,142 3,061 UFA SC
Grouard 1,447 346 2,272 4,065 78.1% Elected on 1st count Lib Lib
Hand Hills 3,270 707 552 4,529 86.5% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Innisfail 2,805 386 583 318 4,092 87.5% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Lac Ste. Anne 1,668 1,080 897 133 3,778 75.6% 1,791 1,518 UFA SC
Lacombe 3,483 721 838 519 5,561 86.6% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Leduc 2,940 357 1,305 166 4,768 82.0% Elected on 1st count Lib SC
Lethbridge 3,700 1,946 341 654 6,641 81.6% Elected on 1st count Lab SC
Little Bow
2,322 704 474 3,500 87.9% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Macleod 1,680 650 387 2,717 86.1% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Medicine Hat 3,236 1,252 653 5,141 83.3% Elected on 1st count Lib SC
Nanton-Claresholm 1,767 612 512 269 3,165 86.3% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Okotoks-High River 3,062 1,005 970 452 5,489 85.8% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Olds 3,538 694 955 167 5,354 91.6% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Peace River 2,474 994 1,389 308 5,165 69.6% 2,269 1,898 UFA SC
Pembina 3,133 1,030 1,145 183 5,491 80.1% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Pincher Creek 1,214 296 528 312 2,350 88.4% Elected on 1st count Lib SC
Ponoka 2,295 879 696 3,870 86.6% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Red Deer 3,565 788 612 291 622 5,878 85.6% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Ribstone 2,684 499 589 3,772 87.3% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Rocky Mountain 2,996 1,033 1,080 389 5,498 82.0% Elected on 1st count Ind SC
St. Albert 1,431 116 446 1,253[a 3] 3,206 86.4% 1,619 1,445 UFA SC
St. Paul 2,567 946 1,963 5,476 82.2% 2,679 2,364 Lib SC
Sedgewick 3,642 933 632 5,107 88.7% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Stettler 3,603 522 882 271 5,278 89.9% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Stony Plain 2,832 312 1,472 171 4,787 82.8% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Sturgeon 2,465 857 1,533 361 560 5,776 80.8% 2,729 2,053 UFA SC
Taber 2,879 757 642 4,278 79.9% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Vegreville 2,817 995 1,681 109 5,602 82.5% 3,047 2,065 UFA SC
Vermilion 2,452 876 1,062 244 838 5,472 82.8% 2,664 1,437 UFA SC
Victoria 2,045 319 1,181 141 3,686 77.8% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Wainwright 2,382 811 953 194 4,340 83.6% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Warner
1,702 588 534 227 3,051 82.7% Elected on 1st count UFA SC
Wetaskiwin 2,762 506 1,149 187 141 4,745 85.7% Elected on 1st count Lib SC
Whitford 1,265 940 615 966 3,786 77.8% 1,370 1,121 UFA SC
  1. ^ including spoilt ballots
  2. ^ John Sedgwick Cowper was previously a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.
  3. ^ Lucien Boudreau (Ind-Liberal) - 955 votes; A.S. McRae (Ind-Conservative) - 258 votes.
  = Open seat
  = turnout is above provincial average
  = Candidate was in previous Legislature
  = Incumbent had switched allegiance
  = Previously incumbent in another riding
  = Not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature
  = Incumbency arose from by-election gain
  = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada
  = Multiple candidates

Multi-member districts

  = Candidate was in previous Legislature
  = First-time MLA
  = Previously incumbent in another district.

STV analysis

Exhausted votes

Twelve districts went beyond first-preference counts in order to determine winning candidates:

Exhausted votes (1935)
District Counts Exhausted
1st preference Final Votes % of 1st pref
Calgary 41,193 37,827 3,366 8.17 8.17
 
Edmonton 37,267 35,625 1,642 4.41 4.41
 
Edson 5,188 4,511 677 13.05 13.05
 
Grande Prairie 7,401 6,203 1,198 16.19 16.19
 
Lac Ste. Anne 3,778 3,309 469 12.41 12.41
 
Peace River 5,165 4,167 998 19.32 19.32
 
St. Albert 3,206 3,064 142 4.43 4.43
 
St. Paul 5,476 5,043 433 7.91 7.91
 
Sturgeon 5,776 4,782 994 17.21 17.21
 
Vegreville 5,602 5,112 490 8.75 8.75
 
Vermilion 5,472 4,101 1,371 25.05 25.05
 
Whitford 3,786 2,491 1,295 34.20 34.2
 

Calgary

There were more contestants in the race compared to 1930, but only Social Credit ran a full slate of candidates:

Party Candidates MLAs elected
1935 1930 ± 1935 1930 ±
Conservative 4 4 Steady 1 3 2Decrease
Labour 3 3 Steady 1 1Decrease
Liberal 4 3 1Increase 1 2 1Decrease
Social Credit 6 6Increase 4 4Increase
Communist 1 1 Steady
Independent Labour 1 1Increase
Independent 1 2 1Decrease
Total 20 13 7Increase 6 6 Steady

Eighteen counts were needed to determine the outcome, but count-by-count results are not available.[a] There are only detailed results for the later counts.[4][b] Manning, Irwin, Anderson, Bowlen and Gostick achieved quota, and Hugill obtained the next best result on the final count.

Calgary (1935 Alberta general election)
(analysis of transferred votes, sorted by maximum votes, detailed results from 13th count onward)
Party Candidate Maximum
round
Maximum
votes
Share in
maximum
round
Maximum votes
First round votesTransfer votes


Liberal John J. Bowlen 17 8,478 21.50%
Social Credit Fred Anderson 15 6,638 16.60%
Conservative John Irwin 13 6,092 15.19%
Social Credit Ernest Manning 1 6,087 14.78%
Social Credit Edith Gostick 18 5,886 15.56%
Social Credit John Hugill 18 4,399 11.63%
Social Credit W. Little (not elected) 18 4,002 10.58%
Liberal Robert Weir (not elected) 16 3,327 8.32%
Social Credit Oscar Devenish (not elected) 14 3,182 7.94%
Exhausted votes 3,366 8.17%


Edmonton

The 1935 race had a broader field of candidates compared to 1930:

Party Candidates MLAs elected
1935 1930 ± 1935 1930 ±
Conservative 6 6 Steady 1 3 2Decrease
Labour 6 4 2Increase 1 1Decrease
Liberal 6 4 2Increase 3 1 2Increase
Social Credit 6 6Increase 2 2Increase
United Farmers 1 1 Steady 1 1Decrease
Communist 1 1 Steady
Reconstruction 1 1Increase
Independent 1 1Decrease
Total 27 17 10Increase 6 6 Steady


As a result, the number of counts needed to select the six MLAs expanded from 14 to 23. Howson, Barnes and Van Allen won on achieving quota; Duggan, Mullen and O'Connor had the best results in the final round.

Edmonton (1935 Alberta general election) (six members elected, candidates ranked in order of 1st preference)[6]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Liberal William Howson 24.52% 9,139
Social Credit
Samuel A. Barnes
12.01% 4,476 4,492 4,492 4,495 4,500 4,513 4,524 4,524 4,533 4,597 4,703 4,809 4,828 4,855 5,357
Social Credit W. S. Hall 7.56% 2,818 2,830 2,830 2,831 2,832 2,837 2,841 2,850 2,856 2,906 2,985 3,029 3,040 3,051 3,223 3,248 3,373 3,390 3,468 3,509 4,542 4,719 4,721
Social Credit David B. Mullen 6.71% 2,500 2,510 2,512 2,514 2,517 2,520 2,522 2,526 2,529 2,546 2,838 2,857 2,870 2,877 3,244 3,247 3,323 3,332 3,361 3,407 4,785 4,928 4,932
United Farmers John Lymburn 5.61% 2,092 2,150 2,151 2,158 2,168 2,205 2,209 2,218 2,229 2,283 2,286 2,522 2,556 2,680 2,688 2,688 2,887 2,919 3,180 3,267 3,305
Social Credit Orvis A. Kennedy 4.78% 1,781 1,791 1,793 1,799 1,799 1,802 1,802 1,804 1,810 1,826 2,106 2,118 2,122 2,142 2,407 2,412 2,501 2,511 2,547 2,584
Conservative David Duggan 3.93% 1,466 1,497 1,524 1,528 1,532 1,533 1,540 1,658 1,659 1,745 1,747 1,776 1,791 2,205 2,206 2,206 2,231 2,252 3,334 3,496 3,516 5,042 5,078
Liberal George Van Allen 3.37% 1,255 2,862 2,866 2,869 2,874 2,881 2,886 2,893 2,899 2,946 2,946 2,955 3,336 3,422 3,434 3,434 3,579 4,080 4,224 4,980 4,996 5,468
Social Credit Mark W. Robertson 3.34% 1,243 1,248 1,252 1,252 1,253 1,257 1,257 1,259 1,266 1,272 1,351 1,366 1,369 1,372
Liberal Marion Conroy 3.32% 1,238 1,678 1,679 1,680 1,695 1,700 1,719 1,727 1,732 1,848 1,853 1,895 1,986 2,007 2,014 2,014 2,108 2,327 2,483
Conservative William Atkinson 3.27% 1,220 1,242 1,261 1,265 1,266 1,273 1,278 1,351 1,359 1,398 1,401 1,454 1,492 1,950 1,954 1,954 2,005 2,025
Liberal
Gerald O'Connor
2.99% 1,116 1,641 1,644 1,645 1,649 1,653 1,656 1,663 1,668 1,675 1,679 1,722 2,009 2,066 2,069 2,069 2,122 2,834 2,974 4,161 4,182 4,820 4,922
Communist Jan Lakeman 2.94% 1,096 1,105 1,109 1,110 1,114 1,146 1,158 1,158 1,186 1,217 1,220 1,456 1,473 1,484 1,491 1,491
Conservative Frederick Jamieson 2.76% 1,029 1,069 1,080 1,080 1,085 1,086 1,086 1,173 1,178 1,186 1,188 1,249 1,280
Social Credit G. L. King 2.26% 843 845 846 846 849 849 850 852 855 871
Liberal J. C. M. Marshall 1.81% 673 1,186 1,188 1,190 1,192 1,196 1,198 1,210 1,215 1,243 1,247 1,293 1,560 1,589 1,593 1,593 1,642
Conservative J. E. Basarab 1.80% 671 681 682 683 684 685 686 695 696
Liberal Walter Morrish 1.64% 612 1,078 1,079 1,083 1,096 1,100 1,102 1,112 1,121 1,157 1,158 1,211
Labour James East 1.36% 505 515 523 556 608 651 775 781 1,125 1,140 1,141
Conservative Emily Fitzsimon 0.97% 363 365 371 372 372 375 375
Labour James W. Findlay 0.89% 331 337 350 376 408 431 462 464
Reconstruction Elsie Wright 0.52% 192 196 200 201 205
Labour Carl Berg 0.52% 192 194 197 220 235 238
Labour Sidney Bowcott 0.45% 166 172 181 186
Labour Alfred Farmilo 0.34% 127 129 129
Conservative D. M. Ramsay 0.19% 71 72
Labour Sidney Parsons 0.14% 52 54
Exhausted ballots 4 4 4 10 12 17 25 27 87 94 231 231 243 263 263 848 949 1,048 1,215 1,293 1,642 1,642
Electorate: 49,212   Valid: 37,267   Spoilt: 785   Quota: 5,324   Turnout: 38,052 (77.3%)  


Edmonton (1935 Alberta general election)
(analysis of transferred votes, candidates ranked in order of 1st preference)
Party Candidate Maximum
round
Maximum
votes
Share in
maximum
round
Maximum votes
First round votesTransfer votes


Liberal William R. Howson 1 9,139 24.52%
Social Credit
Samuel Barnes
15 5,357 14.48%
Social Credit W. S. Hall 23 4,721 13.25%
Social Credit David B. Mullen 23 4,932 13.84%
UFA John Lymburn 21 3,305 9.19%
Social Credit Orvis A. Kennedy 20 2,584 7.17%
Conservative David Duggan 23 5,078 14.25%
Liberal George Van Allen 22 5,468 15.35%
Social Credit Mark W. Robertson 14 1,372 3.71%
Liberal Marion Conroy 19 2,483 6.86%
Conservative
William Atkinson
18 2,025 5.58%
Liberal Gerald O'Connor 23 4,922 13.82%
Communist
Jan Lakeman 16 1,491 6.52%
Conservative Frederick Jamieson 13 1,280 3.46%
Social Credit G. L. King 10 871 2.34%
Liberal J. C. M. Marshall 17 1,642 4.51%
Conservative J. E. Basarab 9 696 1.87%
Liberal Walter Morrish 12 1,211 3.27%
Labour James East 11 1,141 3.07%
Conservative Emily Fitzsimon 7 375 1.01%
Labour James W. Findlay 8 464 1.25%
Reconstruction Elsie Wright 5 205 0.55%
Labour Carl Berg 6 238 0.64%
Labour Sidney Bowcott 4 186 0.50%
Labour Alfred Farmilo 3 129 0.35%
Conservative D. M. Ramsay 2 72 0.19%
Labour Sidney Parsons 2 54 0.14%
Exhausted votes 1,642 4.41%
Initial terminal transfer rates for votes (1930)
Transferred from Non-transferrable % transferred to Total
Socred Liberal UFA Conservative Labour Communist Reconstruction
 Liberal (Howson) 4 55 3,551 58 106 28 9 4 3,815
0.10% 1.44% 93.08% 1.52% 2.78% 0.73% 0.24% 0.10% 100.00%
 Conservative (Jamieson) 12 68 193 124 872 11 1,280
0.94% 5.31% 15.08% 9.69% 68.13% 0.86% 100.00%
 Social Credit (King) 7 836 14 3 7 1 3 871
0.80% 95.98% 1.61% 0.34% 0.80% 0.11% 0.34% 100.00%
 United Farmers (Lymburn) 349 320 1,110 1,526 3,305
10.56% 9.68% 33.59% 46.17% 100.00%
 Communist (Lakeman) 585 290 341 199 76 1,491
39.24% 19.45% 22.87% 13.35% 5.10% 100.00%

Notes

  1. ^ Actual figures are only available at the Provincial Archives of Alberta.[3]
  2. ^ Published reports did not contain the final count for W. Little at the 18th round, but academic work suggests a value of 4,002 (ie, quota of 5,885 * 0.68),[5] which is used in the following table. Other counts are derived from the reports.

References

  1. .
  2. .
  3. ^ Jansen 1998, p. 260.
  4. ^ "4 Social Credit, Conservative and Liberal Win Here". Calgary Herald. August 23, 1935. pp. 1, 20.
  5. ^ Jansen 1998, p. 177.
  6. ^ "Progress Chart of Edmonton City Balloting". Edmonton Bulletin. August 24, 1935. p. 1.

Further reading

Party platforms

See also