Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
| Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta | |
|---|---|
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| Party leader | Ric McIver (interim) |
| founding | September 1, 1905 |
| Headquarters |
Calgary , Canada
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| Alignment |
Conservatism Progressivism |
| Parliament seats |
10/87 |
| Website | www.albertapc.ab.ca |
The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (French Association progressiste-conservatrice de l'Alberta ), called the Alberta Conservative Party until 1959 , is a conservative political party in the Canadian province of Alberta . Although the party is ideologically similar to the Canadian Conservative Party at the federal level, the two parties are organizationally independent. She ruled the province continuously from 1971 to 2015.
history
The Conservative Party of Alberta emerged from the Northwest Territories Liberal Conservative Party , which existed from 1898 to 1905 . In the first elections to the Alberta Legislative Assembly , the Conservatives, led by the later Prime Minister of Canada , Richard Bedford Bennett , only won two seats. The first breakthrough came in 1913, winning 18 seats and 45% of the vote. Due to internal differences, however, the party lost more and more influence and did not win a single seat in 1921, as the rural-conservative electorate had almost unanimously turned to the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA).
For the next fifty years, the Conservatives never succeeded in winning more than half a dozen constituencies. Nor could they benefit from the collapse of the UFA government in 1935, now that the Social Credit Party of Alberta represented the conservative electorate. In 1940, 1944 and 1948 no Conservative candidates ran for election. In 1959 it was renamed the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta , an adaptation to the name of the federal progressive conservative party .
In 1965 Peter Lougheed became the new chairman and reformed the party, which had become relatively insignificant. He combined economic conservatism with an emphatically urban and modern image. This enabled the progressive conservatives to gain a foothold in the rapidly growing cities of Calgary and Edmonton . In the 1971 elections they were able to gain more than 20 percent, became the strongest party and formed the government for the first time.
After the Social Credit Party had dominated provincial politics for decades, that role now fell to the progressive conservatives. Under Lougheed's successor, Don Getty , the share of the vote decreased significantly, but was still high enough to win the majority of the seats. In contrast to his rather centrist predecessors, Ralph Klein steered a pronounced right-wing course (in the same period as the reform party celebrated successes at the federal level). In 2006 Ed Stelmach took over the office of party chairman, followed in 2011 with Alison Redford, the first woman to bring the party closer to the center in order to weaken competition from the right-wing populist Wildrose Party .
Redford had to resign in March 2014 because of an expense scandal, which plunged the party into a serious crisis of confidence. Dave Hancock took over her offices on an interim basis. Jim Prentice , a former minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada , was elected as the new chairman in September 2014. As prime minister, he succeeded in persuading eleven members of the Wildrose Party (including its party leader) to change parties. Inspired by this apparent success, he called early elections. However, his calculation did not work out: The social democratic Alberta New Democratic Party achieved a landslide victory on May 5, 2015, while the progressive conservatives only won ten seats, making them only the third strongest force. This ended the longest term in office of a Canadian provincial party after 44 years.
Election results
Results of the legislative assembly elections:
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Party leader
| Surname | Chair | premier |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Bedford Bennett | 1905 | |
| Albert Robertson | 1905-1909 | |
| Richard Bedford Bennett | 1909-1910 | |
| Edward Michener | 1910-1917 | |
| George Hoadley | 1917-1920 | |
| James Ramsey | 1920-1921 | |
| Albert Ewing | 1921-1925 | interim |
| John Smith Stewart | 1921-1925 | |
| Alexander McGillivray | 1925-1930 | |
| David Milwyn Duggan | 1930-1942 | |
| vacant | 1942-1952 | |
| John Percy Page | 1952-1958 | |
| Cam Kirby | 1958-1959 | |
| Ernest Watkins | 1959-1962 | |
| Milt Harradence | 1962-1965 | |
| Peter Lougheed | 1965-1985 | 1971-1985 |
| Don Getty | 1985-1992 | 1985-1992 |
| Ralph Klein | 1992-2006 | 1992-2006 |
| Ed Stelmach | 2006-2011 | 2006-2011 |
| Alison Redford | 2011-2014 | 2011-2014 |
| Dave Hancock (interim) | 2014 | 2014 |
| Jim Prentice | 2014-2015 | 2014-2015 |
| Ric McIver (interim) | 2015– |
See also
Web links
- Official website (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Elections in Alberta - Elections Alberta