1935 Alberta general election

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox election The 1935 Alberta general election was held on August 22, 1935, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The newly founded 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 John E. Brownlee had resigned on July 10, 1934, when he was sued and found liable for the seduction of a young clerk working in the Attorney-General's office. Although the verdict was immediately set aside by the presiding judge, the scandal seriously damaged the UFA's reputation among socially conservative Albertans. Provincial Treasurer 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 proportional representation (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!".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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	±	% Template:Abbr	Change (pp)			1930	1935	±	William Aberhart	63	163,700	163,700Template:Increase	54.25	Template:Bartable	–	Template:Composition bar	56Template:Increase	Richard G. Reid	45	33,063	41,124Template:Increase	11.00	Template:Bartable	39	Template:Composition bar	39Template:Decrease	William R. Howson	61	69,845	23,570Template:Increase	23.14	Template:Bartable	11	Template:Composition bar	6Template:Decrease	David M. Duggan	39	19,358	8,596Template:Decrease	6.41	Template:Bartable	6	Template:Composition bar	4Template:Decrease	Fred J. White	11	5,086	9,268Template:Decrease	1.68	Template:Bartable	4	Template:Composition bar	4Template:Decrease		7	2,740	20,526Template:Decrease	0.90	Template:Bartable	3	Template:Composition bar	3Template:Decrease	Jan Lakeman	9	5,771	3,588Template:Increase	1.91	Template:Bartable		1	955	955Template:Increase	0.31		1	560	560Template:Increase	0.19		1	258	258Template:Increase	0.08		1	224	224Template:Increase	0.07		1	192	192Template:Increase	0.06
Total			240	301,752		100.00%
Rejected ballots				8,269	562Template:Increase
Turnout				310,021	114,095Template:Increase	81.8%	15.1Template:Increase
Registered voters				378,249	84,454Template:Increase

MLAs elected

Synopsis of results

Results by ridingTemplate:Snd1935 Alberta general election (all except Calgary and Edmonton)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Riding	First-preference votes								Turnout <ref group=a>including spoilt ballots</ref>	Final counts				Winning party
Name	SC	UFA	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Total		SC	UFA	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	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<ref group=a>John Sedgwick Cowper was previously a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.</ref>	–	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<ref group=a>Lucien Boudreau (Ind-Liberal) - 955 votes; A.S. McRae (Ind-Conservative) - 258 votes.</ref>	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

Template:Color box = Open seat

Template:Color box = turnout is above provincial average

Template:Color box = Candidate was in previous Legislature

Template:Color box = Incumbent had switched allegiance

Template:Color box = Previously incumbent in another riding

Template:Color box = Not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature

Template:Color box = Incumbency arose from by-election gain

Template:Color box = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada

Template:Color box = Multiple candidates

Multi-member districts

District	Seats won (in order declared)
Calgary	width=20 Template:Canadian party colour |	width=20 Template:Canadian party colour |	width=20 Template:Canadian party colour |	width=20 Template:Canadian party colour |	width=20 Template:Canadian party colour |	width=20 Template:Canadian party colour |
Edmonton	Template:Canadian party colour |	Template:Canadian party colour |	Template:Canadian party colour |	Template:Canadian party colour |	Template:Canadian party colour |	Template:Canadian party colour |

width=20 Template:Canadian party colour |	Social Credit
Template:Canadian party colour |	Liberal
Template:Canadian party colour |	Conservative

Template:Color box = Candidate was in previous Legislature

Template:Color box = First-time MLA

Template:Color box = 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	Template:Bartable
Edmonton	37,267	35,625	1,642	Template:Bartable
Edson	5,188	4,511	677	Template:Bartable
Grande Prairie	7,401	6,203	1,198	Template:Bartable
Lac Ste. Anne	3,778	3,309	469	Template:Bartable
Peace River	5,165	4,167	998	Template:Bartable
St. Albert	3,206	3,064	142	Template:Bartable
St. Paul	5,476	5,043	433	Template:Bartable
Sturgeon	5,776	4,782	994	Template:Bartable
Vegreville	5,602	5,112	490	Template:Bartable
Vermilion	5,472	4,101	1,371	Template:Bartable
Whitford	3,786	2,491	1,295	Template:Bartable

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	±	4	4	Template:No change	1	3	2Template:Decrease	3	3	Template:No change	–	1	1Template:Decrease	4	3	1Template:Increase	1	2	1Template:Decrease	6	–	6Template:Increase	4	–	4Template:Increase	1	1	Template:No change	–	–	–	1	–	1Template:Increase	–	–	–	1	2	1Template:Decrease	–	–	–
Total		20	13	7Template:Increase	6	6	Template:No change

Eighteen counts were needed to determine the outcome, but count-by-count results are not available.Template:Efn There are only detailed results for the later counts.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn Manning, Irwin, Anderson, Bowlen and Gostick achieved quota, and Hugill obtained the next best result on the final count.

Edmonton

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

Party		Candidates			MLAs elected
		1935	1930	±	1935	1930	±	6	6	Template:No change	1	3	2Template:Decrease	6	4	2Template:Increase	–	1	1Template:Decrease	6	4	2Template:Increase	3	1	2Template:Increase	6	–	6Template:Increase	2	–	2Template:Increase	1	1	Template:No change	–	1	1Template:Decrease	1	1	Template:No change	–	–	–	1	–	1Template:Increase	–	–	–	–	1	1Template:Decrease	–	–	–
Total		27	17	10Template:Increase	6	6	Template:No change

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.

Initial terminal transfer rates for votes (1930)

Transferred from	Non-transferrable	% transferred to							Total
		Socred	Liberal	UFA	Conservative	Labour	Communist	Reconstruction
Template:Canadian party colour (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%
Template:Canadian party colour (Jamieson)	12	68	193	124	872	–	11	–	1,280
	0.94%	5.31%	15.08%	9.69%	68.13%	–	0.86%	–	100.00%
Template:Canadian party colour (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%
Template:Canadian party colour (Lymburn)	349	320	1,110	–	1,526	–	–	–	3,305
	10.56%	9.68%	33.59%	–	46.17%	–	–	–	100.00%
Template:Canadian party colour (Lakeman)	585	290	341	199	76	–	–	–	1,491
	39.24%	19.45%	22.87%	13.35%	5.10%	–	–	–	100.00%

Further reading

• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

Party platforms

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

See also

• List of Alberta political parties