View source for Premier of Alberta

{{Short description|First minister for the Canadian province of Alberta}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox official post
| post = Premier
| body = Alberta
| native_name = {{nobold|{{lang|fr|Premier ministre de l'Alberta}}}}
| image = Danielle Smith 2014.jpg
| incumbent = [[Danielle Smith]]
| incumbentsince = October 11, 2022
| department = Office of the Premier
| style = {{plainlist|
* [[The Honourable]] (formal)
* [[Premier]] (informal)
}}
| status = [[Head of Government]]
| member_of = {{hlist |[[Legislative Assembly of Alberta|Legislative Assembly]]|[[Executive Council of Alberta|Executive Council]]}}
| reports_to = {{hlist|[[Legislative Assembly of Alberta|Legislative Assembly]]|[[Lieutenant Governor of Alberta|Lieutenant Governor]]}}
| residence = 
| seat = [[Edmonton]]
| nominator = 
| appointer = [[Lieutenant Governor of Alberta]]
| appointer_qualified = with the [[Motion of no confidence|confidence]] of the Alberta Legislature
| termlength = [[At {{ucfirst:{{Canadian monarch, current|genderp=~}}}} Majesty's pleasure]]
| termlength_qualified = contingent on the premier's ability to [[Parliamentary system|command confidence]] in the legislative assembly
| constituting_instrument = 
| formation = September 2, 1905
| first = [[Alexander Cameron Rutherford]]
| deputy = [[Deputy Premier of Alberta]]
| salary = 
| website = {{official URL}}
}}

The '''premier of Alberta''' is the [[head of government]] and [[first minister]] of the [[Provinces and territories of Canada|Canadian province]] of [[Alberta]]. The current [[premier (Canada)|premier]] is [[Danielle Smith]], leader of the governing [[United Conservative Party]], who was [[Oath of office|sworn in]] on October 11, 2022.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Austen |first1=Ian |title=After a Hard-Right Turn, Alberta's Conservatives Retain Power |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/world/americas/alberta-canada-conservative-election.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=28 October 2023 |date=30 May 2023}}</ref>

The premier of Alberta is the leader of the [[responsible government|legislative majority]] in the [[Legislative Assembly of Alberta|Alberta Legislature]]. The premier selects [[ministers of the Crown]] to the [[Executive Council of Alberta]] (the "[[Cabinet (government)|cabinet]]") and as such is the [[head of the government]] in Alberta. The premier is the [[first minister]] representing Alberta towards the [[First Ministers' Conference|federal government]] and the other [[Council of the Federation|provinces and territories in Canada]].

By [[Constitutional convention (political custom)|constitutional convention]] the premier is normally a [[Member of the Legislative Assembly]] (MLA).

==Duties and functions==
To be effective, accountable and in line with custom, the premier is expected to hold a seat in the legislature, so the premier serves as the MLA for a [[Electoral district (Canada)|riding]] and is elected as MLA by the constituents of that constituency. As with most government leaders in a [[parliamentary system]], the premier usually wins their own election as MLA easily. However, on occasion, a premier has not been re-elected to their seat in a general election, forcing them to run in a [[by-election]] in a constituency that comes empty by the resignation of the sitting MLA or other incident. The most recent case of this was [[Don Getty]], who lost his [[Edmonton-Whitemud]] seat in the [[1989 Alberta general election|1989 election]] and then ran and was elected in a by-election in [[Stettler (provincial electoral district)|Stettler]]. In 2022 Danielle Smith was elected party leader without holding a seat in the legislative assembly, thus becoming premier, and within a few weeks won a seat in a by-election.

==List of premiers==
{{main|List of premiers of Alberta}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last1=Perry |first1=Sandra E. |last2=Craig |first2=Jessica J. |title=The Mantle of Leadership: Premiers of the Northwest Territories and Alberta |year=2006 |publisher=Legislative Assembly of Alberta |location=[[Edmonton]], [[Alberta]] |isbn=0-9689217-2-8 |url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/centennialseries02perr }}
*{{cite book |editor=Bradford J. Rennie |title=Alberta Premiers of the Twentieth Century |year=2004 |publisher=Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina |location=[[Regina, Saskatchewan]] |isbn=978-0-88977-151-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/albertapremierso0000unse |url-access=registration}}

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{{succession box
| title=[[Order of precedence in Alberta]]
| years={{As of|June 2024|lc=on}}
| before=[[Salma Lakhani]], [[Lieutenant Governor of Alberta]]
| after=[[Ritu Khullar]], Chief Justice of the [[Court of Appeal of Alberta]]}}
{{succession box
| title=[[Canadian order of precedence|Order of precedence in Canada]]
| years={{As of|June 2024|lc=on}}
| before=[[Scott Moe]], [[Premier of Saskatchewan]]
| after= [[Andrew Furey]], [[Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador]]
}}
{{s-end}}
{{ABPremiers}}
{{Politics of Canadian provinces}}
{{Alberta politics}}

[[Category:Premiers of Alberta| ]]
[[Category:1905 establishments in Alberta]]