1955 Alberta general election explained

The 1955 Alberta general election was held on June 29, 1955, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

Despite losing almost 10% of the popular vote (compared to its 1952 proportion of the vote) and 30% of its seats in the legislature, the Social Credit Party, led by Ernest C. Manning, received a slightly higher number of votes than in 1952 and won a comfortable majority for its sixth term in government.

The Liberal Party emerged as the principal opposition to the Social Credit juggernaut, winning over 30% of the popular vote, and increasing its legislative caucus from 4 members to 15. The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation won two seats. However its leader, MLA Elmer Roper, was defeated, ending his thirteen-year career in the legislature. Three Conservative Party candidates and various independents also won seats.

This provincial election, like the previous seven, 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. This was the last provincial election to use PR. After this the electoral system was changed to Plurality voting.

The rise in opposition MLAs was only partially created in the cities where single transferable voting was in use. Only one more opposition MLA was elected in the cities versus the number elected there in 1952. Calgary elected two Liberals in 1955 versus one in 1952. The addition of seven Liberal MLAs was produced by the rise in Liberal Party popularity. This was a sign of dis-satisfaction with the SC government which by that point in time had been in power 20 years.

A portion of the increased opposition caucus were four Liberal MLAs who were elected in rural districts through vote transfers conducted under instant-runoff voting despite the Social Credit candidate in each of the districts being the leader in the First Count. The election of these four caused the government to abandon the STV/AV system that had been in use since 1924. After the system's replacement by single-member Plurality voting and various other reforms put into effect by Premier Manning, the SC government would take many more seats in subsequent elections.^{[1] [2]}

Voter turnout in this election was 68 percent.^[3]

Snap vote

The 1955 election was brought on after Liberal leader James Harper Prowse questioned the confidence of the government in question period regarding members of the Social Credit caucus who had had dealings with the Alberta Treasury Branch. Manning was angered by the question and had the Lieutenant Governor dissolve the assembly despite having two more years left in his term.

Expulsion

On the last day of the campaign Ernest Manning barred candidates Roy Lee and John Landeryou from running as official Social Credit candidates. However, due to the ballots having already been printed, the two men were still listed under the Social Credit name. Lee and Landeryou had violated the Legislative Assembly Act by renting a building to the provincial government.^[4]

End of STV and AV

Following this election, the Social Credit government did away with the Alternative Vote Instant-runoff voting system, that had been in place in the rural constituencies, and the PR through Single Transferable Vote system in Edmonton and Calgary, both of which had been in place since 1924.

Under Single Transferable Voting, results would take up to five days to count the necessary vote transfers, before the last member was declared elected. This was especially problematic, in Edmonton that elected seven members. The resulting representation was very well balanced, with as many as four parties commonly elected in each major city.

As well, the government in 1955 had lost four local elections in rural constituencies due to vote transfers held under IRV, when its candidate had received the largest portion of the vote in the first round but was not elected to the seat after re-distribution of the ballots in later counts. The cancellation of the IRV system was meant to prevent this in the future. In four constituencies the SC candidate had received plurality of first-choice votes but was not elected when another candidate surpassed his lead through vote transfers conducted under IRV. This indicated to the government that the supporters of the opposition parties were beginning to support each other in a joint effort to defeat the government. (One historian has stated that there were 20 constituencies like this in which the SC at the end won only five but that number is too high. There were 16 constituencies in which, in the first count, no candidate took the majority of the votes. Only in these constituencies was it necessary to hold more counts (involving re-distribution of some votes in accordance with voters' marked back-up preferences). Even where vote transfers were conducted and more counts held, mostly the candidate leading in the first round won the seat in the end, but there were four constituencies (Acadia-Coronation, Athabasca, Lac Ste. Anne and Vermilion) in which the leading candidate in the first round was not the candidate with the most votes at the end and thus did not win the seat. The victim in all four cases was a SC candidate.)

The government presented the complicated voting procedure as reason to shift to First past the post, a voting system that was simpler but also was expected to give the government more seats. The 1955 election saw the election of the largest opposition caucus that Manning faced during his 25 years as premier (although it was just 40 percent of the seats in the Legislature). As well, it was the most opposition members Social Credit would face during its 36 years in power.

After the shift to First past the post the next election (1959) saw the government win all but four of the seats in the Legislature, far more than its due share of the vote.

Results

Elections to the 13th Alberta Legislative Assembly (1955)

Party		Leader	Candidates	First-preference votes						Seats
				Votes	±	%	Change (pp)			1952	1955	±	Ernest C. Manning	62	175,553	7,764	46.42		53		16	James H. Prowse	53	117,741	75,812	31.13		3		12[5]	John P. Page	26	34,757	23,786	9.19		2		1	Elmer Roper	38	31,180	10,749	8.24		2				3	2,721	1,482	0.72		1			Frank Gainer	2	4,581	4,581	1.21		–		1		7	4,225	3,520	1.12		–		1	Ross Ellis	2	4,001	4,001	1.06		–		1		9	3,420	2,288	0.90	0.43
Total			202	378,179		100.00%
Rejected ballots				22,839	2,226
Turnout				401,018	82,070	68.0%	8.6
Registered voters				589,409	52,239

MLAs elected

Synopsis of results

Results by riding1955 Alberta general election (all except Calgary, Edmonton and servicemember MLAs)^[6]

Riding	First-preference votes										Turnout [7]	Final counts					Winning party
Name	SC			CCF						Total		SC			CCF		1952		1955
Acadia-Coronation	2,026	1,932	–	607	–	–	–	–	–	4,565	83.6%	2,122	2,263	–	–	–		SC		Lib
Alexandra	2,143	1,420	101	590	–	–	–	–	–	4,254	67.4%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Athabasca	2,073	2,069	–	–	–	–	–	293	–	4,435	71.8%	2,097	2,145	–	–	–		SC		Lib
Banff-Cochrane	1,926	–	–	–	–	2,342	–	–	–	4,268	70.7%	Elected on 1st count						SC		Coal
Bonnyville	1,331	2,250	–	–	788	–	–	–	–	4,369	74.3%	Elected on 1st count						SC		Lib
Bow Valley-Empress	2,330	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2,569	4,899	74.5%	Elected on 1st count						SC		Ind
Bruce	1,978	1,525	70	998	–	–	–	–	–	4,571	74.2%	2,105	2,033	–	–	–		SC		SC
Camrose	2,899	2,214	217	734	–	–	–	–	–	6,064	72.2%	3,081	2,758	–	–	–		SC		SC
Cardston	1,813	985	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2,798	61.8%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Clover Bar	2,314	1,609	331	603	–	–	–	–	–	4,857	70.6%	2,505	2,158	–	–	–		SC		SC
Cypress	2,668	1,205	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3,873	71.7%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Didsbury	2,601	–	–	–	–	2,239	–	–	–	4,840	72.3%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Drumheller	3,224	995	–	–	–	–	–	183	–	4,402	67.4%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Edson	2,529	2,146	192	–	–	–	–	–	–	4,867	70.7%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Gleichen	1,912	1,784	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3,696	74.6%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Grande Prairie	3,240	1,481	377	538	–	–	–	–	–	5,636	70.8%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Grouard	2,319	2,855	–	571	–	–	–	–	–	5,745	67.5%	2,425	3,026	–	–	–		Lib		Lib
Hand Hills	2,685	1,666	–	–	–	–	–	–	282	4,633	81.7%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Lac La Biche	1,868	1,931	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3,799	74.0%	Elected on 1st count						SC		Lib
Lac Ste. Anne	1,965	1,684	–	1,374	–	–	–	–	–	5,023	76.6%	2,120	2,592	–	–	–		SC		Lib
Lacombe	2,255	–	1,579	602	–	–	–	–	–	4,436	72.5%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Leduc	950	963	394	1,147	1,338	–	–	–	–	4,792	68.2%	–	1,871	–	–	2,035		I-SC		I-SC
Lethbridge	4,788	3,361	883	490	–	–	–	–	–	9,522	63.6%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Little Bow	2,481	1,359	510	–	–	–	–	–	–	4,350	75.2%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Macleod	3,037	1,946	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	4,983	66.3%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Medicine Hat	5,066	1,862	–	605	–	–	–	–	–	7,533	61.7%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Okotoks-High River	2,482	–	–	–	–	–	2,607	–	–	5,089	77.3%	Elected on 1st count						SC		L-C
Olds	3,161	2,238	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	5,399	74.7%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Peace River	3,456	2,184	–	780	–	–	–	–	–	6,420	63.2%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Pembina	2,609	1,708	–	840	–	–	–	–	–	5,157	72.9%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Pincher Creek-Crowsnest	2,799	–	–	–	–	–	1,394	363	–	4,556	73.2%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Ponoka	2,254	1,323	184	698	–	–	–	–	130	4,589	71.3%	2,320	1,417	–	751	–		SC		SC
Red Deer	4,170	–	4,381	637	–	–	–	–	–	9,188	70.2%	4,286	–	4,786	–	–		SC		Con
Redwater	1,632	1,878	–	552	–	–	–	270	–	4,332	72.5%	1,739	2,214	–	–	–		SC		Lib
Rocky Mountain House	2,829	1,200	–	417	–	–	–	–	–	4,446	68.6%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
St. Albert	2,509	2,618	159	–	–	–	–	–	646	5,932	79.6%	2,610	3,029	–	–	–		SC		Lib
St. Paul	2,761	2,049	–	–	–	–	–	415	–	5,225	76.4%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Sedgewick	2,748	1,450	–	483	–	–	–	–	–	4,681	71.7%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Spirit River	2,369	1,306	–	950	–	–	–	–	–	4,625	73.1%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Stettler	2,892	–	1,523	726	–	–	–	–	–	5,141	74.6%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Stony Plain	1,788	2,865	–	758	–	–	–	–	–	5,411	71.4%	Elected on 1st count						SC		Lib
Taber	2,788	1,186	–	–	595	–	–	–	–	4,569	68.0%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Vegreville	1,887	1,126	–	1,953	–	–	–	–	–	4,966	81.0%	2,197	–	–	2,374	–		SC		CCF
Vermilion	2,018	1,728	–	684	–	–	–	307	–	4,737	75.4%	2,111	2,131	–	–	–		SC		Lib
Wainwright	2,657	1,537	–	570	–	–	–	63	–	4,827	72.0%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Warner	1,917	1,178	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3,095	55.8%	Elected on 1st count						SC		SC
Wetaskiwin	2,695	1,636	258	892	–	–	–	–	–	5,481	72.3%	2,756	1,731	–	942	–		SC		SC
Willingdon	1,580	756	–	1,729	–	–	–	–	–	4,065	75.5%	1,701	–	–	2,108	–		CCF		CCF

= 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

District	Seats won (in order declared)
Calgary	width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20		width=20 rowspan="2"
Edmonton

width=20		Social Credit
		Liberal
		Conservative (in Edmonton); Progressive Conservative (in Calgary)

= Candidate was in previous Legislature

= First-time MLA

STV analysis

Exhausted votes

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

Exhausted votes (1955)

District	Counts		Exhausted
	1st preference	Final	Votes	% of 1st pref
Calgary	62,494	59,366	3,128
Edmonton	76,544	74,367	2,177
Acadia-Coronation	4,565	4,385	180
Athabasca	4,435	4,242	193
Bruce	4,571	4,138	433
Camrose	6,064	5,839	225
Clover Bar	4,857	4,663	194
Grouard	5,745	5,461	284
Lac Ste. Anne	5,023	4,712	311
Leduc	4,792	3,906	886
Ponoka	4,589	4,488	101
Red Deer	9,188	9,072	116
Redwater	4,332	3,953	379
St. Albert	5,932	5,639	293
Vegreville	4,966	4,571	395
Vermilion	4,737	4,242	495
Wetaskiwin	5,481	5,429	52
Willingdon	4,065	3,809	256

Calgary

Social Credit fielded more candidates than available seats. Liberals had a full slate, while the Conservatives and CCF, focusing on potential votes only, chose to have fewer candidates.

Party		Candidates			MLAs elected
		1955	1952	±	1955	1952	±	7	6	1	3	4	1	6	6		2	1	1	4	5	1	1	1		4	6	2	–	–		1	–	1	–	–	–	1	–	1	–	–	–	–	1	1	–	–	–	–	1	1	–	–	–
Total		23	25	2	6	5	1

Reports of count-by-count results are incomplete, skipping rounds 10, 11 and 1317.^{[8] [9]} The following includes only the winning candidates plus those others going beyond the 17th round:

Edmonton

All major parties ran full slates. There were also two Labour candidates

Party		Candidates			MLAs elected
		1952	1948	±	1952	1948	±	7	7		3	3		7	7		3	2	1	7	7		1	1		7	7		–	1	1	1	1		–	–	–	1	–	1	–	–	–
Total		30	29	1	7	7

See also

• List of Alberta political parties

Notes and References

1. Hesketh. Bob. 1987. The Abolition of Preferential voting in Alberta. Prairie Forum. 12. 1. 123–144 . 0317-6282.
2. A Report on Alberta Elections, p. 77-80
3. A Report on Alberta Elections, p. 81
4. News: Manning Takes Belated Kick At Two Former S.C. Members. Calgary Herald. June 29, 1955. 1.
5. Compared to 1952 Conservative/PC total
6. Book: . A Century of Democracy: Elections of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 1905-2005. Edmonton. . 194–207. 0-9689217-9-5.
7. including spoilt ballots
8. News: . June 30, 1955. A.R. Smith Tops Calgary Voting. Calgary Herald. 1, 10.
9. News: . July 2, 1955. Brecken Out On Last Count. Calgary Herald. 1–2.