The 1940 Alberta general election was held on March 21, 1940, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
Despite its failure to implement its key policy, providing prosperity certificates to all Albertans, the Social Credit Party of Premier William Aberhart won a second term in government. Nevertheless, it lost eleven seats that it had won in the 1935 landslide.
This provincial election, like the previous three, 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.
Unity Movement The Conservative and Liberal parties as well as the remains of the United Farmers, recognizing the widespread popularity of the Social Credit party, ran joint candidates as independents in what was called the "Independent Movement", "Unity Movement" or People's League. Although independent candidates won almost as many votes as Social Credit, their support was dispersed across many areas so few of the movement's candidates took a majority of the votes (required under Instant-runoff voting to take the seat) so the movement's overall vote tally did not translate into its due share of seats overall. The Independent Movement lost a number of races by small margins. However, due to the Parliamentary system, which awards power solely on the basis of seats won, Social Credit was returned for a second term, albeit with a considerably reduced majority.
The Liberals under leader Edward Gray chose only to support Independent candidates that they played a hand in nominating, and nominated other candidates under its own banner. Gray felt that candidates should not be machined into the field and left it up to the individual Liberal constituency associations to decide if they would support a candidate or not.
This would be the most opposition that Social Credit would face until 1959.
Co-operative Commonwealth The social democratic Cooperative Commonwealth Federation nominated candidates for the first time, but failed to win any seats in the legislature, despite winning over 10% of the popular vote under the leadership of former United Farmers of Alberta MLA Chester Ronning. Like Ronning, most of the CCF's candidates had run in the 1935 election for the UFA.
Reduction of electoral districts An Act was passed in 1939 that provided for the reduction of the number of MLAs from 63 to 57, upon the next election. Calgary and Edmonton now returned five MLAs each instead of six, and the following other changes were made:
Abolished NewNew districts Brucefrom parts of Vegreville, Sedgewick and Camrose Spirit Riverfrom part of Grande PrairieRenaming of districts Innisfail Rocky Mountain Housealso drawing in parts of Edson, Red Deer and LacombeAbolition of districts Nanton-Claresholm divided among Macleod, Okotoks-High River and Little Bow Ribstone divided between Acadia-Coronation and WainwrightMerger of districts Acadia Coronation Acadia-Coronation Bow Valley Empress Bow Valley-EmpressReorganization of districts Cochrane Pincher Creek Rocky Mountain Banff-Cochrane Pincher Creek-Crowsnest Sturgeon Victoria Whitford Redwater Willingdon
Results
+Elections to the 9th Alberta Legislative Assembly (1940)PartyLeaderCandidatesFirst-preference votesSeats Votes ± % Change (pp) 1935 1940 ±William Aberhart56 132,507 31,193 42.90 5620 compared against combined 1935 totals for UFA, Conservatives and Liberals (other than Grouard)Andrew Davison57 130,603 11,178 42.28 613Edward Gray2 2,755 483 0.89 12 3,258 1,828 1.05 –1Chester Ronning36 34,316 34,316 11.11 1 1,136 181 0.37 1 1,067 4,704 0.35 1 in Calgary; 1 in Edmonton2 569 2,171 0.18 1 251 27 0.08 4 1,726 1,726 0.56 1 362 362 0.12 2 314 314 0.10Total 165308,864 100.00% Rejected ballots 10,615 2,346 Turnout 319,479 9,458 74.8% 7.0 Registered voters 427,335 49,086
MLAs elected
Synopsis of results + Results by riding1940 Alberta general election (all except Calgary and Edmonton) Riding First-preference votes Turnoutincluding spoilt ballots Final counts Winning partyName SC CCF Total SC CCF 1935 1940 Acadia-Coronation2,163 1,665 559 – – – 4,38776.3% 2,297 1,963 – – – New SC Alexandra2,215 1,255 1,273 – – – 73.1% 2,326 – 1,953 – – SC SC Athabasca1,965 1,336 782 – – – 4,083 61.9% 2,078 1,497 – – – SC SC Banff-Cochrane1,869 2,931 – – – – 4,80080.4%Elected on 1st count New IndM Beaver River2,555 – 669 – – 1,254 4,478 70.4%Elected on 1st count SC SCBow Valley-Empress2,035 1,762 – – – – 3,797 70.5%Elected on 1st count New SC Bruce2,018 1,433 752 – – – 4,203 71.8% 2,203 1,781 – – – New SC Camrose2,472 1,484 1,550 – – – 5,50677.2% 2,582 – 2,508 – – SC SC Cardston2,160 1,808 – – – – 3,96881.9%Elected on 1st count SC SC Clover Bar2,252 1,370 1,476 – – – 5,09877.9% 2,418 – 2,261 – – SC SC Cypress1,667 2,065 – – – – 3,73275.3%Elected on 1st count SC IndM Didsbury2,312 2,379 – – – – 74.5%Elected on 1st count SC IndM Drumheller2,043 1,530 741 – – – 4,31479.8% 2,330 1,720 – – – SC SC Edson1,949 – 798 – 2,211 – 4,958 72.7% 2,100 – – – 2,558 SC Lab Gleichen1,457 2,255 670 – – – 4,38275.2%Elected on 1st count SC IndM Grande Prairie1,556 1,998 674 – – – 4,228 70.4% 1,784 2,233 – – – SC IndM Grouard1,703 – 1,024 1,747 – – 4,474 62.0% 1,961 – – 1,965 – Lib Lib Hand Hills2,547 1,970 – – – – 4,51775.5%Elected on 1st count SC SC Lac Ste. Anne1,612 1,239 1,110 – – – 3,961 63.9% 1,839 1,704 – – – SC SC Lacombe2,321 2,061 626 – – – 5,00875.6% 2,457 2,361 – – – SC SC Leduc2,141 1,106 732 – – – 3,979 65.9%Elected on 1st count SC SC Lethbridge2,760 4,318 – – – – 7,07883.4%Elected on 1st count SC IndM Little Bow2,162 2,034 – – – – 4,19686.0%Elected on 1st count SC SC Macleod2,487 2,446 – – – – 4,93382.3%Elected on 1st count SC SC Medicine Hat2,943 2,863 – – – – 5,80686.1%Elected on 1st count SC SC Okotoks-High River3,178 4,352 – – – – 7,53080.5%Elected on 1st count SC IndM Olds2,345 2,455 – – – 362 5,16276.4% 2,549 2,483 – – – SC SC Peace River2,114 2,253 – – – – 4,367 60.0%Elected on 1st count SC IndM Pembina1,589 1,719 743 – – – 4,051 60.0% 1,818 1,980 – – – SC IndM Pincher Creek-Crowsnest2,356 2,129 – – 1,047 – 5,53286.1% 2,443 2,210 – – – New SC Ponoka1,907 1,920 575 – – – 4,402 74.7% 2,045 2,234 – – – SC IndM Red Deer2,083 2,760 – – – 971 5,81477.7% 2,330 3,142 – – – SC IndM Redwater2,226 945 785 – – – 3,956 64.9%Elected on 1st count New SC Rocky Mountain House2,477 1,496 767 – – – 4,740 69.4%Elected on 1st count SC SC St. Albert1,692 1,383 552 1,008 – – 4,635 70.9% 2,018 2,304 – – – SC IndM St. Paul2,270 1,609 813 – – – 4,692 70.2% 2,421 1,785 – – – SC SC Sedgewick2,605 1,426 794 – – – 4,82575.7%Elected on 1st count SC SC Spirit River1,409 1,087 772 – – – 3,268 63.3% 1,707 1,295 – – – New SC Stettler2,668 1,851 784 – – – 5,30378.5%Elected on 1st count SC SC Stony Plain1,914 1,228 942 – – 196 4,280 72.6% 2,213 1,606 – – – SC SC Taber1,879 1,383 576 – – – 3,83880.0% 1,998 1,618 – – – SC SC Vegreville2,223 1,920 523 – – – 4,66675.6% 2,375 2,061 – – – SC SC Vermilion2,203 1,815 936 – – – 4,95476.4% 2,506 2,148 – – – SC SC Wainwright2,296 1,611 1,039 – – 365 5,31176.4% 2,583 2,169 – – – SC SC Warner1,558 1,937 – – – – 3,49583.0%Elected on 1st count SC IndM Wetaskiwin2,480 1,874 901 – – – 5,255 71.9% 2,761 2,179 – – – SC SC Willingdon2,329 514 968 – – – 3,811 64.4%Elected on 1st count New SC
= 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 Edmonton
Social Credit Independent Movement
= Candidate was in previous Legislature = First-time MLA = Previously incumbent in another district.
STV analysis Exhausted votes Twenty-eight districts went beyond first-preference counts in order to determine winning candidates:
+ Exhausted votes (1935)DistrictCountsExhausted 1st preference Final Votes% of 1st prefCalgary45,914 44,830 1,084 Edmonton43,743 41,130 2,613 Acadia-Coronation4,387 4,260 127 Alexandra4,743 4,279 464 Athabasca4,083 3,575 508 Bruce4,203 3,984 219 Camrose5,506 5,090 416 Clover Bar5,098 4,679 419 Drumheller4,314 4,050 264 Edson4,958 4,658 300 Grande Prairie4,228 4,017 211 Grouard4,474 3,926 548 Lac Ste. Anne3,961 3,543 418 Lacombe5,008 4,818 190 Olds5,162 5,032 130 Pembina4,051 3,798 253 Pincher Creek-Crowsnest5,532 4,653 879 Ponoka4,402 4,279 123 Red Deer5,814 5,472 342 St. Albert4,635 4,322 313 St. Paul4,692 4,206 486 Spirit River3,268 3,002 266 Stony Plain4,280 3,819 461 Taber3,838 3,616 222 Vegreville4,666 4,436 230 Vermilion4,954 4,654 300 Wainwright5,311 4,752 559 Wetaskiwin5,255 4,940 315
Calgary The Independent Movement (also called the "Citizens' Slate) fielded six candidates for the five seats. The other parties nominated fewer candidates than the maximum seats sought.
PartyCandidatesMLAs elected 1940 1935 ± 1940 1935 ±6 – 6 3 – 34 6 2 2 4 22 – 2 – – –1 1 – – –1 1 – – –– 4 4 – 1 1– 4 4 – 1 1– 3 3 – – –– 1 1 – – –Total14 20 6 5 6 1
Edmonton The Independent Movement presented seven candidates for the five seats being contested.
PartyCandidatesMLAs elected 1940 1935 ± 1940 1935 ±7 – 7 3 – 35 6 1 2 2 3 – 3 – – –2 – 2 – – –1 – 1 – – –1 1 – – –– 6 6 – 1 1– 6 6 – 3 3– 1 1 – – –– 6 6 – – –– 1 1 – – –Total19 27 8 5 6 1
References
Further reading
Party platforms
See also List of Alberta political parties