The 1986 Alberta general election was held on May 8, 1986, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The Alberta Progressive Conservatives were re-elected to a majority of seats, this time under a new leader, Don Getty.
Peter Lougheed, who had created the modern Alberta Progressive Conservatives in the 1960s, led it to power in 1971 and served as premier of Alberta for fourteen years, retired from politics in 1985. The PC Party elected Don Getty as its new leader.
Getty did not have the confidence of as many Albertans as Lougheed had, and the party's popular vote fell by ten percentage points. The PCs still won a fifth term in government, with over half the votes in the province, and 61 of the 83 seats in the legislature. While the PC's continued to dominate in Calgary and rural Alberta, unlike previous PC victories the party was badly routed in the provincial capital Edmonton where it won only four seats.
The New Democratic Party, now led by Ray Martin, made itself the focus of opposition to the PC government, winning almost 30% of the vote, and sixteen seats in the legislature (up from two in the 1982 election), mostly in Edmonton where they became the dominant political party. This was a salutary result after the tragic death of its leader, Grant Notley, in 1984. It again took 16 seats in the next election. These two elections were the NDP's best result in any election until it won government in the 2015 election.
The Liberal Party of Nicholas Taylor returned to the legislature for the first time since 1969 with four seats.
Representative Party of Alberta, led by former Social Credit Party of Alberta|Socred minister Raymond Speaker, took two seats. The Social Credit Party of Alberta nominated no candidates, a first in more than 50 years. The party had governed Alberta for 36 years before getting bounced out of power by the Tories in 1971. Unlike the previous 12 elections, it won no seats in 1982. Former Socred minister Raymond Speaker and another veteran Socred MLA, Walt Buck, were elected as Independents in 1982 and had formed the Representative Party of Alberta. Speaker and Buck retained their seats in 1986, but no other RPA candidates were elected.
Western Canada Concept, a western separatist party that had won almost 12% of the vote in 1982, collapsed under the leadership of Jack Ramsay, who later served as a Reform Party of Canada Member of Parliament.
The 22-member opposition in the Alberta Legislature was the largest since 1971. Although the opposition MLAs were still outnumbered three to one by Conservative MLAs, they presented a significant competitive voice to the dominant Conservative Party. The NDP, long the most able, visible and popular opposition group in the Legislature now were granted status of Official Opposition. The existence of the moderately large opposition is counter to the pattern of Alberta both before and after of having minuscule opposition in the Legislature, one party dominance for a long period followed by landslide in favour of a new party. (The minuscule opposition was time after time artificially produced by election system. From 1940 to 1971 Social Credit never received more than 60 per cent of the vote but almost always got than 80 per cent of the seats. The Progressive Conservative from 1971 to 1982 got 46-70 per cent of the votes but each time got about 20 per cent more of the seats than its due.)A Report on Alberta Elections, 1905-1982
Thus the 1986 Legislature was part of a break, short lived as it happened, in the usual pattern of Alberta politics that some describe as ideologically conservative, anachronistic, odd and unpredictable. It was thought by some that Alberta politics was beginning to resemble that of Canada's other provinces.
UofA prof Allan Tupper said the rise of a new, competent opposition was a healthy development in Alberta's politics and would likely contribute positively to Alberta's economic and social well-being.Allan Tupper, "New Dimensions Of Alberta Politics." Queen's Quarterly 1986 93(4): 780-791.
However, in 1993, the NDP caucus was obliterated, and the Liberal became the Official Opposition. And Conservatives received 61 per cent of the seats (although with only 45 per cent of the votes) and thus still held overwhelming dominance in the Legislature, with a three to two ratio of seats over the opposition.
Ten women were elected to the Legislature in this election - six Conservatives, three NDP-ers and one Liberal.
Results Overall voter turnout was 47.25%.
PartyParty leaderCandidatesSeatsPopular vote1982Elected% Change#%% Change Don Getty 83 75 61 -18.7% 366,783 51.40% -10.88% Ray Martin 83 2 16 +700% 208,561 29.22% +10.47% Nicholas Taylor 63 - 4 87,239 12.22% +10.41% Raymond Speaker 46 * 2 * 36,656 5.15% *Independent 20 2 - -100% 6,134 0.86% -3.01% Jack Ramsay20 - - - 4,615 0.65% -11.11% Elmer Knutson 6 * - * 2,866 0.40% * Mike Pawlus6* -*601 0.08% * David Wallis6 - - - 199 0.03% -0.01%Total3337983 - 713,654 100% Source: Elections Alberta
Note:
* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.
Results by riding
|Athabasca-Lac La Biche | |Bill Kostiw3,09835.97%||| |Leo Piquette3,37239.15% | |Don J. Corse1,94222.55%
|Peter Mihailuk (WCC)1842.14%|||
|Banff-Cochrane||| |Greg Stevens4,53665.83% | |Ed Fisher1,45221.07%
|Betty Ann Stimson4366.33% | |Bill Deacon (Ind.)4446.44%||| |Greg Stevens |- |Barrhead||| |Kenneth R. Kowalski5,09257.74% | |Larry E. McConnell2,30326.11% | |Mary Lou Ehrenholz6377.22% | |Ferne Nutt2352.66% | |Herb Brent (Ind.)5396.11%||| |Kenneth R. Kowalski |- |Bonnyville||| |Ernie Isley3,63065.24% | |Thomas J. Tucker1,66329.89%
|Vern McCaig (WCC)2564.60%||| |Ernie Isley |- |Bow Valley||| |Tom N. Musgrove3,39557.82% | |Vanore Voaklander2053.49% | |Horace Andrew Olson Jr.1,04617.81% | |Martha Andrews1,22020.78%
|Tom N. Musgrove |- |Calgary-Bow||| |Neil Webber5,39255.84% | |Scott Jeffrey3,33634.54% | |Annyteh K. Pezuolla6116.33%
|Douglas Attfield (Her.)2692.80% || |Neil Webber |- |Calgary-Buffalo | |Brian Craig Lee3,43734.54% | |George Chatsis1,08910.94%||| |Sheldon Chumir5,24252.68% | |Colin Svendsen1531.54%
|Brian Craig Lee |- |Calgary-Currie||| |Dennis L. Anderson5,48359.52% | |Glenn Miller1,65417.95% | |Rork Hilford1,84220.00%
|Peter Grizans (Ind.)2192.38%||| |Dennis L. Anderson |- |Calgary-Egmont||| |David John Carter5,78166.90% | |Tom Chesterman1,74020.14% | |Bernie C. Tanner1,10212.75%
|David John Carter |- |Calgary-Elbow||| |David J. Russell4,51565.16% | |Susan C. Liddy1,11916.15% | |Frank Wishlow1,26818.30%
|David J. Russell |- |Calgary-Fish Creek||| |William Edward Payne7,85269.41% | |Kerin Spaargaren1,88216.64% | |Lea Russell1,55313.73%
|William Edward Payne |- |Calgary-Foothills||| |Janet Koper6,11155.29% | |Thora Miessner2,57223.27% | |Len Wolstenholme1,74115.75% | |J. Allen Howard6235.64%
|Janet Koper |- |Calgary-Forest Lawn | |Moe Amiri2,41034.55%||| |Barry Pashak2,49235.73% | |Gene Czaprowski1,11115.93% | |Douglas Williams2373.40% | |Mikey Graham (Ind.)2713.90%Gerald K. Lee (Ind.)2243.22% Independent Dorothy Bohdan (Ind.)1091.57%IndependentJim Othen (Ind.)670.96%Bruce Potter (Comm.)280.40% || |John Zaozirny |- |Calgary-Glenmore||| |Dianne Mirosh5,71860.18% | |Kelly Hegg1,33714.07% | |Lois Cummings2,03321.40%
|Larry R Heather (Ind.)3844.04%||| |Hugh L. Planche |- |Calgary-McCall||| |Stanley Kenneth Nelson5,41862.99% | |Ken Richmond2,43528.31% | |John J. Gleason7308.49%
|Stanley Kenneth Nelson |- |Calgary-McKnight||| |Eric Charles Musgreave4,82355.01% | |Sandra Botting2,61029.77% | |Carol Reimer1,30714.91%
|Eric Charles Musgreave |- |Calgary-Millican||| |Gordon Wells Shrake3,20447.92% | |David Davis Swan2,51237.57% | |James Jude Smith5888.79% | |Barry M. Bernard1482.21% | |Dave Wereschuk (Ind.)2093.13%||| |Gordon Wells Shrake |- |Calgary-Montrose||| |Rick Orman4,39559.63% | |Frank Gereau2,03527.61% | |Roly Thomas7109.63% | |Adrian C. Janssens2182.96%
|Calgary-Mountain View | |Jim Prentice5,26743.39%||| |Robert Andrew Hawkesworth5,52445.51% | |Doug Rae1,1399.38%
|Tom Erhart (Ind.)1721.42%||| |Bohdan Zip |- |Calgary-North Hill||| |Frederick Alan Stewart5,54554.26% | |Noel Jantzie2,94028.77% | |Pauline Kay1,18911.64% | |Tom Gorman5115.00%
|Ed Oman |- |Calgary-North West||| |Stan Cassin7,77562.40% | |Tom Schepens3,37627.09% | |Dean Biollo1,28410.30%
|Sheila Embury |- |Calgary-Shaw||| |Jim Dinning6,69461.38% | |Len Curle1,16610.69% | |Brendan Dunphy2,72725.01% | |Byron L. Chenger2952.71%
|Calgary-West||| |Elaine McCoy6,84664.33% | |Joseph Yanchula2,35422.12% | |George Francom1,39013.06%
|Peter Lougheed |- |Camrose||| |Ken Rostad5,31254.91% | |Gordon Ekelund2,26923.45% | |Ralph Tate7587.84% | |J.A. (Jim) Watson6977.20% | |Jack Ramsay (WCC)6346.55%||| |Gordon Stromberg |- |Cardston||| |Jack Ady2,67960.08% | |Cynthia Cunningham3898.72%
|Steve Pinchak (Ind.)1,37630.86%||| |John Thompson |- |Chinook||| |Henry Kroeger3,79679.35% | |Lavera Gladys Creasy95920.05%
|Henry Kroeger |- |Clover Bar | |Muriel Abdurahman2,81127.71% | |Ken Robinson2,08520.55% | |Barry Shandro4444.38%||| |Walt A. Buck4,79547.26%
|Walt A. Buck |- |Cypress-Redcliff||| |Alan Hyland2,48252.40% | |Lew Toole55811.78%
|Lloyd B. Robinson1,68235.51%
|Drayton Valley||| |Shirley Cripps5,33061.00% | |Lawrence Dublenko2,27526.04% | |Phil J. Gibeau5946.80% | |Ron Williams3013.44% | |Gordon Reid (WCC)2192.51%||| |Shirley Cripps |- |Drumheller||| |Stan Schumacher4,90660.97% | |Sid Holt1,15414.34%
|Norman A. Stanger1,72921.49% | |Peter Hope (Ind.)2443.03%||| |Lewis (Mickey) Clark |- |Dunvegan||| |Glen Clegg4,14651.05% | |Jim Gurnett3,94448.56%
|Edmonton-Avonmore | |Horst A. Schmid4,14041.17%||| |Marie Laing4,23442.10% | |Michael Brings1,11711.11% | |Karl R. Badke4164.14% | |Mike Walker (WCC)1401.39%||| |Horst A. Schmid |- |Edmonton-Belmont | |Walter R. Szwender3,16030.19%||| |Thomas Sigurdson4,49142.91% | |Pat Sembaliuk2,48623.75% | |Bette Davies1981.89% | |Joe Kovacs (Her.)670.64%David Wallis (Comm.)390.37% || |Walter R. Szwender |- |Edmonton-Beverly | |Bill W. Diachuk3,91734.30%||| |Ed W. Ewasiuk6,69958.66% | |Jim Shinkaruk7846.87%
|Bill W. Diachuk |- |Edmonton-Calder | |Tony Falcone2,91028.82%||| |Christie Mjolsness5,11450.65% | |Al Iafolla1,92519.07%
|Dave Draginda (WCC)1111.10% Martin Robbert (Comm.)260.26% || |Tom Chambers |- |Edmonton-Centre | |Mary LeMessurier3,81640.21%||| |William Roberts3,97641.89% | |Douglas Haydock1,38414.58%
|Fred Marshall (WCC)1821.92%Leonard Stahl (Ind.)1031.09%||| |Mary LeMessurier |- |Edmonton-Glengarry | |Ihor Broda3,72035.26%||| |John Younie5,37150.91% | |Hugh W. Burgess1,19111.29% | |Lou Peterson1471.39% | |Herb Lang (WCC)990.94%||| |Rollie Cook |- |Edmonton-Glenora||| |Nancy Betkowski5,19352.33% | |Jim Bell2,91829.40% | |Colin P. McDonald1,35213.62% | |C.A. Douglas Ringrose3123.14% | |Alice Elaine Moody (WCC)1331.34%||| |Lou Hyndman |- |Edmonton-Gold Bar | |Alois Paul Hiebert4,15028.24% | |Randy Morse4,14228.18%||| |Bettie Hewes6,37843.40%
|Alois Paul Hiebert |- |Edmonton-Highlands | |David T. King3,50742.37%||| |Pam Barrett4,15950.25% | |Naseer A. Chaudhary4175.04% | |Todd R.C. Ross831.00% | |Naomi Rankin (Comm.)510.62%Cec Garfin (Her.)300.36% || |David T. King |- |Edmonton-Jasper Place||| |Leslie Gordon Young4,35740.01% | |Vair Clendenning4,28639.36% | |Karen Leibovici1,94717.88% | |Michael P. Astle1571.44% | |Curtis Long (WCC)1221.12%||| |Leslie Gordon Young |- |Edmonton-Kingsway | |Allen Wasnea3,49138.15%||| |Alex McEachern4,66951.02% | |Patrick Reid8969.79%
|Bowden John Zachara (Her.)780.85% || |Carl Paproski |- |Edmonton-Meadowlark | |Gerard Joseph Amerongen4,22236.55% | |Muriel Stanley-Venne2,31520.04%||| |Grant Mitchell4,91342.54% | |R. (Bob) Genis-Bell1761.52% | |Norm Kyle (WCC)900.78%||| |Gerard Joseph Amerongen |- |Edmonton-Mill Woods | |Milt Pahl4,00441.87%||| |Gerry Gibeault4,10342.90% | |Philip Lister8619.00% | |Richard Mather4454.65% | |Mike Pawlus (Her.)1321.38% || |Milt Pahl |- |Edmonton-Norwood |