The 1993 Alberta general election was held on June 15, 1993, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The Conservative government was re-elected, taking 51 seats out of 83 (61 per cent of the seats) but only having support of 45 per cent of voters.
It is notable because it was seen by some as a contest between the former mayors of Calgary and Edmonton, Ralph Klein and Laurence Decore, respectively.
Until the government's defeat in 2015, this election was the closest the Progressive Conservatives came to losing since coming to power in 1971.
Background In 1992, the Liberal Party was led by Laurence Decore, a former mayor of Edmonton. Despite being the smallest of the three parties in the legislature, the Liberals made major gains by shifting to the political right and criticizing the Conservatives' fiscal responsibility, the province's rapidly rising debt, and the government's involvement in the private sector which resulted in some companies defaulting on government loans.
In September 1992, Don Getty resigned as provincial premier and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, after polls showed that he would not win re-election, with the party's image being hurt by a perceived lack of fiscal responsibility, the in-fighting that resulted from an attempt to force a leadership review after Getty was defeated in his own riding at the previous election, and a backlash to the unpopular federal Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney. The party membership elected Environment Minister and former Calgary mayor Ralph Klein to succeed Getty. Klein campaigned for the leadership in part by making arguments similar to Decore's. He favoured a near-immediate balancing of the provincial budget and rapid debt repayment thereafter, and declared his government "out of the business of business". By the time Klein dropped the writs, his party had regained the lead on polls.
The election was fought on a new series of electoral boundaries based on the census of 1991, drawn by a committee composed only of Progressive Conservative MLAs led by Bob Bogle, with no input from opposition parties. The new electoral map drew criticism from the Alberta Court of Appeal in 1994 because the committee gave no justification for creating four districts well below average population, one of which was Bogle's own riding of Taber-Warner.
Campaign During the general election campaign, Klein promoted the significant changes that he had made during his time of Premier, distancing the Conservatives from Getty's past administration. Decore, facing a Premier with whom he agreed on many issues, argued that the Progressive Conservative party had no moral authority left on the issues on which Klein was campaigning.
There were several televised debates, however viewership was low since it coincided with the 1993 Stanley Cup Final.
The campaign coincided with a leadership election for the federal Progressive Conservatives, after Mulroney announced his resignation as party leader earlier in the year. Vancouver-based MP and cabinet member Kim Campbell quickly became the firm favourite to win, revitalizing the party's flagging popularity in the west, and meaning that Mulroney's unpopularity no longer proved a millstone for the provincial Progressive Conservatives. Campbell would be elected as federal party leader two days before polling day in Alberta, giving the provincial party a last-minute boost; she would, ironically, lead the federal party to a crushing defeat that saw them completely wiped out in Western Canada during the federal election later that year.
Election Klein's efforts were seen as successful in reinvigorating the Conservatives from certain defeat just under a year earlier. Ending up, they retained a solid majority in the legislature for its seventh consecutive term in government. The Conservatives actually managed to increase their share of the popular vote marginally, although they lost eight seats in the legislature since the vote was not as evenly split as it had been four years earlier. Notably, the PC's were shut out of Edmonton for the first time since 1963, but managed to make gains in Klein's hometown of Calgary where they won all but three seats.
The Liberals capitalized on the stagnant PC vote and the collapse of the New Democratic Party vote from 26% to 11%. As opposition to the PC government coalesced around Decore and the Liberals, they won almost 40% of the popular vote and 32 seats in the legislature, including every seat in Edmonton. They formed what was the largest opposition caucus in Alberta history, eventually succeeded by Rachel Notley’s New Democratic Party opposition after the 2023 election. To the surprise of many, Decore stepped down as Liberal leader not long after the election, supposedly being pressured to resign by party insiders who felt that he had missed the party's best chance in over 70 years to form government. Decore's decision was also motivated by two battles against cancer in the preceding three years, which had seriously affected his health; he would ultimately be diagnosed for a third time a few years later, and died in 1999.
Ray Martin's New Democrats, previously the official opposition, were shut out of the legislature altogether for the first time since 1967. All of their seats in Edmonton — including Martin's — were lost to the Liberals, due to the popularity of Decore there. Martin suggested that tactical voting was to blame as well, as the anti-PC vote consolidated around the Liberals.
The Social Credit Party, which had been largely moribund for the previous decade after governing the province from 1935 to 1971, would experience a minor comeback under new leader Randy Thorsteinson, who positioned the party as the de facto provincial branch of the Reform Party of Canada, which was led by Preston Manning, son of former Alberta premier Ernest Manning, and enjoying considerable support in Western Canada. Campbell's election as leader of the federal Progressive Conservatives would see them enjoy a temporary resurgence of popularity that stalled Reform's, and thereby Social Credit's momentum, though the 2.4% of the popular vote earned by the latter was credited for bringing them back from the verge of extinction.
Results Overall voter turnout was 60.21%.
Overall results
PartyVotesSeats439,981 0.2% 8392,899 11.1% 24
Detailed results PartyParty leadercandidatesSeatsPopular vote1989Elected% Change#%% Change Progressive Conservative Ralph Klein 83 59 51 -13.6% 439,981 44.49% +0.20% Laurence Decore 83 8 32 +300% 392,899 39.73% +11.05% New Democrats Ray Martin 83 16 - -100% 108,883 11.01% -15.28% Social Credit Randy Thorsteinson 39 - - - 23,885 2.41% +1.94%Independent 21 - - - 9,214 0.93% +0.67% Maury Shapka 45* - * 5,017 0.51% * Ray Young 12* - * 3,556 0.36% * Alliance Mark Waters 4 * - * 3,548 0.36% * Betty Paschen 11* - * 1,995 0.20% * Naomi Rankin 1 - - - 47 x -0.01%Total382 8383- 989,025 100% Source: Elections Alberta
Notes:
* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.
x – less than 0.005% of the popular vote
Results by riding
|Athabasca-Wabasca||| |Mike Cardinal4,14459.72% | |Simon Waquan1,92127.68% | |Emil Zachkewich84312.15%
|New riding |- |Banff-Cochrane||| |Brian Evans6,55252.43% | |Paula Andrews4,18333.47% | |Cindy McCallum1,0488.39%
|Brian L. Horejsi (Ind.)6074.86%Ginger (V.M.) Sheets-Revitt (Nat. Law)770.62% || |Brian Evans |- |Barrhead-Westlock||| |Kenneth R. Kowalski6,31254.92% | |Dale Greig3,30928.79% | |Harold E. Wharton1,0769.36% | |Dale W. Harris5614.88% | |Adam Hauch (C.o.R.)1431.25%Leonard Stahl (Ind.)670.58%
|Bonnyville | |Ernie Isley4,22245.44%||| |Leo Vasseur4,36446.97% | |Agathe Gaulin6667.17%
|Ernie Isley |- |Bow Valley||| |Lyle Oberg5,40361.13% | |Peter Hansen2,42427.43% | |Richard Knutson5586.31% | |Reuban Huber4364.93%
|Tom N. Musgrove |- |Calgary-Bow||| |Bonnie Laing7,01146.10% | |Rob Van Walleghem5,36935.30% | |Anne McGrath1,90812.55% | |Patrick John Hudson3762.47% | |David Crowe (Green)2871.89%Roberta McDonald (C.o.R.)1200.79%Alan Livingston (Nat. Law)780.51%||| |Bonnie Laing |- |Calgary-Buffalo | |Steven Yu4,31340.41%||| |Gary Dickson4,82645.22% | |Israel Lachovsky1,0629.95%
|Rebecca Matiowsky (Green)2122.00%Ralph Holt (Nat. Law)1851.73% || |Gary Dickson |- |Calgary-Cross||| |Yvonne Fritz6,44959.56% | |Keith Hart3,57633.03% | |Vinay Dey6866.34%
|Neeraj Varma (Nat. Law)860.79%|||
|Calgary-Currie||| |Jocelyn Burgener6,69947.72% | |Mairi Matheson4,67033.26% | |Ilona Boyce1,42610.16%
|Mark Waters (All.)1,2008.57% || |Dennis L. Anderson |- |Calgary-East||| |Moe Amery5,50354.30% | |Dale Muti1,68916.67% | |Barry Pashak2,30622.75% | |Lera G. Shirley3663.61% | |Alain Horchower (Ind.)2372.34%|||
|Calgary-Egmont||| |Denis Herard9,84657.94% | |Dick Nichols5,33231.38% | |Ken Sahil1,0636.26%
|Les Kaluzny (All.)5433.21%Linda Fritz (Nat. Law)1560.92% || |David John Carter |- |Calgary-Elbow||| |Ralph Klein10,06157.94% | |Madeleine King6,14235.37% | |Eileen Clancy Teslenko6173.55% | |Steve Tobler3121.80% | |Miel S.R. Gabriel (Ind.)1010.58%Bruce Hansen (Nat. Law)850.49%||| |Ralph Klein |- |Calgary-Fish Creek||| |Heather Forsyth7,85554.58% | |Marie Cameron5,34637.15% | |Kerin Spaargaren5583.88%
|Roy Carey (Ind.)5443.78%Darlene Holt (Nat. Law)700.49%||| |William Edward Payne |- |Calgary-Foothills||| |Patricia Black8,12952.71% | |Frances Wright6,14639.85% | |Don McMillan9656.26%
|Anna Novikov (Nat. Law)1551.01%||| |Patricia Black |- |Calgary-Glenmore||| |Dianne Mirosh7,97248.54% | |Brendan Dunphy7,06443.01% | |Noreen Murphy6033.67% | |Stuart van der Lee5453.32% | |Sol Candel (Green)1470.90%John Vrskovy (Nat. Law)610.37% || |Dianne Mirosh |- |Calgary-Lougheed||| |Jim Dinning7,28052.70% | |Jack Driscoll5,80342.01% | |Catherine Rose5023.63%
|Peter Hope (C.o.R.)1220.88%Ida Bugmann (Nat. Law)880.64%|||
|Calgary-McCall||| |Harry Sohal4,11844.69% | |A. Giga2,92131.70% | |Sylvia Lilley9009.77%
|Brian R. Newman (Ind.)1,06611.57%Allen Maclennan (C.o.R.)1291.41%Maureen Doram (Nat. Law)550.60%||| |Stanley Kenneth Nelson |- |Calgary-Montrose||| |Hung Pham4,86648.01% | |Keong Yap2,59225.57% | |Jean Munn1,97019.44%
|Blaine Desjardine (Ind.)6136.05%Chris Deluce (Nat. Law)680.67%||| |Rick Orman |- |Calgary-Mountain View||| |Mark Hlady5,76846.07% | |Jonathan Horlick2,79122.29% | |Robert Andrew Hawkesworth3,25526.00% | |George Clark4813.84% | |Bruce Jackman (C.o.R.)1160.93%Alberta Scraba (Nat. Law)710.57% || |Robert Andrew Hawkesworth |- |Calgary-North Hill||| |Richard Charles Magnus6,75649.87% | |Tom Dixon4,26231.46% | |Wendy Charlton1,93514.28%
|Michael O'Malley (Ind.)3942.91%Joyce Gregson (Nat. Law)1601.18%||| |Frederick Alan Stewart |- |Calgary-North West | |Harley Torgerson6,44345.37%||| |Frank Bruseker6,76347.62% | |Paul George Rasporich4953.49% | |David Grant3732.63% | |Paul Colver (Nat. Law)1100.77%||| |Frank Bruseker |- |Calgary-Nose Creek||| |Gary Mar6,97453.53% | |Yolande Gagnon5,05738.81% | |Albert Sole7896.06%
|Ray Harris (Nat. Law)1761.35%|||
|Calgary-Shaw||| |Jonathan Niles Havelock9,32862.24% | |Bill Walker4,96333.11% | |Jason Ness5263.51%
|Ken Nielsen (Nat. Law)1360.91%||| |Jim Dinning |- |Calgary-Varsity||| |Murray D. Smith8,52047.75% | |Carrol Jaques6,86038.45% | |Sharon Kimmel1,78510.00%
|Mike Sawyer (Green)5312.98%Santo Esposito (Nat. Law)990.55%
|Calgary-West | |Ron Leigh6,53244.29%||| |Danny Dalla-Longa6,92746.97% | |Nabil (Ben) Hantes5843.96% | |Sharon Whitehead5483.72% | |Phil Morin (Nat. Law)1350.92%||| |Elaine McCoy |- |Cardston-Chief Mountain||| |Jack Ady3,34569.05% | |Bruce A. Jackson1,32627.37% | |Larry Zima1633.36%
|Chinook||| |Shirley McClellan4,74864.85% | |Dianne Anderson1,01513.86% | |Steven Milner2233.05% | |Gus Mattheis1,02514.00% | |Kristopher Dietrich (Ind.)2934.00%||| |Shirley McClellan |- |Clover Bar-Fort Saskatchewan | |Rob Splane4,81635.97%||| |Muriel Abdurahman5,61241.91% | |W.H. (Skip) Gordon2,07215.47%
|Kurt Gesell (Ind.)8726.51%|||