The Weekly Roundup - Alberta Votes 2023
After a lot of waiting last night, the results from the Alberta provincial election are in, and Danielle Smith has formed a majority government of 49 seats with her United Conservative Party also winning the popular vote in the province with 52.5 per cent of the vote. The 31st Legislature will see the largest Official Opposition in decades, including the NDP holding the majority of the seats in Alberta’s two main cities of Edmonton (20 of 20 seats) and Calgary (14 of 26 seats), pending any recounts.
Dissection of the NDP loss will be a subject of much discussion in the days, weeks and months to come, but for the time being, Rachel Notley is staying on as NDP leader. The party’s constitution means that a leadership review will be conducted at the NDP’s next convention, likely in 2024. At the end of the day, the NDP’s campaign narrative was incredibly focused on criticizing Danielle Smith and did not appear to resonate with voters in the way they had hoped.
With a UCP caucus that will have no representation in Edmonton and a smaller contingent in Calgary, cabinet making will be an interesting task. Some of the familiar UCP candidates who lost their seats last night include:
Tyler Shandro in Calgary-Acadia (subject to a recount, currently a 7 vote difference between UCP and NDP)
Nicholas Milliken in Calgary-Currie
Prasad Panda in Calgary -Edgemont
Jason Luan in Calgary-Foothills
Jason Copping in Calgary-Varsity
Kaycee Madu in Edmonton-South West
When Stephen Harper gave his victory speech in 2011, he spoke of his successful campaign for a strong, stable conservative majority government. When Danielle Smith took the stage last night to give her victory speech, she echoed that language of a strong, stable majority government while also striking a conciliatory tone with Albertans who did not vote for her party. As Danielle Smith meets with her caucus and sets her legislative agenda for a four-year term, she would be wise to continue to push that message of strength and stability, with an emphasis on the latter.
Chaos agents in the UCP may be reviewing the UCP’s governance manual on what it takes to conduct a leadership review, but for the time being Danielle Smith has a strong mandate to push ahead with her campaign platform planks of affordability, growing the economy and improving the health care system.
Election results will be made official on June 8, and you can expect to see MLAs sworn in and a cabinet appointed later in the month. We’ll be back next week with a more analysis on the Alberta election as well as a recap of top federal stories.
New West in the Media
Want to hear more about what New West’s team has been sharing in the media about the provincial election and other top stories in Canadian politics? Use the links below to listen, watch or read:
Michael Solberg on CBC’s the Current breaking down the election results this morning with former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi & former city councillor Jeromy Farkas.
Michael Solberg on a CPAC special in advance of the Alberta election.
Monte Solberg on a special edition of CBC’s Alberta at Noon exclusively about the Alberta election.
Christine Myatt featured in the Globe and Mail on why voter turnout mattered this election (the turnout sat around 62 per cent this year, compared to 67.5 per cent in 2019).
Saeed Selvam on Global News Toronto with a look at the Toronto mayoral race.
Upcoming Events Calendar
June 19, 2023: Byelections will be held in four federal ridings (all seats are considered to be safe for their respective incumbent party)