Alberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party is a political party in Alberta, Canada.
The Liberals formed the government in Alberta for the first 15 years of the province's existence. Alexander C. Rutherford (1905-1910), Arthur L. Sifton (1910-1917) and Charles Stewart (1917-1921) led Liberal governments, until the party was swept from office in 1921 by the United Farmers of Alberta.
The party has floundered in the eight decades since their defeat, never electing more than 15 MLAs and often being shut out of the provincial legislature altogether.
The party was especially hurt during the federal government of Pierre Trudeau's Liberal Party of Canada between 1968 and 1984. Trudeau's policies were especially unpopular in the west, particularly official bilingualism, and the National Energy Program, which exacerbated feelings of western alienation.
During this period, the provincial Liberal party suffered because of its connections with its federal cousins.
Between 1971 and 1986, the party did not win a single seat in the Alberta Legislature, and did not receive more than 6% of the popular vote.
Even the social democratic Alberta New Democrats were more successful.
The Liberals did not return to the legislature until 1986, when they won 4 seats and 12% of the popular vote.
In 1993, the Liberals enjoyed their greatest success since holding power when they swept Edmonton, elected a total of 32 MLAs and collected 39% of the popular vote, thus enabling them to displace the New Democrats to become the Official Opposition to the Progressive Conservative government of Ralph Klein. The party continues to hold this position.
However, while the Liberals have remained Alberta's second party, they lost seats in 1997 and 2001, and currently have only five MLAs.
On March 27, 2004, Kevin Taft was elected the new leader of the Alberta Liberal Party, following the resignation of List of Canadian political parties
