Alberta general election, 1935

Alberta general election, 1935

August 22, 1935 (1935-08-22)

63 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 32 seats were needed for a majority Turnout 81.8%   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader William Aberhart (de facto) William R. Howson David M. Duggan Party Social Credit Liberal Conservative Leader since September 3, 1935 October 21, 1932 1930 Leader's seat None Edmonton Edmonton Last election pre-creation 11 seats, 24.6% 6 seats, 14.8% Seats before 0 13 6 Seats won 56 5 2 Seat change 56 8 4 Popular vote 163,700 69,845 19,358 Percentage 54.2% 23.1% 6.4% Swing — 1.5% 8.4%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Richard G. Reid Fred J. White Party United Farmers Labour Leader since 1934 between 1921 & 1926 Leader's seat Vermilion (lost seat) Last election 39 seats, 39.4% 4 seats, 7.6% Seats before 36 4 Seats won 0 0 Seat change 36 4 Popular vote 33,063 5,086 Percentage 11.0% 1.7% Swing 28.4% 5.9%

Premier before election Richard G. Reid United Farmers Premier-designate William Aberhart Social Credit

The Alberta general election of 1935 was the eighth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on August 22, 1935 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The newly founded Social Credit Party of Alberta won a sweeping victory, unseating the 14-year government of the United Farmers of Alberta.

Premier John E. Brownlee was forced to resign on July 10, 1934 when he was sued and found liable for the seduction of a young clerk working in the Attorney-General's office. Although the verdict was immediately set aside by the presiding judge, the scandal seriously damaged the UFA's reputation among socially conservative Albertans. The new UFA leader, Richard G. Reid, was unable to recover the party's popularity, and they suffered the worst defeat that a sitting provincial government has ever suffered in Canada. All of the UFA's 36 MLAs lost their seats. Social Credit won 56 of the 63 seats in the legislature, and over 50% of the popular vote.

The Alberta Liberals in this election ran with the tactically fatal slogan, the "rest of Canada can't be wrong", referring the popularity of the Liberal Party in the rest of the country, and paid the price by having their seats cut in half. The Conservatives lost four of their six seats.

Not even the Socreds had expected to win the election. Indeed, they had not even had a leader during the campaign, even though the party's founder and guiding force had been William Aberhart, a Baptist pastor from Calgary. When the newly elected Socred MLAs held their first caucus meeting, the first order of business was to select a leader and premier-designate. Aberhart was the obvious choice, but had to be prodded to take the job. He was sworn in as premier on September 3.

The turnout of the 1935 election topped 80%, and no election in Alberta has come close to this mark.

This election campaign is seen as the most negative in Alberta's history, with reports of Social Credit members, operating openly and on Aberhart's directives, defacing the campaign signs of opponents and drowning their speeches by honking car horns. Many campaign ads also focused mostly on attacking the opposing parties.

After the 1935 election results were in, newspapers across North America took notice, with the Boston Herald running the headline "Alberta Goes Crazy!".^[1]

This shift marked the first in Social Credit's nine back to back election victories.

Results

Overall voter turnout was 81.8%, the highest in Alberta history.^[2]

Members elected

For complete electoral history, see individual districts

References

1. ↑ Elliott, David R.; Miller, Iris (1987). Bible Bill: A Biography of William Aberhart. Edmonton: Reidmore Books. ISBN 0-919091-44-X. 
2. ↑ Election Alberta (July 28, 2008). 2008 General Report (PDF). p. 158. Retrieved April 29, 2011. 
3. ↑ "Alberta provincial election results". Elections Alberta. Archived from the original on 25 June 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2009. 

See also

• List of Alberta political parties

Elections and referendums in Alberta
General elections	1905 1909 1913 1917 1921 1926 1930 1935 1940 1944 1948 1952 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1982 1986 1989 1993 1997 2001 2004 2008 2012 2015 next
Senate nominee elections	1989 1998 2004 2012
Municipal elections	1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013
Referendums	1915 1920 1923 1948 1957 1967 1971
See also: List of Alberta by-elections