![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2 persons to become senators-in-waiting | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
The 1998 Alberta Senate nominee election, formally the 2nd Alberta Senate nominee election of Alberta was held on October 19, 1998, to nominate appointments to the Senate of Canada. The Senate nominee election was held in conjunction with Alberta municipal elections under the Local Authorities Election Act.
The second Senate nominee election took place nine years following the first Senate election held in 1989. Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who was in the midst of Constitutional reforms had reluctantly promised to advise the Governor General to appoint the winner of the 1989 election as a Senator from Alberta, resulting in Reform Party candidate Stan Waters being called to the Senate on June 11, 1990. [1]
The situation in 1998 was much different, with Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien advising Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to appoint two Senators for Alberta shortly before the scheduled Senate nominee election.
Despite these appointments, two senator nominees were selected in a block vote, that was broken down along municipal electoral districts instead of provincial electoral districts. It was conducted by Elections Alberta, and candidates were registered with provincial parties.
Bert Brown and Ted Morton, both nominated by the Reform Party, won the election, but were not appointed to the Senate before their terms expired. No other provincial political party nominated candidates.
In the late-1980s, the Government of Alberta under Premier Don Getty had made vailed statements about holding a province-wide election to select nominees for the Senate with the expectation that Meech Lake Accord would be ratified and the prime minister would make appointments to the Senate on the basis of names submitted by each province's premier. [2] The Senate nominee election was featured in the Speech from the Throne in February 1989 for the fourth session of the 21st Alberta Legislature, but died on the order paper when the legislature was dissolved to hold an early provincial election. [3] The bill was reintroduced in the summer of 1989 during the 22nd Alberta Legislature, which permitted the vote to take place during the October 1989 Alberta municipal elections. [3]
Stan Waters, nominated by the Reform Party, won the 1989 Senate nominee election, with 41.7 per cent of the popular vote. On October 17, 1989, one day after the Senate nominee election, Mulroney stated he was not bound to appoint a senator by the results of the election, and instead intended to follow the process in the Meech Lake Accord. [4] Getty responded to the comments by Mulroney by stating he would provide a list to the Prime Minister with a single name, Waters. [4] Prime Minister Brian Mulroney had criticized the electoral process, although he nonetheless made a public announcement agreeing to advise Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn to appoint Waters to the Canadian Senate on June 11, 1990. [1]
Waters time in the Senate was cut short when he was diagnosed with brain cancer in the summer of 1991, and died months later in Calgary on September 25, 1991, at the age of 71, four years before the mandatory retirement age for Canadian Senators. [5]
After appointing Waters, Mulroney went on to appoint two more senators from Alberta, neither of which participated in the Senate nominee election. Walter Patrick Twinn was appointed September 27, 1990 to replace Martha Bielish who retired at the age of 75. Ron Ghitter was appointed on March 25, 1993, to replace Waters after his death. [6]
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien appointed four senators from Alberta prior to the 1998 Alberta Senate nominee election, including Nicholas Taylor on March 7, 1996, [7] Jean Forest on May 17, 1996, [8] Thelma Chalifoux on November 26, 1997, [9] and Douglas Roche. Roche, a former Member of Parliament for the Progressive Conservative Party was appointed to the Senate on September 17, 1998, one month before the 1998 Alberta Senate nominee election was held. [10] Former Prime Minister Joe Clark criticized the appointment as a "cynical, provocative and wrong". [10] Alberta Premier Ralph Klein penned an open letter to Chrétien criticizing the appointment and calling for Senate reform. [11] Klein went on to criticize Chrétien stating "the prime minister of this country is saying that democracy is a joke". [12]
The Reform Party applied to the Federal Court of Canada for an interlocutory injunction on the appointment until after the Senate nominee election had taken place. Justice Donna McGillis dismissed the injunction, noting the Constitution provides the Governor General, on the advice of the Prime Minister, the absolute authority to appoint senators. [13]
1998 Alberta Senate nominee election | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||
Reform | Bert Brown | 332,766 | 37.32% | |||
Reform | Ted Morton | 274,126 | 30.75% | |||
Independent | Guy Desroslers | 148,851 | 16.70% | |||
Independent | Vance Gough | 135,840 | 15.24% | |||
Total | 891,583 | – | ||||
Source(s) Source: [14] |
Ralph Philip Klein was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 2006. Klein also served as the 32nd mayor of Calgary from 1980 to 1989.
Edgar Peter Lougheed was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding over a period of reform and economic growth.
Ernest Preston Manning is a retired Canadian politician. He was the founder and the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance in 2000 which in turn merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form today's Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. Manning represented the federal constituency of Calgary Southwest in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 until his retirement in 2002. He served as leader of the Official Opposition from 1997 to 2000.
Donald Ross Getty was a Canadian politician who served as the 11th premier of Alberta between 1985 and 1992. A member of the Progressive Conservatives, he served as Energy Minister and Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister in the government of Peter Lougheed before leaving politics for the private sector in 1979. He returned to politics six years later to enter the Progressive Conservative leadership contest resulting from Lougheed's retirement. He defeated two other candidates, and became Premier November 1, 1985.
Stanley Charles Waters was a Canadian lieutenant-general and politician. Appointed to his Senate seat following a non-binding provincial Senate election, he has been called Canada's "first elected senator".
Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections, and referendums within the province. This is in accordance with the Alberta Election Act. Elections Alberta also oversees political parties and candidates in accordance with the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act.
The Reform Party of Alberta is a defunct provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was registered with Elections Alberta. Its leader was David Salmon.
The 2004 Alberta Senate nominee election, formally the 3rd Alberta Senate nominee election of Alberta was held on November 22, 2004, to nominate appointments to the Senate of Canada. The Senate nominee election was held in conjunction with the 2004 Alberta general election.
The 1989 Alberta Senate nominee election, formally the 1st Alberta Senate nominee election of Alberta was held on October 16, 1989, to nominate appointments to the Senate of Canada. The Senate nominee election was held in conjunction with Alberta municipal elections under the Local Authorities Election Act, and resulted in the first Canadian Senator appointed following a popular election.
The 1905 Alberta general election was the first general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada, shortly after the province entered Canadian Confederation on September 1, 1905. The election was held on November 9, 1905, to elect twenty-five members to the 1st Alberta Legislative Assembly.
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 but only having support of 45 percent of voters.
The Triple-E Senate is a proposed reform of the Canadian Senate, calling for senators to be elected to exercise effective powers in numbers equally representative of each province. This is in contrast to the present arrangement wherein individuals are appointed to the Senate by the Governor General, on the advice of the Prime Minister after which they generally do not interfere with the workings of the Lower House. The number of senators allotted to each province, as set out in the constitution, is neither equal nor proportional.
Elaine Jean McCoy was a Canadian politician from Alberta. She was a member of the Senate of Canada.
Calgary-Fish Creek is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting.
Ronald D. Ghitter is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from August 30, 1971, to March 13, 1979, sitting with the governing Progressive Conservative caucus. Ghitter was appointed to the Senate of Canada on March 25, 1993, where he sat as a senator from Alberta until his retirement on March 31, 2000.
The Liberal Party of Canada fielded a full slate of 295 candidates in the 1993 Canadian federal election, and won 177 seats to form a majority government. Many of the party's candidates have their own biography pages; information about others may be found here.
Nicholas William "Nick" Taylor was a geologist, businessman and politician from Alberta, Canada.
Melvin Percy Joseph Cardinal was a Canadian politician from Alberta. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1989 until 2008 as a Progressive Conservative representing the electoral districts of Athabasca-Lac La Biche, Athabasca-Wabasca, and Athabasca-Redwater. Cardinal was the first status Indian to hold a position in Executive Council in Alberta, serving in the cabinet of Premier Ralph Klein as the Minister of Family and Social Services (1992−1996), Minister of Sustainable Resource Development (2000−2004), and Minister of Human Resources and Employment (2004–2006).
Alberta is the only Canadian province to hold elections for nominees to be appointed to the Senate of Canada. These elections are non-binding, as the appointment of senators is solely the responsibility of the Governor General of Canada according to the Constitution of Canada, on the advice of the Prime Minister.
The 2012 Alberta Senate nominee election, formally the 4th Senate nominee election of Alberta, was held to elect three nominees for appointment to the Senate of Canada to represent the province of Alberta. It was to be held in the fall of 2010 but was delayed by then-Premier Ed Stelmach. His successor, Alison Redford, announced that it would, be held in conjunction with the 2012 provincial election before June 1 2012. On March 26 it was announced that it would be held on April 23 2012. The results followed the provincial election closely, with the Progressive Conservatives winning all three positions and the Wildrose Party a close second.