Premier of Alberta | |
---|---|
Premier ministre de l'Alberta | |
Office of the Premier | |
Style |
|
Status | Head of Government |
Member of | |
Reports to | |
Seat | Edmonton |
Appointer | Lieutenant Governor of Alberta with the confidence of the Alberta Legislature |
Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure contingent on the premier's ability to command confidence in the legislative assembly |
Formation | September 2, 1905 |
First holder | Alexander Cameron Rutherford |
Deputy | Deputy Premier of Alberta |
Website | www |
The premier of Alberta is the first minister for the Canadian province of Alberta, and the province's head of government. The current premier is Danielle Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party, who was sworn in on October 11, 2022. [1]
The premier of the province deals with specific areas relating to Alberta and Alberta's relation on the national scene. The premier acts as a representative for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) are in turn the representatives of the people of Alberta.
To be effective, accountable and in line with custom, the premier is expected to hold a seat in the legislature, so the premier serves as the MLA for a riding and is elected as MLA by the constituents of that constituency. As with most government leaders in a parliamentary system, the premier usually wins his or her own election as MLA easily. However, on occasion, a premier has not been re-elected to their seat in a general election, forcing them to run in a by-election in a constituency that comes empty by the resignation of the sitting MLA or other incident. The most recent case of this was Don Getty, who lost his Edmonton-Whitemud seat in the 1989 election and then ran and was elected in a by-election in Stettler. In 2022 Danielle Smith was elected party leader without holding a seat in the legislative assembly, thus becoming premier, and within a few weeks won a seat in a by-election.
The premier of Alberta's responsibilities include administering provincial laws, enacting legislation, and regulating industry. The premier is responsible for promoting Alberta's interests via the federal government and serves as the chief representative of Alberta to the rest of Canada.
The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta was a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta that existed from 1905 to 2020. The party formed the provincial government, without interruption, from 1971 until the party's defeat in the 2015 provincial election under premiers Peter Lougheed, Don Getty, Ralph Klein, Ed Stelmach, Alison Redford, Dave Hancock and Jim Prentice. At 44 years, this was the longest unbroken run in government at the provincial or federal level in Canadian history.
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. Since 2012 the Legislative Assembly has had 87 members, elected first past the post from single-member electoral districts. Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal assent by the lieutenant governor of Alberta, as the viceregal representative of the King of Canada. The Legislative Assembly and the Lieutenant Governor together make up the unicameral Alberta Legislature.
The 1921 Alberta general election was held on July 18, 1921, to elect members to the 5th Alberta Legislative Assembly. It was one of only five times that Alberta has changed governments.
The 1967 Alberta general election was held on May 23, 1967, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to the 16th Alberta Legislature. The election was called after the 15th Alberta Legislature was prorogued on April 11, 1967, and dissolved on April 14, 1967.
The 1971 Alberta general election was the seventeenth general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on August 30, 1971, to elect seventy-five members of the Alberta Legislature to form the 17th Alberta Legislative Assembly.
The 1975 Alberta general election was held on March 26, 1975, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to the 18th Alberta Legislature. The election was called on February 14, 1975 prorogued and dissolved of the 17th Alberta Legislature.
Edmonton-McClung is a provincial electoral district in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The district was created in 1993 and is named after Nellie McClung. The current MLA is Lorne Dach of the NDP, who was first elected in 2015.
Brian Michael Jean is a Canadian politician who has previously served as Alberta's and Minister of Jobs, Economy and Northern Development. On June 9, 2023 Jean was appointed as Alberta's Minister of Energy and Minerals, with Larry Kaumeyer as his Deputy-Minister, the former CEO of Ducks Unlimited. He has served as member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche since March 16, 2022. He was leader of the Opposition and the last leader of the Wildrose Party from 2015 to 2017 before its merger into the United Conservative Party (UCP). Jean was a member of Parliament (MP) with the Conservative Party from 2004 to 2014 before entering provincial politics.
Edmonton-Strathcona is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. It shares the same name as the federal electoral district of Edmonton Strathcona.
The Wildrose Party was a conservative provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. The party was formed by the merger in early 2008 of the Alberta Alliance Party and the unregistered Wildrose Party of Alberta. The wild rose is Alberta's provincial flower.
Robert Harmen "Rob" Anderson is a Canadian politician and a former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta; he represented the constituency of Airdrie. He was a Progressive Conservative until he crossed the floor on January 4, 2010 to join the Wildrose Party. He was reelected in the 2012 Alberta general election, with 16 other Wildrose MLAs to form the Official Opposition.
The 2012 Alberta general election was held on April 23, 2012, to elect members of the 28th Legislative Assembly of Alberta. A Senate nominee election was called for the same day.
Marlaina Danielle Smith is a Canadian politician, former lobbyist, and former columnist and media personality who has been serving as the 19th premier of Alberta and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since October 2022.
Walter Alexander Buck was a provincial politician and dentist from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta (MLA) from 1967 to 1989. During his time in office he served in numerous party caucuses and as an Independent.
The 2015 Alberta general election was held on May 5, following a request of Premier Jim Prentice to the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Donald Ethell to dissolve the Legislative Assembly on April 7. This election elected members to the 29th Alberta Legislature. It was only the fourth time in provincial history that saw a change of governing party, and was the last provincial election for both the Alberta Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties, which merged in 2017 to form the United Conservative Party.
Angela Pitt is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2015 Alberta general election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Airdrie. She was elected under the banner of the Wildrose Party, which then merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form the United Conservative Party (UCP) in July 2017. She serves as the UCP Deputy House Leader. On June 20, 2018, Angela Pitt won the UCP nomination for the riding of Airdrie-East with 71% of the vote, contested by sports broadcaster Roger Millions. April 16, 2019, Pitt was re-elected in the 2019 Alberta general election, representing the Airdrie-East riding under the United Conservative Party.
The United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) is a conservative political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. It was established in July 2017 as a merger between the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Wildrose Party. When established, the UCP immediately formed the Official Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The UCP won a majority mandate in the 2019 Alberta general election to form the government of Alberta. UCP leader Jason Kenney became premier on April 30, 2019, when he and his first cabinet were appointed and sworn in by the lieutenant governor of Alberta, Lois Mitchell.
Brooks-Medicine Hat is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. It was contested for the first time in the 2019 Alberta election and is presently represented by Premier Danielle Smith.
The 2023 Alberta general election was held on May 29, 2023. Voters elected the members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The United Conservative Party under Danielle Smith, the incumbent Premier of Alberta, was re-elected to government with a reduced majority. Across the province, 1,763,441 valid votes were cast in this election.