Alberta New Democratic Party

The Alberta New Democratic Party (Alberta NDP; , NPD de l’Alberta), is a social democratic political party in Alberta, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left to left-wing of the political spectrum and is the provincial Alberta affiliate of the federal New Democratic Party.

The successor to the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the even earlier Alberta wing of the Canadian Labour Party and the United Farmers of Alberta. From the mid-1980s to 2004, the party abbreviated its name as the "New Democrats" (ND).

The party served as Official Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1982 to 1993. It was shut out of the legislature following the 1993 election, returning in the 1997 election with two seats. The party won no more than four seats in subsequent elections until the 2015 election, in which it won 54 of the 87 seats in the legislature and formed a majority government. Until 2015, Alberta had been the only province in western Canada—the party's birthplace—where the NDP had never governed at the provincial level. The Alberta NDP was defeated after a single term in the 2019 election by the United Conservative Party—the first time that a governing party in Alberta had been unseated after a single term.

History

Origins and early years (1932–1962)

thumb|right|[[Elmer Ernest Roper was the leader of the Alberta CCF from 1942 to 1955 before becoming the Mayor of Edmonton in 1959]]

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was founded in Calgary on 1 August 1932. However, it faced challenges in Alberta due to lack of support from the governing United Farmers of Alberta party and the Labour Party. While some UFA Members of Parliament supported the CCF and ran unsuccessfully as CCF candidates in the 1935 federal election, most UFA leaders and members were ambivalent. The CCF did not run candidates in the 1935 provincial election due to its ties with the UFA and Labour Party. The UFA lost all its seats in the election, and CCF candidates associated with the UFA were defeated due to the unpopularity of the UFA government and the rising popularity of William Aberhart's Social Credit movement.

In 1936, William Irvine, a CCF founder and defeated UFA Member of Parliament, was elected the Alberta CCF's first president. In 1937, the UFA decided to leave electoral politics entirely and, in 1938, the CCF committed itself to run candidates in the next provincial and elections setting up local riding clubs for that purpose. In the next two years party membership soared from 2,500 to over 12,000. The 1959 general election was a disaster for the CCF, losing both its existing seats. Party leader Johnson, running in the Dunvegan electoral district, failed to win his seat, leaving the party shut out of the legislature.

With the cancellation of single transferable voting in Edmonton in 1956, the NDP did not win a seat in Edmonton until 1982. (This is in strong contrast to the steady winning of one seat in Edmonton in each election, from the 1926 introduction of STV in Edmonton to 1952. The pattern in Calgary is similar. Although not successful in getting a seat in that city every election under STV, it was not until 1986 that a CCF or NDP MLA was elected in Calgary, following STV's cessation in 1956.)

Rise to Official Opposition

The election of the Progressive Conservatives in 1971 led to the gradual collapse of Social Credit. The Alberta Liberal Party suffered in the late 1970s and early 1980s due to its association with the unpopular federal Liberal Party government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

The decline of Social Credit and the unpopularity of the Liberals allowed the New Democrats to become the main opposition to the Lougheed-led Conservatives. Under Grant Notley’s leadership from 1968 to 1984, the NDP's popularity gradually increased.]]

In the 1993 election, their popular vote fell by more than half to 11%, and they were shut out of the legislature altogether. This was mainly due to the anti-PC vote consolidating around the Liberals. Both the Liberals and Tories were preaching the need for fiscal conservatism at the time. Ray Martin resigned as leader and was succeeded first by Ross Harvey and then by Pam Barrett. She was succeeded by Raj Pannu. The party retained its two seats in the 2001 election.

Attempts at political cooperation

At its 2008 provincial convention, the party overwhelmingly rejected a proposal by the Environment Caucus recommending a party task force be mandated to "investigate a variety of options for political cooperation with the Alberta Liberals and/or Greens." and "to prepare a motion to be considered" at the next Party Convention.

The proposal was opposed by NDP leader Brian Mason.

Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan independently distributed a proposal for a cooperation pact with the Alberta Liberal Party and Alberta Greens to defeat Progressive Conservative candidates. The proposal, titled "The Way Forward: An AFL proposal for a united alternative to the Conservatives," suggested that the parties not compete against each other in certain ridings. Although McGowan was unable to speak on the issue before the resolution was defeated, he later addressed it during his report to the Convention as AFL President. He urged members to acknowledge the need for significant change in light of 40 years of Tory government and the recent election results.

Growing momentum

In the 2012 provincial election the NDP picked up two seats in Edmonton, regaining their previous 4 seat total. Both Rachel Notley and Brian Mason safely held onto their seats while David Eggen was re-elected as the member for Edmonton-Calder. Newcomer Deron Bilous was also elected in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview, the seat formerly held by Martin. In many other ridings the party also won more votes than it had attained previously.

On 29 April 2014, Brian Mason announced that he would step down as leader as soon as a leadership election could be held to choose his successor. The leadership convention was held in Edmonton from 18-19 October 2014. Rachel Notley was elected as the party's next leader, defeating fellow MLA David Eggen and union leader Rod Loyola in the first ballot with 70% of the vote.

First government (2015–2019)

thumb|300px|right|Former leader [[Rachel Notley during the 2015 campaign in which the Alberta NDP formed its first ever government]]

The incumbent PC premier Jim Prentice called an election on 7 April 2015, following the reveal of a new budget to strengthen his party's mandate. On election night, the NDP won 54 seats, re-electing all four of their incumbents as well as 50 new members to the legislative assembly. The NDP had high expectations for Edmonton, given Notley's local ties and the city's historically favourable stance towards centre-left parties. Surpassing all projections, the party won every seat in the capital and also swept Red Deer and Lethbridge. They also secured 15 seats in Calgary, the long-standing stronghold of the Tories, and gained 16 more seats across the rest of Alberta, mostly in the northern and central regions. At the time of the early election call Alberta was sinking into a deep recession caused by the collapse of world oil prices. As a result of the province's dependence on oil royalties over more traditional revenue sources, Alberta's deficit soared. After reversing prior budget cuts, Notley mostly shied away from major wealth redistribution and preferred to stimulate the economy through infrastructure spending and maintaining public services. Most new programs, such as school lunches, were introduced cautiously through pilot programs. Despite ostensibly being a party of labour, the NDP froze wages and generally took the side of management in labour disputes, and a higher minimum wage was phased in relatively slowly. Labour code changes were generally incremental, though an update to labour standards on farms was extremely divisive in rural Alberta. However, Notley moved forwards with a carbon pricing scheme and plans for sustainability and energy transitions early in her term. Controversially such plans were framed around creating a social license for pursuing oil sand expansion, and she championed the creation of pipelines and partnered heavily with the oil industry. As a result plans to raise oil royalties were scrapped, and tax increases on corporations and higher income brackets were modest. Eventually this led to a schism between the NDP governments of Alberta and British Columbia over the twinning of the Transmountain Pipeline, which remained a contentious project in the Canadian political arena and particularly within the federal New Democratic Party. While the Alberta economy recovered from the depths of the energy recession by 2019, the oil industry remained relatively stagnant and economic growth had been nowhere near what Alberta had enjoyed in the previous decade.

Return to opposition (2019–present)

thumb|upright|[[Naheed Nenshi is the current leader of the Alberta NDP.]]

The NDP was dealt a severe blow when the PCs and Wildrose merged to form the United Conservative Party, which immediately ascended to a large lead in opinion polling.

In the 2019 election, the NDP suffered a significant defeat to the UCP. Despite receiving more votes compared to the previous election, the NDP lost a majority of their seats, ending with only 24 seats. The party performed well in Edmonton but struggled in the rest of the province, winning only a few seats in Calgary, the Edmonton suburbs, and Lethbridge. This was the first time in Alberta's history that an incumbent government has been defeated after one term. Rachel Notley remained popular within the NDP and continued as the Leader of the Opposition, leading the largest opposition caucus in Alberta since 1993.

In the 2023 election, the NDP received a record high popular vote for the party with 44%, dominating Edmonton and gaining a significant portion of the vote in Calgary. However, their success was largely limited to urban areas as they only won one rural seat Banff-Kananaskis. With 38 MLAs, the party elected the largest official opposition in Alberta history.

On 16 January 2024, Notley announced she would be resigning as party leader effective the next leadership election, scheduled for 22 June 2024.

On 3 May 2025, the Alberta NDP voted to end automatic joint membership with the federal NDP, giving provincial members the option to opt out of federal membership. The move had been proposed by Nenshi during his leadership campaign.

Party leaders

denotes acting or interim leader

CCF

{| class="wikitable"

!Leader

! colspan="2" |Term

!Notes

|Chester Ronning

|1939

|1942

|Elmer Ernest Roper

|1942

|1955

|Nick Dushenski

|1955

|1959

|House Leader

|Floyd Albin Johnson

|1957

|1962

NDP

{| class="wikitable"

!Leader

! colspan="2" |Term

!Notes

|Neil Reimer

|27 January 1963

|10 November 1968

|Interim leader 1962–1963

|Grant Notley

|10 November 1968

|19 October 1984

|Leader of the Opposition 1982–1984, died in office

|Ray Martin

|10 November 1984

|5 February 1994

|Leader of the Opposition, 1985–1993

|Ross Harvey

|5 February 1994

|8 September 1996

|Pam Barrett

|8 September 1996

|2 February 2000

|Raj Pannu

|5 November 2000

|13 July 2004

|Brian Mason

|13 July 2004

|18 October 2014

|Rachel Notley

|18 October 2014

|22 June 2024

| 17th Premier of Alberta, 2015–2019 Leader of the Opposition, 2019–2024

|Naheed Nenshi

|22 June 2024

|Present

| Leader of the Opposition, 2025–present

Election results

Legislative Assembly

{| class=wikitable style="text-align: center;"

! Election

! Leader

! Votes

! %

! Seats

! +/−

! Position

! Status

! 1940

| Chester Ronning

| 34,316

| 11.1

| 5th

! 1944

| rowspan=4| Elmer Ernest Roper

| 70,307

| 24.2

| 2

| 3rd

! 1948

| 56,387

| 19.1

| 2nd

! 1952

| 41,929

| 14.0

| 3rd

! 1955

| 31,180

| 8.2

| 4th

! 1959

| Floyd Albin Johnson

| 17,899

| 4.3

| 2

| 5th

! 1963

| rowspan=2| Neil Reimer

| 37,133

| 9.5

| 4th

! 1967

| 79,610

| 16.0

| 4th

! 1971

| rowspan=4| Grant Notley

| 73,038

| 11.4

| 1

| 3rd

! 1975

| 76,360

| 12.9

| 3rd

! 1979

| 111,984

| 15.8

| 3rd

! 1982

| 177,166

| 18.7

| 1

| 2nd

! 1986

| rowspan=3| Ray Martin

| 208,561

| 29.2

| 14

| 2nd

! 1989

| 217,972

| 26.3

| 2nd

! 1993

| 108,883

| 11.0

| 16

| 3rd

! 1997

| Pam Barrett

| 83,292

| 8.8

| 2

| 3rd

! 2001

| Raj Pannu

| 81,339

| 8.0

| 3rd

! 2004

| rowspan=3| Brian Mason

| 90,897

| 10.2

| 2

| 3rd

! 2008

| 80,578

| 8.5

| 2

| 3rd

! 2012

| 127,074

| 9.9

| 2

| 4th

! 2015

| rowspan=3| Rachel Notley

| 603,461

| 40.6

| 50

| 1st

! 2019

| 619,147

| 32.7

| 30

| 2nd

! 2023

| 777,397

| 44.0

| 14

| 2nd

Notes

References

External links

Alberta NDP
The Socialist Party - CCF/NDP in Alberta
The Rise and Fall of the Labour Party in Alberta, 1917-42

History

Origins and early years (1932–1962)

Rise to Official Opposition

Attempts at political cooperation

Growing momentum

First government (2015–2019)

Return to opposition (2019–present)

Party leaders

CCF

NDP

Election results

Legislative Assembly

Vote share timeline

See also

Notes

References

External links