1935 Alberta general election

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   150x150px 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 Globe running the headline ALBERTA GOES CRAZY!

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.

Alberta general election, 1935
Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1930	1935	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Social Credit	William Aberhart	63		56		163,700	54.25%
	Liberal	William Howson	61	11	5	-54.5%	69,845	23.14%	-1.45%
	Conservative	David Milwyn Duggan	39	6	2	-66.7%	19,358	6.41%	-8.44%
	United Farmers	Richard G. Reid	45	39	-	-100%	33,063	11.00%	-28.41%
	Communist	Jan Lakeman	9		-		5,771	1.91%
	Labour	Fred J. White	11	4	-	-100%	5,086	1.68%	-5.95%
	Independent		7	3	-	-100%	2,740	0.90%	-12.62%
	Independent Liberal		1		-		955	0.31%
	United Front		1		-		560	0.19%
	Independent Conservative		1		-		258	0.08%
	Independent Labour		1		-		224	0.07%
	Reconstruction	Elsie Wright	1		-		192	0.06%
Total			240	63	63	-	301,752	100%

Members elected

For complete electoral history, see individual districts

8th Alberta Legislative Assembly
	District	Member	Party
	Acadia	Norman James	Social Credit
	Alexandra	Selmer Berg	Social Credit
	Athabasca	Clarence Tade	Social Credit
	Beaver River	Lucien Maynard	Social Credit
	Bow Valley	Wilson Cain	Social Credit
	Calgary	Edith Gostick	Social Credit
		Ernest Manning	Social Credit
		John Irwin	Conservative
		Fred Anderson	Social Credit
		John J. Bowlen	Liberal
		John Hugill	Social Credit
	Camrose	William Chant	Social Credit
	Cardston	Nathan Eldon Tanner	Social Credit
	Clover Bar	Floyd Baker	Social Credit
	Cochrane	William King	Social Credit
	Coronation	Glenville MacLachlan	Social Credit
	Cypress	August Flamme	Social Credit
	Didsbury	Edward P. Foster	Social Credit
	Drumheller	Herbert Ingrey	Social Credit
	Edmonton	William Howson	Liberal
		Samuel Barnes	Social Credit
		George Van Allen	Liberal
		David Milwyn Duggan	Conservative
		David Mullen	Social Credit
		Gerald O'Connor	Liberal
	Edson	Joseph Unwin	Social Credit
	Empress	David Lush	Social Credit
	Gleichen	Isaac McCune	Social Credit
	Grande Prairie	William Sharpe	Social Credit
	Grouard	Leonidas Giroux	Liberal
	Hand Hills	Wallace Warren Cross	Social Credit
	Innisfail	Alban MacLellan	Social Credit
	Lac Ste. Anne	Albert Bourcier	Social Credit
	Lacombe	Duncan MacMillan	Social Credit
	Leduc	Ronald Ansley	Social Credit
	Lethbridge	Hans Wight	Social Credit
	Little Bow	Peter Dawson	Social Credit
	Macleod	James Hartley	Social Credit
	Medicine Hat	John Lyle Robinson	Social Credit
	Nanton-Claresholm	Harry Haslam	Social Credit
	Okotoks-High River	William Morrison	Social Credit
	Olds	Herbert Ash	Social Credit
	Peace River	William Lampley	Social Credit
	Pembina	Harry Knowlton Brown	Social Credit
	Pincher Creek	Roy Taylor	Social Credit
	Ponoka	Edith Rogers	Social Credit
	Red Deer	Alfred Hooke	Social Credit
	Ribstone	Albert Blue	Social Credit
	Rocky Mountain	Ernest Duke	Social Credit
	Sedgewick	Albert Fee	Social Credit
	St. Albert	Charles Holder	Social Credit
	St. Paul	Joseph Beaudry	Social Credit
	Stettler	Charles Cockroft	Social Credit
	Stony Plain	William Hayes	Social Credit
	Sturgeon	James Popil	Social Credit
	Taber	James Hansen	Social Credit
	Vegreville	James McPherson	Social Credit
	Vermilion	William Fallow	Social Credit
	Victoria	Samuel Calvert	Social Credit
	Wainwright	William Masson	Social Credit
	Warner	Solon Low	Social Credit
	Wetaskiwin	John Wingblade	Social Credit
	Whitford	William Tomyn	Social Credit

See also

• List of Alberta political parties