1913 Alberta general election

1913 Alberta general election
← outgoing members elected members →
56 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta ; 29 seats were needed for a majority
	Map of 1913 Provincial electoral districts
Premier before election; Arthur Sifton; Liberal	Premier after election ; Arthur Sifton; Liberal

The 1913 Alberta general election was held in March 1913. The writ was dropped on 25 March 1913 and election day was held 17 April 1913 to elect 56 members to the 3rd Alberta Legislature. Elections in two northern districts took place on 30 July 1913 to compensate for the remote location of the riding. The method to elect members was under the First Past the Post voting system with the exception of the Edmonton district which returned two members under a plurality block vote. The election was unusual with the writ period for the general election being a very short period of 23 days.

Premier Arthur Sifton led the Alberta Liberal Party into his first election as leader, after taking over from Alexander Rutherford. Premier Rutherford had resigned for his government's involvement in the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway Scandal but remained a sitting member. Sifton faced great criticism for calling the snap election, after ramming gerrymandered electoral boundaries through the legislature, running up the provincial debt and neglecting on promised railways. The Socialist Party carried the banner for labour- and farmer-minded voters in five constituencies; in others, Independent candidates were of distinctively leftist sentiment.

Edward Michener, the official opposition leader of the Conservative Party, ended up capitalizing on anger toward the Sifton government. He would lead the largest opposition to date in Alberta history. The Liberals would win a comfortable majority of seats despite being almost even in the popular vote. The Socialist Party vote would collapse and lose their only seat as Charles M. O'Brien went down to defeat at the hands of a Conservative.

Events leading to the election

The campaign

Premier Arthur L. Sifton

The writ of election was issued after a sitting of the house on the night of 25 March 1913. The premier dropped the election writ and dissolved the house after he ensured that the governments legislation on new electoral boundaries had been given Royal Assent.^[1] The new boundaries gave the Liberals an advantage, not only were they blatantly gerrymandered to their favour, but the opposition and even private citizens had a tough time figuring out what district they were in.

Edward Michener Leader of the official opposition.

Day one of the campaign brought controversy as it was reported that Hotel organizers and Liquor establishments were being expected to donate generously to the Liberal campaign in order to get licence renewals for their establishments.

Arthur Sifton, his lieutenant Charles Cross and Liberal candidate Alexander Grant MacKay each won nominations in two electoral districts. The Calgary Herald (a Conservative newspaper) surmised that Sifton and Cross were so scared of the electorate they felt they might not win if they ran in just one district. It accused Premier Sifton of having little confidence in his ability to return his government to power.

The Liberal government in order to prevent possible vote splitting made promises of concessions to trade unions and labour organizations so that they would not publicly support leftist candidates.

The Conservative Party protested the snap election by filing a legal injunction in the Supreme Court, to prevent the election from being held on 17 April 1913. The grounds for the injunction were based on the date of nomination closure being in violation of statue. The writs were issued with nomination day being 10 April 1913. The Conservatives argued that this was 10 hours short of the 16 full days prescribed in the Elections Ordinance, and the election should be ruled invalid.^[1]

Election issues

Calgary Herald cartoon satirizing Premier Arthur Sifton's promised railroads.

The big issues of the election centred on the Sifton government's lack of infrastructure building in Southern Alberta.

The ballooning Alberta debt which in a few years had gone from C$2 million to C$27 million was talked about often.

Gerrymandered boundaries

Prior to the dropping of the writ the Sifton government forced a bill through the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The bill was entitled Bill 90: An Act to Amend an Act concerning members elected to the Legislative assembly of Alberta It was introduced in the assembly on 20 March 1913 and given Royal Assent on 25 March 1913.^[2]

The bill increased the number of MLAs in the province by 15. Calgary was divided into two single-member districts; Edmonton continued as two-member district. The single-member districts did not contain equal population, with one riding Clearwater, north of Edmonton, only containing 74 people enumerated. Calgary Centre was the largest population wise with 20,000 people enumerated. The bill drew districts so that a line at the centre of the province's population (about in line with Red Deer), gave 30 seats to the people of the north half with 26 seats to the southern half. (The bill drew districts so that a line at the centre of the province (about in line with Edmonton), gave 19 seats to the north half of the province, up from the previous 13, with 37 seats in the south half, nine more than previously.)^[2]

The Conservative and Socialist opposition vigorously opposed the bill, but failed to pass any amendments. The bill was jammed through third reading in the 25 March legislative sitting and given Royal Assent that evening, just shy of the writ of elections being dropped.

Siftonism

A ad that appeared in the Nanton News 10 April 1913 effectively highlights campaign issues, the ad was run by Conservative J.T. Cooper to attack his opponent Liberal John Glendenning

The Liberal campaign was dubbed "Siftonism" inferring that Sifton was a disease that needed to be cleaned from Alberta. The media at the time picked up on that, and roasted the Liberal party. The Conservative party attacked the Liberals on the Railway Scandal and Lack of provincial infrastructure.

Electoral system

First-past-the-post voting was used in the single-member districts.

In Edmonton the seats were filled through Plurality block voting, where each voter could cast two votes. (Unusually for block voting, in Edmonton, candidates of two different parties were elected. Usually block voting produces a one-party sweep of a district's seats, as had been done in Edmonton in 1909.)

Results

The final result was the Liberal Party, under its new leader, Arthur L. Sifton, won a third term in office, defeating the Conservative Party, which was once again led by Edward Michener. Liberal party candidates took 49 percent of the vote and with the election of 38 members, the party took 68 percent of the seats in the Legislature.

The opposition received a much higher proportion of the votes than it had done in 1909 and increased its seat count to 17 from 2, while the Liberals again got more votes than any other party and won many of the new seats, allowing them to hang onto a majority.

The votes were split almost evenly between the Conservatives and Liberals with a difference of 4 percent separating the two parties. In the Rocky Mountain constituency, the Socialist vote doubled but the vote for the Conservative went up even more, to make that candidate the winner, and the Socialist Party lost its only seat in the Assembly.

Oddly, the Assembly did not have its full complement of MLAs after the election, as C.W. Cross was elected to two seats (one Edmonton seat and Edson). When this happened elsewhere, such as Laurier's election as MP in both the North-West Territories (including part of what would be Alberta) and Quebec, the double winner resigned one of the seats. But Cross held both seats until the next general election.

Summary

Party		Party Leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular Vote
Party		Party Leader	# of candidates	1909	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Liberal	Arthur L. Sifton	51/54¹ ²	36	38/39¹	+8.3%	47,748	49.23%	-10.03%
	Conservative	Edward Michener	56	2	17	+750%	43,737	45.10%	+13.4%
	Independent		14	1	-	-100%	3,639	3.75%	+0.36%
	Socialist	Charles M. O'Brien	5	1	-	-100%	1,814	1.87%	-0.73%
	Liberal-Labor	Arthur L. Sifton	2³	*	-	*	⁴	⁴	*
	Independent Liberal		1	1	-	-100%	47	0.05%	-2.57%
Total			129/132	41	55/56	+36.6%	96,985	100%
Source: Elections Alberta

Note

Charles Cross ran in and won in two ridings.
Arthur Sifton and Alexander G. MacKay ran for the Liberals in two districts but only won in 1 district.
Liberal-Labor candidates were a result of the Liberal Labour coalition struck by Premier Sifton prior to the election, these candidates ran in place of Liberals. See also Liberal-Labour (Canada).
Liberal-Labor popular vote is included in Liberal vote.

Popular vote

Liberal			49.23%
Conservative			45.10%
Others			5.67%

Seats summary

Liberal			69.64%
Conservative			30.36%

Party name			Calgary	Edmonton¹	North	Central	South	Total
	Liberal	Seats:	0	1	11	15	11	38
	Liberal	Popular vote:	32.1%	40.3%	37.9%	32.5%	19.8%
	Conservative	Seats:	3	2	1	5	7	18
	Conservative	Popular vote:	50.5%	31.5%	38.3%	44.1%	55.5%
Total seats:			3	3	12	20	18	56
Parties that won no seats:
	Socialist	Popular vote:	5.5%	1.0%	3.1%	1.2%	2.8%
	Independent	Popular vote:	0.1%	0.2%	-	-	0.1%
	Independent Liberal	Popular vote:	0.1%	0.2%	-	-	0.1%

Members elected

For complete electoral history, see individual districts

Electoral district	Candidates						Incumbent
Electoral district	Liberal		Conservative		Other		Incumbent
Acadia		John A. McColl 637 56.27%		W.D. Bentley 495 43.73%				New District
Alexandra		N.C. Lyster 470 40.69%		James R. Lowery 478 41.39%		W.H. Anderson 207 17.92%		Alwyn Bramley-Moore
Athabasca		Alexander Grant MacKay 5,327 838.90%		J.H. Wood 221 34.80%				Jean Léon Côté
Beaver River		Wilfrid Gariepy 457 61.67%		A. Grey 284 38.33%				New District
Bow Valley		George Lane 396 61.78%		Harold William Hounsfield Riley 245 38.22%				New District
Centre Calgary		John Chantler McDougall 728 31.76%		Thomas M.M. Tweedie 1,564 68.24%				New District from Calgary Thomas M.M. Tweedie
North Calgary		George Henry Ross 822 32.11%		Samuel Bacon Hillocks 1,482 57.89%		Harry Roderick Burge (Socialist) 256 10.00%		New District from Calgary
South Calgary		Clifford Teasdale Jones 1,423 28.03%		Thomas H. Blow 3,654 71.97%				New District from Calgary
Camrose		George P. Smith 1,651 86.89%		R.L. Rushton 249 13.11%				George P. Smith
Cardston		Martin Woolf 518 51.96%		C. Jensen 479 48.04%				John William Woolf
Claresholm		William Moffat 496 51.08%		D.S. McMillan 348 35.84%		G. Malshow 127 13.08%		Malcolm McKenzie
Clearwater		Henry William McKenney 40 38.83%		A. Williamson Taylor 39 37.86%		Joseph Andrew Clarke (Socialist) 24 23.30%		New District
Cochrane		Charles Wellington Fisher 475 55.56%		H.F. Jarrett 380 44.44%				Charles Wellington Fisher
Coronation		Frank H. Whiteside 739 51.61%		William Wallace Wilson 693 48.39%				New District
Didsbury		Joseph E. Stauffer 948 59.32%		G.B. Sexsmith 650 40.68%				Joseph E. Stauffer
Edmonton		Charles Wilson Cross 5,407 26.29%		William Antrobus Griesbach 4,499 21.87%		J.D. Blayney (Temperance)^[3] 643 3.13%		Charles Wilson Cross
Edmonton		Alexander Grant MacKay 4,913 23.89%		Albert Freeman Ewing 5,107 24.83%				John Alexander McDougall
Edmonton-South		Alexander Cameron Rutherford 1,275 45.57%		Herbert Howard Crawford 1,523 54.43%				Renamed from Strathcona Alexander Cameron Rutherford
Edson		Charles Wilson Cross 6,078 462.21%		H.H. Verge 644 48.97%				New District
Gleichen		John P. McArthur 641 52.67%		George McElroy 576 47.33%				Ezra H. Riley
Grouard		Jean Léon Côté 347 63.32%		O. Travers 201 36.68%				New District
Hand Hills		Robert Berry Eaton 962 53.36%		Albert J. Robertson 841 46.64%				New District
High River		R.L. McMillan 558 47.53%		George Douglas Stanley 616 52.47%				Louis Melville Roberts
Innisfail		John A. Simpson 526 49.58%		Frederick William Archer 535 50.42%				John A. Simpson
Lac Ste. Anne		Peter Gunn 517 52.17%		George R. Barker 474 47.83%				Peter Gunn
Lacombe		William Franklin Puffer 878 58.46%		Angus MacDonald 624 41.54%				William Franklin Puffer
Leduc		Stanley G. Tobin 582 57.17%		George Curry 436 42.83%				Robert T. Telford
Lethbridge City		J.O. Jones 1,033 38.46%		John S. Stewart 1,371 51.04%		Joseph R. Knight (Socialist) 282 10.50%		John S. Stewart
Little Bow		James McNaughton 721 52.02%		John T. MacDonald 339 24.46%		F.A. Bryant (Ind.) 202 14.57% Alfred Buddon (Socialist) 124 8.95%		New District
Macleod		Arthur L. Sifton 560 49.17%		Robert Patterson 579 50.83%				Robert Patterson
Medicine Hat		Charles Richmond Mitchell 1,823 49.73%		Nelson C. Spencer 1,843 50.27%				William Thomas Finlay
Nanton		John M. Glendenning 463 59.51%		J.T. Cooper 315 40.49%				John M. Glendenning
Okotoks		John A. Turner 380 39.01%		George Hoadley 594 60.99%				George Hoadley
Olds		Duncan Marshall 709 51.94%		George H. Cloakey 656 48.06%				Duncan Marshall
Peace River		William A. Rae 437 45.57%		Alphaeus Patterson 475 49.53%		William Bredin (Ind. Liberal) 47 4.90%		James K. Cornwall
Pembina		Gordon MacDonald 432 50.64%		F.D. Armitage 421 49.36%				Henry William McKenney
Pincher Creek		A.N. Mount 426 46.66%		John H.W.S. Kemmis 487 53.34%				David Warnock
Ponoka		William A. Campbell 485 51.65%		George Gordon 257 27.37%		P. Baker 197 20.98%		William A. Campbell
Red Deer		Robert B. Welliver 786 42.44%		Edward Michener 869 46.92%		George Patton 197 10.64%		Edward Michener
Redcliff		Charles S. Pingle 645 60.11%		H.S. Gerow 428 39.89%				New District
Ribstone		James Gray Turgeon 669 55.56%		William John Blair 535 44.44%				New District
Rocky Mountain		William B. Powell 516 19.60%		Robert E. Campbell 1,099 41.74%		Charles M. O'Brien (Socialist) 1,018 38.66%		Charles M. O'Brien
Sedgewick		Charles Stewart 889 70.56%		W. Watson 371 29.44%				Charles Stewart
St. Albert		Lucien Boudreau 620 60.55%		Hector L. Landry 404 39.45%				Lucien Boudreau
St. Paul		Prosper-Edmond Lessard 441 55.75%		L. Garneau 350 44.25%				New District
Stettler		Robert L. Shaw 928 45.65%		George W. Morris 907 44.61%		Malcolm McNeil 198 9.74%		Robert L. Shaw
Stony Plain		John A. McPherson 368 38.94%		Conrad Weidenhammer 577 61.06%				John A. McPherson
Sturgeon		John Robert Boyle 936 62.73%		James Duncan Hyndman 556 37.27%				John Robert Boyle
Taber		Archibald J. McLean 1,231 68.16%		William C. Ives 341 18.88%		Thomas E. Smith (Socialist) 234 12.96%		New District
Vegreville		Joseph S. McCallum 812 45.72%		F.A. Morrison 420 23.65%		Peter Savarich 544 30.63%		James Bismark Holden
Vermilion		Arthur L. Sifton 772 47.68%		J. George Clark 571 35.27%		Gregory Krikevsky 276 17.05%		Archibald Campbell
Victoria		Francis A. Walker 773 62.49%		R.A. Bennett 268 21.67%		M. Gowda 196 15.84%		Francis A. Walker
Wainwright		H.Y. Pawling 615 46.38%		George LeRoy Hudson 711 53.62%				New District
Warner		Frank S. Leffingwell 314 43.67%		W.H. Scott 137 19.05%		William T. Patton 268 37.27%		New District
Wetaskiwin		Charles H. Olin 780 57.35%		George B. Campbell 580 42.65%				Charles H. Olin
Whitford		Andrew S. Shandro 499 45.70%		R.L. Hughson 133 12.18%		Paul Rudyk (Ind.) 312 28.57% C. F. Connolly (Ind.) 148 13.55%		New District

References

Citations

^ Thomas 1959, p. 136.
^ A Report on Alberta Elections, map p. 28
^ Edmonton Bulletin, April 29, 1913

Bibliography

Thomas, Lewis Gwynne (1959). The Liberal Party in Alberta. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802050832. OL 18824816M.

^ Application by law clerk to stop election Edmonton Daily Bulletin 5 April 1913