Rachel Notley is the new premier-elect for Alberta in the first NDP government in the history of the province.
The New Democratic Party started the day with 4 seats of 87 seats in the Alberta legislature; the party won 53 seats in the election.
Notley was one of 2 members of legislative assembly (MLA) for the NDP elected in the 2008 election.
The Progressive Conservatives had been wobbly in recent elections, even if the number of seats was still rather high. For the first time in 44 years, the PCs will not be in power.
The last 4 years have seen 4 different PC premiers.
The NDP were predicted to do well in Edmonton and swept the capital ridings, but also won the majority of the Calgary ridings. Calgary hadn't elected a NDP MLA since 1993; the party won a number of Calgary area seats.
The party had a high of 16 seats in the 1986 and 1989 elections; now the NDP has more than 3x the previous all-time high.
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Rachel Notley is the 3rd female premier among Canadian provinces, joining Christy Clark in western neighbor British Columbia and Kathleen Wynne in Ontario. 2014 saw 3 female premiers leave office: Kathy Dunderdale (Newfoundland and Labrador), Alison Redford (Alberta), and Pauline Marois (Quebec). Notley is the first female premier elected since the 2014 negative wave.
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Danielle Smith spent Election Day on the sidelines. Last fall, Smith was the leader of the opposition Wildrose Party as the majority of the Wildrose MLAs crossed over to the PC Party.
Smith lost her bid to run for the PCs and had to sit out this election. Alberta has its 2nd ever female premier and her name is not Danielle Smith.
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A number of the NDP candidates were slated as federal candidates. Well, those candidates will be in Edmonton instead of running for seats in Ottawa in the federal election this fall.
Then again, the NDP will have momentum to recruit federal MP candidates, something the Alberta Liberals do not have.
Notley said during the campaign that she will not lobby for the Keystone XL pipeline or support the Northern Gateway pipeline, though she is in favor of other pipeline projects. Energy diversity will be more than just a buzzword in a Notley government.
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Jim Prentice, the now outgoing premier and PC leader, brought in a poorly received budget. Prentice had been a Conservative MP in Ottawa until 2010. Prentice won the PC leadership battle last fall.
The PC Party went from 70 seats to a 3rd place finish with 10 seats. Prentice, in his concession speech, resigned as party leader and MLA. Since Prentice won his seat, there will be a by-election and you can almost count on the PCs losing that seat.
The PC and NDP literally tied in the Calgary-Glenmore riding.
Brian Jean is the new opposition leader for the Wildrose Party. Jean won a seat in the Alberta legislature after serving as a federal Conservative MP and retiring from politics last year. The Wildrose Party went from 5 seats before the election to 21 seats.
The Wildrose had 17 seats in the last election in 2012 under Danielle Smith.
Interim Liberal Party leader David Swann will go to Edmonton as the only Liberal Party MLA. The Liberals had 5 seats, one more seat than the NDP before the election.
Greg Clark won a seat for the Alberta Party, a more progressive party. This was the first seat ever in the history of the party.
Calgary celebrated its #CofRed last night with the Flames OT win, but the red of the Liberals have as many seats as the Alberta Party.
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Alberta's pattern is to give a different party a chance to establish a dynasty and not go back to that party one they've lost.
The Progressive Conservatives won its first election in Alberta in 1971. The PCs took over from the Social Credit Party that was in charge for the previous 36 years.
The Liberal Party won Alberta's first 4 elections, ranging from 1905 to 1921. The United Farmers Party was in charge from 1921-1935.
Before last night, 4 parties have had a chance to rule in Alberta, and 2 of them don't exist anymore.
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photo credit: CBC Calgary
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