1935 Alberta general election

1935 Alberta general election

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63 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 32 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	81.8%
Majority party Minority party Third party   LIB 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 Did not run 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 re-election) 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 after election William Aberhart Social Credit

The 1935 Alberta general election 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. It was one of only five times that Alberta has changed governments.

Premier John E. Brownlee had resigned 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. Provincial Treasurer Richard G. Reid succeeded him, but was unable to change the party's fortunes. The government had fallen into disfavour as it had proven unable to address the Depression, which had hit Alberta particularly hard, and due to the government's unwillingness to accede to demands to adopt Social Credit policies and programs.

Social Credit won 56 of the 63 seats in the legislature, and over 50% of the popular vote, well beyond even the most optimistic Socred projections. Many of those gains came at the expense of the UFA, which lost all of its seats in one of the worst defeats ever suffered by a provincial government in Canada. Reid and Brownlee, for instance, were heavily defeated by Socred challengers, with Reid being pushed into third place. The UFA did receive 11 percent of the vote so its due share was about ten members - the province's limited use of PR did not ensure that it won any seats at all.

The UFA's wipeout happened just a month after the Prince Edward Island Tories lost all 18 of their seats at that year's provincial election. A similar wipeout would not happen again until the 1987 New Brunswick general election, when the governing New Brunswick Tories lost all 39 of their seats.

The Alberta Liberals in this election ran with the tactically fatal slogan, the "rest of Canada can't be wrong"—referring to the popularity of the Liberal Party in the rest of the country. It did not work; they had their seat count cut in half. However, due to the UFA being swept from the legislature, the Liberals wound up as the Official Opposition. The Conservatives lost four of their six seats.

The Socreds' expectations for the election had been so low that they had not even named a formal leader for the campaign. When the newly elected Socred MLAs held their first caucus meeting, the first order of business was to select a leader and premier-designate. The obvious choice was the party's founder and guiding force, Calgary-based Baptist pastor William Aberhart. Persuaded to accept the mantle of leadership, Aberhart was sworn in as premier on September 3.

This provincial election, like the previous two, saw district-level proportional representation (Single transferable voting) used to elect the MLAs of Edmonton and Calgary. City-wide districts were used to elect multiple MLAs in the cities. All the other MLAs were elected in single-member districts through Instant-runoff voting.

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 Herald running the headline "Alberta Goes Crazy!".^[1]

This shift marked the first in Social Credit's nine consecutive election victories, for a total of 36 years in office–one of the longest unbroken runs in government in the Commonwealth. The UFA never recovered from this wipeout defeat, withdrawing from politics altogether in 1937. Many of UFA's erstwhile supporters shifted to supporting the CCF, whose full name "CCF (Farmer-Labour-Socialist)" indicates how it was a merging of UFA and other previous farmer and labor parties.

Elections to the 8th Alberta Legislative Assembly (1935)

Party		Leader	Candidates	First-preference votes						Seats
				Votes	±	% Fpv	Change (pp)			1930	1935	±
	Social Credit	William Aberhart	63	163,700	163,700	54.25	54.25		54.25	–	56 / 63	56
	United Farmers	Richard G. Reid	45	33,063	41,124	11.00	-28.41			39	0 / 63	39
	Liberal	William R. Howson	61	69,845	23,570	23.14	-1.45			11	5 / 63	6
	Conservative	David M. Duggan	39	19,358	8,596	6.41	-8.44			6	2 / 63	4
	Labour	Fred J. White	11	5,086	9,268	1.68	-5.95			4	0 / 63	4
	Independent		7	2,740	20,526	0.90	-11.46			3	0 / 63	3
	Communist	Jan Lakeman	9	5,771	3,588	1.91	0.75		0.75
	Independent Liberal		1	955	955	0.31
	United Front		1	560	560	0.19
	Independent Conservative		1	258	258	0.08
	Independent Labour		1	224	224	0.07
	Reconstruction		1	192	192	0.06
Total			240	301,752		100.00%
Rejected ballots				8,269	562
Turnout				310,021	114,095	81.8%	15.1
Registered voters				378,249	84,454

Results by riding – 1935 Alberta general election (all except Calgary and Edmonton)^[2]

Riding	First-preference votes								Turnout [a 1]	Final counts				Winning party
Name	SC	UFA	Lib	Con	Lab	Comm	Ind	Total		SC	UFA	Lib	I-Lib	1930		1935
Acadia	1,834	628	289	–	–	–	–	2,751	90.3%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Alexandra	2,479	924	561	202	–	197	–	4,363	78.3%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Athabasca	1,764	–	950	315	–	–	–	3,029	71.0%	Elected on 1st count					Lib		SC
Beaver River	1,751	572	775	147	–	–	–	3,245	66.8%	Elected on 1st count					Lib		SC
Bow Valley	1,776	401	591	–	–	–	204	2,972	85.9%	Elected on 1st count					Ind		SC
Camrose	4,335	1,039	1,395	–	–	–	–	6,769	86.7%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Cardston	2,027	565	471	–	–	–	–	3,063	95.4%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Clover Bar	2,503	844	1,105	264	–	–	–	4,716	86.0%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Cochrane	1,880	591	628	337	–	–	–	3,436	87.9%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Coronation	2,674	844	625	–	–	–	–	4,143	87.4%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Cypress	1,689	587	798	–	–	–	51	3,125	83.0%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Didsbury	2,731	610	607	303	–	–	–	4,251	85.0%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Drumheller	2,158	–	341	–	–	342	778	3,619	84.4%	Elected on 1st count					Ind		SC
Edson	2,154	–	1,620[a 2]	–	1,414	–	–	5,188	76.0%	2,443	–	2,068	–		Lab		SC
Empress	1,453	324	239	–	–	–	–	2,016	84.5%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Gleichen	2,093	895	569	439	–	–	–	3,996	84.3%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Grande Prairie	2,741	1,809	2,387	464	–	–	–	7,401	75.6%	3,142	–	3,061	–		UFA		SC
Grouard	1,447	346	2,272	–	–	–	–	4,065	78.1%	Elected on 1st count					Lib		Lib
Hand Hills	3,270	707	552	–	–	–	–	4,529	86.5%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Innisfail	2,805	386	583	318	–	–	–	4,092	87.5%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Lac Ste. Anne	1,668	1,080	897	133	–	–	–	3,778	75.6%	1,791	1,518	–	–		UFA		SC
Lacombe	3,483	721	838	519	–	–	–	5,561	86.6%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Leduc	2,940	357	1,305	166	–	–	–	4,768	82.0%	Elected on 1st count					Lib		SC
Lethbridge	3,700	–	1,946	341	654	–	–	6,641	81.6%	Elected on 1st count					Lab		SC
Little Bow	2,322	704	474	–	–	–	–	3,500	87.9%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Macleod	1,680	650	387	–	–	–	–	2,717	86.1%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Medicine Hat	3,236	–	1,252	653	–	–	–	5,141	83.3%	Elected on 1st count					Lib		SC
Nanton-Claresholm	1,767	612	512	269	–	–	–	3,165	86.3%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Okotoks-High River	3,062	1,005	970	452	–	–	–	5,489	85.8%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Olds	3,538	694	955	167	–	–	–	5,354	91.6%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Peace River	2,474	994	1,389	308	–	–	–	5,165	69.6%	2,269	–	1,898	–		UFA		SC
Pembina	3,133	1,030	1,145	183	–	–	–	5,491	80.1%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Pincher Creek	1,214	296	528	312	–	–	–	2,350	88.4%	Elected on 1st count					Lib		SC
Ponoka	2,295	879	696	–	–	–	–	3,870	86.6%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Red Deer	3,565	–	788	612	–	291	622	5,878	85.6%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Ribstone	2,684	499	589	–	–	–	–	3,772	87.3%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Rocky Mountain	2,996	–	1,033	–	–	1,080	389	5,498	82.0%	Elected on 1st count					Ind		SC
St. Albert	1,431	116	446	–	–	–	1,253[a 3]	3,206	86.4%	1,619	–	–	1,445		UFA		SC
St. Paul	2,567	946	1,963	–	–	–	–	5,476	82.2%	2,679	–	2,364	–		Lib		SC
Sedgewick	3,642	933	632	–	–	–	–	5,107	88.7%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Stettler	3,603	522	882	271	–	–	–	5,278	89.9%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Stony Plain	2,832	312	1,472	171	–	–	–	4,787	82.8%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Sturgeon	2,465	857	1,533	361	–	–	560	5,776	80.8%	2,729	–	2,053	–		UFA		SC
Taber	2,879	757	642	–	–	–	–	4,278	79.9%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Vegreville	2,817	995	1,681	109	–	–	–	5,602	82.5%	3,047	–	2,065	–		UFA		SC
Vermilion	2,452	876	1,062	244	–	838	–	5,472	82.8%	2,664	–	1,437	–		UFA		SC
Victoria	2,045	319	1,181	141	–	–	–	3,686	77.8%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Wainwright	2,382	811	953	194	–	–	–	4,340	83.6%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Warner	1,702	588	534	–	–	–	227	3,051	82.7%	Elected on 1st count					UFA		SC
Wetaskiwin	2,762	506	1,149	187	–	141	–	4,745	85.7%	Elected on 1st count					Lib		SC
Whitford	1,265	940	615	–	–	966	–	3,786	77.8%	1,370	1,121	–	–		UFA		SC

  = Open seat

  = turnout is above provincial average

  = Candidate was in previous Legislature

  = Incumbent had switched allegiance

  = Previously incumbent in another riding

  = Not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature

  = Incumbency arose from by-election gain

  = previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada

  = Multiple candidates

  = Candidate was in previous Legislature

  = First-time MLA

  = Previously incumbent in another district.

Twelve districts went beyond first-preference counts in order to determine winning candidates:

Exhausted votes (1935)

District	Counts		Exhausted
	1st preference	Final	Votes	% of 1st pref
Calgary	41,193	37,827	3,366	8.17	8.17
Edmonton	37,267	35,625	1,642	4.41	4.41
Edson	5,188	4,511	677	13.05	13.05
Grande Prairie	7,401	6,203	1,198	16.19	16.19
Lac Ste. Anne	3,778	3,309	469	12.41	12.41
Peace River	5,165	4,167	998	19.32	19.32
St. Albert	3,206	3,064	142	4.43	4.43
St. Paul	5,476	5,043	433	7.91	7.91
Sturgeon	5,776	4,782	994	17.21	17.21
Vegreville	5,602	5,112	490	8.75	8.75
Vermilion	5,472	4,101	1,371	25.05	25.05
Whitford	3,786	2,491	1,295	34.20	34.2

There were more contestants in the race compared to 1930, but only Social Credit ran a full slate of candidates:

Party		Candidates			MLAs elected
		1935	1930	±	1935	1930	±
	Conservative	4	4		1	3	2
	Labour	3	3		–	1	1
	Liberal	4	3	1	1	2	1
	Social Credit	6	–	6	4	–	4
	Communist	1	1		–	–	–
	Independent Labour	1	–	1	–	–	–
	Independent	1	2	1	–	–	–
Total		20	13	7	6	6

Eighteen counts were needed to determine the outcome, but count-by-count results are not available.^[a] There are only detailed results for the later counts.^[4][b] Manning, Irwin, Anderson, Bowlen and Gostick achieved quota, and Hugill obtained the next best result on the final count.

Calgary (1935 Alberta general election)
(analysis of transferred votes, sorted by maximum votes, detailed results from 13th count onward)

Party		Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round	Maximum votes First round votesTransfer votes
	Liberal	John J. Bowlen	17	8,478	21.50%	​​
	Social Credit	Fred Anderson	15	6,638	16.60%	​​
	Conservative	John Irwin	13	6,092	15.19%	​​
	Social Credit	Ernest Manning	1	6,087	14.78%	​​
	Social Credit	Edith Gostick	18	5,886	15.56%	​​
	Social Credit	John Hugill	18	4,399	11.63%	​​
	Social Credit	W. Little (not elected)	18	4,002	10.58%	​​
	Liberal	Robert Weir (not elected)	16	3,327	8.32%	​​
	Social Credit	Oscar Devenish (not elected)	14	3,182	7.94%	​​
Exhausted votes				3,366	8.17%	​​

The 1935 race had a broader field of candidates compared to 1930:

Party		Candidates			MLAs elected
		1935	1930	±	1935	1930	±
	Conservative	6	6		1	3	2
	Labour	6	4	2	–	1	1
	Liberal	6	4	2	3	1	2
	Social Credit	6	–	6	2	–	2
	United Farmers	1	1		–	1	1
	Communist	1	1		–	–	–
	Reconstruction	1	–	1	–	–	–
	Independent	–	1	1	–	–	–
Total		27	17	10	6	6

As a result, the number of counts needed to select the six MLAs expanded from 14 to 23. Howson, Barnes and Van Allen won on achieving quota; Duggan, Mullen and O'Connor had the best results in the final round.

Edmonton (1935 Alberta general election) (six members elected, candidates ranked in order of 1st preference)^[6]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
	Liberal	William Howson	24.52%	9,139
	Social Credit	Samuel A. Barnes	12.01%	4,476	4,492	4,492	4,495	4,500	4,513	4,524	4,524	4,533	4,597	4,703	4,809	4,828	4,855	5,357
	Social Credit	W. S. Hall	7.56%	2,818	2,830	2,830	2,831	2,832	2,837	2,841	2,850	2,856	2,906	2,985	3,029	3,040	3,051	3,223	3,248	3,373	3,390	3,468	3,509	4,542	4,719	4,721
	Social Credit	David B. Mullen	6.71%	2,500	2,510	2,512	2,514	2,517	2,520	2,522	2,526	2,529	2,546	2,838	2,857	2,870	2,877	3,244	3,247	3,323	3,332	3,361	3,407	4,785	4,928	4,932
	United Farmers	John Lymburn	5.61%	2,092	2,150	2,151	2,158	2,168	2,205	2,209	2,218	2,229	2,283	2,286	2,522	2,556	2,680	2,688	2,688	2,887	2,919	3,180	3,267	3,305
	Social Credit	Orvis A. Kennedy	4.78%	1,781	1,791	1,793	1,799	1,799	1,802	1,802	1,804	1,810	1,826	2,106	2,118	2,122	2,142	2,407	2,412	2,501	2,511	2,547	2,584
	Conservative	David Duggan	3.93%	1,466	1,497	1,524	1,528	1,532	1,533	1,540	1,658	1,659	1,745	1,747	1,776	1,791	2,205	2,206	2,206	2,231	2,252	3,334	3,496	3,516	5,042	5,078
	Liberal	George Van Allen	3.37%	1,255	2,862	2,866	2,869	2,874	2,881	2,886	2,893	2,899	2,946	2,946	2,955	3,336	3,422	3,434	3,434	3,579	4,080	4,224	4,980	4,996	5,468
	Social Credit	Mark W. Robertson	3.34%	1,243	1,248	1,252	1,252	1,253	1,257	1,257	1,259	1,266	1,272	1,351	1,366	1,369	1,372
	Liberal	Marion Conroy	3.32%	1,238	1,678	1,679	1,680	1,695	1,700	1,719	1,727	1,732	1,848	1,853	1,895	1,986	2,007	2,014	2,014	2,108	2,327	2,483
	Conservative	William Atkinson	3.27%	1,220	1,242	1,261	1,265	1,266	1,273	1,278	1,351	1,359	1,398	1,401	1,454	1,492	1,950	1,954	1,954	2,005	2,025
	Liberal	Gerald O'Connor	2.99%	1,116	1,641	1,644	1,645	1,649	1,653	1,656	1,663	1,668	1,675	1,679	1,722	2,009	2,066	2,069	2,069	2,122	2,834	2,974	4,161	4,182	4,820	4,922
	Communist	Jan Lakeman	2.94%	1,096	1,105	1,109	1,110	1,114	1,146	1,158	1,158	1,186	1,217	1,220	1,456	1,473	1,484	1,491	1,491
	Conservative	Frederick Jamieson	2.76%	1,029	1,069	1,080	1,080	1,085	1,086	1,086	1,173	1,178	1,186	1,188	1,249	1,280
	Social Credit	G. L. King	2.26%	843	845	846	846	849	849	850	852	855	871
	Liberal	J. C. M. Marshall	1.81%	673	1,186	1,188	1,190	1,192	1,196	1,198	1,210	1,215	1,243	1,247	1,293	1,560	1,589	1,593	1,593	1,642
	Conservative	J. E. Basarab	1.80%	671	681	682	683	684	685	686	695	696
	Liberal	Walter Morrish	1.64%	612	1,078	1,079	1,083	1,096	1,100	1,102	1,112	1,121	1,157	1,158	1,211
	Labour	James East	1.36%	505	515	523	556	608	651	775	781	1,125	1,140	1,141
	Conservative	Emily Fitzsimon	0.97%	363	365	371	372	372	375	375
	Labour	James W. Findlay	0.89%	331	337	350	376	408	431	462	464
	Reconstruction	Elsie Wright	0.52%	192	196	200	201	205
	Labour	Carl Berg	0.52%	192	194	197	220	235	238
	Labour	Sidney Bowcott	0.45%	166	172	181	186
	Labour	Alfred Farmilo	0.34%	127	129	129
	Conservative	D. M. Ramsay	0.19%	71	72
	Labour	Sidney Parsons	0.14%	52	54
Exhausted ballots			—	—	4	4	4	10	12	17	25	27	87	94	231	231	243	263	263	848	949	1,048	1,215	1,293	1,642	1,642
Electorate: 49,212   Valid: 37,267   Spoilt: 785   Quota: 5,324   Turnout: 38,052 (77.3%)

Edmonton (1935 Alberta general election)
(analysis of transferred votes, candidates ranked in order of 1st preference)

Party		Candidate	Maximum round	Maximum votes	Share in maximum round	Maximum votes First round votesTransfer votes
	Liberal	William R. Howson	1	9,139	24.52%	​​
	Social Credit	Samuel Barnes	15	5,357	14.48%	​​
	Social Credit	W. S. Hall	23	4,721	13.25%	​​
	Social Credit	David B. Mullen	23	4,932	13.84%	​​
	UFA	John Lymburn	21	3,305	9.19%	​​
	Social Credit	Orvis A. Kennedy	20	2,584	7.17%	​​
	Conservative	David Duggan	23	5,078	14.25%	​​
	Liberal	George Van Allen	22	5,468	15.35%	​​
	Social Credit	Mark W. Robertson	14	1,372	3.71%	​​
	Liberal	Marion Conroy	19	2,483	6.86%	​​
	Conservative	William Atkinson	18	2,025	5.58%	​​
	Liberal	Gerald O'Connor	23	4,922	13.82%	​​
	Communist	Jan Lakeman	16	1,491	6.52%	​​
	Conservative	Frederick Jamieson	13	1,280	3.46%	​​
	Social Credit	G. L. King	10	871	2.34%	​​
	Liberal	J. C. M. Marshall	17	1,642	4.51%	​​
	Conservative	J. E. Basarab	9	696	1.87%	​​
	Liberal	Walter Morrish	12	1,211	3.27%	​​
	Labour	James East	11	1,141	3.07%	​​
	Conservative	Emily Fitzsimon	7	375	1.01%	​​
	Labour	James W. Findlay	8	464	1.25%	​​
	Reconstruction	Elsie Wright	5	205	0.55%	​​
	Labour	Carl Berg	6	238	0.64%	​​
	Labour	Sidney Bowcott	4	186	0.50%	​​
	Labour	Alfred Farmilo	3	129	0.35%	​​
	Conservative	D. M. Ramsay	2	72	0.19%	​​
	Labour	Sidney Parsons	2	54	0.14%	​​
Exhausted votes				1,642	4.41%	​​

Initial terminal transfer rates for votes (1930)

Transferred from	Non-transferrable	% transferred to							Total
		Socred	Liberal	UFA	Conservative	Labour	Communist	Reconstruction
█ Liberal (Howson)	4	55	3,551	58	106	28	9	4	3,815
	0.10%	1.44%	93.08%	1.52%	2.78%	0.73%	0.24%	0.10%	100.00%
█ Conservative (Jamieson)	12	68	193	124	872	–	11	–	1,280
	0.94%	5.31%	15.08%	9.69%	68.13%	–	0.86%	–	100.00%
█ Social Credit (King)	7	836	14	3	7	1	3	–	871
	0.80%	95.98%	1.61%	0.34%	0.80%	0.11%	0.34%	–	100.00%
█ United Farmers (Lymburn)	349	320	1,110	–	1,526	–	–	–	3,305
	10.56%	9.68%	33.59%	–	46.17%	–	–	–	100.00%
█ Communist (Lakeman)	585	290	341	199	76	–	–	–	1,491
	39.24%	19.45%	22.87%	13.35%	5.10%	–	–	–	100.00%

• Jansen, Harold John (1998). The Single Transferable Vote in Aiberta and Manitoba (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Alberta. ISBN 0-612-29051-4. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
• Bell, Edward A. (1993). Social classes and Social Credit in Alberta. McGill-Queens's University Press. ISBN 9780773564596.
• The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1935 and 1936. Toronto: The Annual Review Company. 1939.

• Alberta's Provincial Liberal Leader (PDF). Liberal Party of Alberta. 1935.
• Aberhart, William (1935). Social Credit Manual: Social Credit as Applied to the Province of Alberta (PDF). Social Credit Party of Alberta. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
• Reid, R.G. (1935). Manifesto of the Alberta Government (PDF). United Farmers of Alberta. Retrieved September 28, 2021.

• List of Alberta political parties