Alberta New Democratic Party
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Template:Infobox Canada Political Party
The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social democratic political party in Alberta, Canada that was founded as the Alberta section of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. From the mid-1980s until 2004 the party abbreviated its name as just New Democrats or ND.
Though the CCF was founded in 1932 part of that founding included the merger of the Labour Party of Alberta led by Elmer Roper. The party did not run in Alberta elections until the 1940 election because of its links with the United Farmers of Alberta. Once the UFA was wiped out in the 1935 provincial election and withdrew from politics, the way was clear for the CCF to run its own candidates provincially. However, the CCF was unable to win the support of the UFA's conservative supporters, or put a dent in the support of Alberta's Social Credit movement.
Though the party received 11% of the vote in 1940, the CCF was unable to win any seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. In 1942, Elmer Roper won an upset victory in a by-election and won the CCF's first seat in the legislature.
In the 1944 election, the CCF received 24% of the vote, but was able to won only 2 seats, due to the dominance of Social Credit. Social Credit received over 50% of ballots cast.
Through the 1940s and 1950s, the CCF's percentage of the vote declined, eventually falling under 10% of the vote, and they were never able to win more than the two seats they managed in 1944. The party was reduced to one or no MLAs through the 1950s.
The CCF merged with the labour movement in 1961, becoming the New Democratic Party of Canada. In Alberta, the NDP was founded in 1962 under the leadership of Neil Reimer who had been national director of the Energy and Chemical Workers Union. The NDP was unable to build on the CCF's provincial base, and, with the exception of a 1966 by-election victory, did not win any seats until the 1971 election when Grant Notley, who had taken over the party in 1968, was elected to the legislature.
With the election of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives in 1971, Social Credit gradually collapsed. The Alberta Liberal Party suffered due to its links with the federal Liberal Party of Canada government of Pierre Trudeau, which was very unpopular in Alberta.
The decline of Social Credit and unpopularity of the Liberals gave the New Democrats an opportunity to become the focus of opposition to the Lougheed Tories. Popularity of the NDP gradually increased under leader Grant Notley, who led the party from 1968 until his tragic death in a plane crash in 1984, and was the party's sole MLA until 1982.
In 1971, the NDP surpassed the 10% barrier, climbing to 18.75% in the 1982 election. The party became the Official Opposition in 1982, though with only two seats.
Notley was leading the NDP to what many thought would be a major breakthrough when he was killed in an airplane crash in 1984.
In the 1986 election, under Ray Martin, the party, now known as the NDs to distinguish itself from the federal NDP (this change did not reflect an ideological separation, as both the federal and provincial parties remained committed to democratic socialism). The party won almost 30% of the vote and 16 seats. This was to be the apex of New Democrat support.
With the departure of Pierre Trudeau from the federal scene, the Alberta Liberals began a revival. The New Democrats were unable to gain any additional seats in the 1989 election. However, though they were still the Official Opposition in the legislature by virtue of having more seats than the Liberals, the NDs' popular support fell behind the Liberals (26% to the Liberal's 28%) for the first time in decades. The Liberals became the focus of renewed interest for those opposing the governing Tories.
The Liberal Party became the new hope for leading an anti-Tory coalition in the early 1990s, at a time when support for the New Democratic Party was declining across Canada. In the 1993 election, their popular vote fell by more than half to 11%, and they lost all their seats in the legislature.
The party was able to regain their foothold in the legislature winning two seats in the 1997 and 2001 elections, but have been unable to break the 10% popular vote barrier, or regain their position as Official Opposition.
In 2004, the party reverted to the traditional NDP abbreviation. The current leader of the Alberta NDP is Brian Mason, a former city councillor. He was elected leader in September 2004, while serving as interim leader after the resignation as leader of former professor Raj Pannu. All of the party's leaders since Notley have represented Edmonton ridings.
In the 2004 Alberta general election the party doubled its seats from two to four, all in the Edmonton area - the re-elected Mason and Pannu, returning former leader Ray Martin, and newcomer David Eggen. The party received 9.7% of the vote province-wide.
Party leaders
- Elmer Roper (1942–1955)
- Neil Reimer (1962–1968)
- Grant Notley (1968–1984)
- Ray Martin (1984–1994)
- Ross Harvey (1994–1996)
- Pam Barrett (1996–2000)
- Raj Pannu (2000–2004)
- Brian Mason (since 2004)
See also
External links
- Alberta NDP (http://www.albertandp.ca/)
- the Socialist Party - CCF/NDP in Alberta (http://collections.ic.gc.ca/abpolitics/events/party_nd_socialist.html)