Alberta general election, 1905

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Alberta general election of 1905 was the first general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 9, 1905 to elect members of the Alberta legislature to the 1st Alberta Legislative Assembly, shortly after the province was created out of the Northwest Territories on September 1, 1905.

The Alberta Liberal Party of Alexander C. Rutherford won twenty three of the twenty five seats in the new legislature, defeating the Conservative Party, which was led by a young lawyer, Richard Bennett, who later served as Prime Minister of Canada.

Prior to the 1905 election the two political parties saw numerous changes and defections, In Alberta a host of former Liberal-Conservative MLA's jumped ship to the Liberals, when Sir Wilfrid Laurier appointed the Liberal provisional government prior to the election. The Conservatives had no strong leader to rally around at the time as Frederick Haultain, had moved to Saskatchewan.

The election in 1905 was a bitter one, especially in Calgary and Southern Alberta where the Liberals were accused of vote tampering and interfering with Conservative voters. Recounts especially in Calgary took almost a month and saw the result swing back and forth. The scandal led to the arrest of some key Liberal organizers, including William Cushing's campaign manager, who had been a returning officer at a Calgary polling station.

1 Results
2 Members of the Legislative Assembly elected
3 Peace River
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Results

Party		Party Leader	Candidates^[1]	Elected	Popular Vote
Party		Party Leader	Candidates^[1]	Elected	#	%
	Liberal	Alexander C. Rutherford	26¹	23	14,485³	57.56%
	Conservative	Richard Bennett	23²	2	9,316³	37.13%
	Independent		7	-	1,336	5.31%
	Labor		2	-	843	%
Total			56	25	25,163	100%
Source: Elections Alberta

Alberta electoral results

Note:

2 Liberals contested the Peace River district after the results were voided.
Conservative L. Dubuc only contested the original Peace River election.
Vote returns for the first Peace River election are not included in totals.

[edit] Members of the Legislative Assembly elected

For complete electoral history, see individual districts

	District	Member	Party
1st Alberta Legislative Assembly
	Athabasca	William Bredin	Liberal
	Banff	Charles W. Fisher	Liberal
	Calgary	William Cushing	Liberal
	Cardston	John William Woolf	Liberal
	Edmonton	Charles Cross	Liberal
	Gliechen	Charles Stuart	Liberal
	High River	Albert Robertson	Conservative
	Innisfail	John A. Simpson	Liberal
	Lacombe	William Puffer	Liberal
	Leduc	Robert Telford	Liberal
	Lethbridge	Leverett DeVeber	Liberal
	Macleod	Malcolm McKenzie	Liberal
	Medicine Hat	William Finlay	Liberal
	Pincher Creek	John Plummer Marcellus	Liberal
	Ponoka	John R. McLeod	Liberal
	Red Deer	John Moore	Liberal
	Rosebud	Cornelius Hiebert	Conservative
	St. Albert	Henry William McKenney	Liberal
	Stony Plain	John McPherson	Liberal
	Strathcona	Alexander Cameron Rutherford	Liberal
	Sturgeon	John R. Boyle	Liberal
	Vermillion	Matthew McCauley	Liberal
	Victoria	Francis A. Walker	Liberal
	Wetaskiwin	Anthony Rosenroll	Liberal

[edit] Peace River

James Cornwall was declared elected to the Peace River district on election night 1905 for the Liberal Party. The election results were overturned by significant irregularities leaving the seat vacant. A new election was held on February 15, 1906.

Thomas Brick declared his candidacy in the new election for the Liberals after being asked to run by a large group of people came to his homestead and asked him to run. He faced James Cornwall who attempted to re-win his seat and he also ran under the Liberal banner. The runner up candidate from the original 1905 election Conservative L. Dubuc did not run again. Thomas Brick defeated James Cornwall in a landslide.^[2]