The 17th Alberta Legislative Assembly was in
session from March 2, 1972, to February 14, 1975, with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the
1971 Alberta general election
The 1971 Alberta general election was the seventeenth general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on August 30, 1971, to elect seventy-five members of the Alberta Legislature to form the 17th Alberta Legislative Assembly.
The Progr ...
held on August 30, 1971. The Legislature officially resumed on March 2, 1972, and continued until the fourth session was
prorogued
A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections ...
and
dissolved on February 14, 1975, prior to the
1975 Alberta general election
The 1975 Alberta general election was held on March 26, 1975, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to the 18th Alberta Legislature. The election was called on February 14, 1975 prorogued and dissolved of the 17th Alberta Legi ...
.
Alberta's seventeenth government was controlled by the
majority
A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-WebsterProgressive Conservative Association of Alberta
The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (often referred to colloquially as Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta) was a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta that existed from 1905 to 2020. The party f ...
for the first time, led by
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
Peter Lougheed
Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding ...
. The
Official Opposition
Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...
was led by former Premier
Harry Strom
Harry Edwin Strom (July 7, 1914 – October 2, 1984) was the ninth premier of Alberta, from 1968 to 1971. His two-and-a-half years as Premier were the last of the thirty-six-year Social Credit dynasty, as his defeat by Peter Lougheed saw its r ...
of the
Social Credit Party, and subsequently
James Douglas Henderson
James Douglas Henderson (January 2, 1927 – June 29, 2020) was a politician from Alberta, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1963 to 1975, first as a member of the Social Credit Party and later as an independent. He ...
and
Robert Curtis Clark
Robert Curtis "Bob" Clark (July 2, 1937 – July 10, 2020) was a teacher, civil servant and politician. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1960 to 1981 including time as a Cabinet Minister in Premier Ernest Manning's governme ...
. The
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
was
Gerard Amerongen
Gerard Joseph Taets van Amerongen (July 18, 1914 – April 21, 2013) was a politician and lawyer from Alberta, Canada.
He was born in 1914 in WinnipegPerry, Footz (2006) 381 and grew up in Edmonton. He graduated in law from the University of A ...
who would serve in the role until he was defeated in the
1986 Alberta general election
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
.
Fourth session
Energy policy came to the forefront near the end of the fourth session of the Legislature when on January 16 a joint press conference was held by the owners of
Syncrude Canada Ltd.
Syncrude Canada Ltd. is one of the world's largest producers of synthetic crude oil from oil sands and the largest single source producer in Canada. It is located just outside Fort McMurray in the Athabasca Oil Sands, and has a nameplate capaci ...
, a joint venture company created to extract oil from the
Athabasca oil sands seeking $1-billion in investment following the withdrawal of Atlantic Richfield or risk the failure of the venture.
Debate over the proposed investment Alberta's news with proponents noting the high costs of development, necessity for domestic oil supplies during the recent
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
, and the risk of stalling future development in the oil sands, while opponents felt the ultimatum was tantamount to
blackmail
Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...
.
All provincial governments were provided the opportunity to invest in the agreement, and on February 3 the Governments of
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and Alberta met with
Shell Oil
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yor ...
and the original partners in the consortium. The ''Winnipeg Agreement'' was announced the next day, where the Government of Canada would invest $300-million for 15 per cent of Syncrude Canada Ltd., and the Government of Ontario would invest $100-million for 5 per cent equity, and Alberta would invest $200-million for
convertible debenture
In finance, a convertible bond or convertible note or convertible debt (or a convertible debenture if it has a maturity of greater than 10 years) is a type of bond that the holder can convert into a specified number of shares of common stock in ...
and finance a $200-million power plant for the site.
Representatives from Shell Oil stormed out of the meeting after an hour after the concession for a government-guaranteed base price for oil sands production was not provided.
Liberal leader Nick Taylor and NDP leader Grant Notley were very critical of the agreement.
Party standings after the 17th General Election
* A party requires four seats to have official party status in the legislature. Parties with fewer than four seats are not entitled to party funding although their members will usually be permitted to sit together in the chamber.
Members elected
For complete electoral history, see individual districts.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
Alberta Legislative AssemblyLegislative Assembly of Alberta Members Book
{{Alberta Assemblies
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