The 25th Alberta Legislative Assembly was in session from April 9, 2001, to October 25, 2004, with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the

2001 Alberta general election The 2001 Alberta general election was held on March 12, 2001 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The incumbent Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, led by Ralph Klein, won a strong majority for its tenth consecutive term i ...

held on March 12, 2001. The Legislature officially resumed on April 9, 2001, 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 October 25, 2004, prior to the

2004 Alberta general election The 2004 Alberta general election was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The election was called on October 25, 2004. Premier Ralph Klein decided to go to the polls earlier than the legislated dead ...

on November 22, 2004. Alberta's twenty-fifth 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-Webster Progressive 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 ...

, 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 ...

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...

. 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 Ken Nicol of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. 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

Ken Kowalski Kenneth Reginald Kowalski (born September 27, 1945) is a politician and former teacher from Alberta, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, where he served from 1979 to 2012, sitting with the governing Progressive Conse ...

. With the exception of the three MLAs listed below, all members held their seats until dissolution of the legislature.

History

The 25th Legislative Assembly was ushered in with a massive Progressive Conservative majority, with Alberta being dubbed Ralph's World following the 2001 general election. The official opposition Liberals began a turbulent period that would see the party go through four leaders. The third party Alberta New Democrats also changed leaders in July 2004 with the retirement of

Raj Pannu Rajinder Singh "Raj" Pannu (born January 12, 1934) is a Canadians, Canadian educator and politician, who led the Alberta New Democratic Party from 2000 to 2004. Pannu was born in Punjab, India, Punjab, India completing an undergraduate degree b ...

and choice of

Brian Mason Brian David Mason (born October 12, 1953) is a Canadian politician who was leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party from 2004 to 2014 and served the Minister of Transportation in Rachel Notley's NDP government. He also served as the Governme ...

as new leader. Towards the end of the legislature for the first time since 1985, a new party caucus was formed. Edmonton-Norwood MLA Gary Masyk would cross the floor to the Alberta Alliance which had been formed in 2002 and registered in 2003 creating the caucus for that party. His reason for leaving was the Premier's interference in the 2004 federal election that coincided with a sharp decline in poll numbers that kept the federal Conservatives from winning the election. His electoral district was also abolished in the 2004 Alberta Boundary Re-distribution. Support the Progressive Conservatives softened through the reign of the Assembly but still remained high during the 2004 general election.

Bills

''Adult Interdependent Relationships Act''

The ''Adult Interdependent Relationships Act'' (S.A. 2002, c. A-4.5) was passed by the Alberta Legislature on December 4, 2002, and proclaimed in force on June 1, 2003. The act did not amend Alberta's ''Marriage Act'', but did amend 69 other Alberta laws following the 1999 landmark

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

ruling in the case of ''

M. v. H. ''M v H''

999 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Books * ''999'' (anthology) or ''999: ...

2 S.C.R. 3, is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on the rights of same-sex couples to equal treatment under the Constitution of Canada. Background ''M v H'' was on the appeal of a case originally brought by a ...

'', which essentially required all provinces to extend the benefits of common-law marriage to same-sex couples, under the equality provisions of

Section Fifteen of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Section 15 of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' contains guaranteed equality rights. As part of the Constitution of Canada, the section prohibits certain forms of discrimination perpetrated by the governments of Canada with the excep ...

. Owing to the conservative political climate in the province, the government of Alberta was slow to respond, but in 2000 Alberta did amend the provincial Marriage Act to specifically limit marriage to different-sex couples. The Act was based on the January 2002 Alberta Law Reform Institute recommendations in ''Recognition of Rights and Obligations in Same-Sex Relationships'' which was funded in part by the provincial government.

''Electoral Divisions Act''

The ''Electoral Divisions Act'' (S.A. 2003, c. E-4.1) was passed by the Alberta Legislature during the third session, and received Royal Assent on May 15, 2003. The Act implemented the recommendations of the Final Report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission, chaired by former

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

MLA and Alberta's Ethics Commissioner

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 ...

which delineated the new electoral boundaries for the upcoming 2004 Alberta general election and the 26th Alberta Legislature. The new electoral boundaries retained a total of 83 seats, with

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

gaining two seats,

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

losing one seat, and one of the "special consideration" divisions (due to its isolation, it is allowed to have a population below 75% of the provincial average) was eliminated, leaving Dunvegan-Central Peace the last remaining special consideration district.

Members of the 25th Legislature by district

Standings changes during the 25th Assembly

#December 31, 2001 Robert Fischer, Wainwright resigns #April 8, 2002

Doug Griffiths Douglas Gordon Griffiths (born October 26, 1972) is the president and chief executive officer of 13 Ways, Inc., a company he founded to provide consultation to struggling North American communities. He is a public speaker and co-author of the ...

, Wainwright elected in a by-election #May 25, 2004 Ken Nicol,

Lethbridge-East Lethbridge-East is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, covering the eastern half of the city of Lethbridge. The district is one of 87 in the province mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using ...

resigns to run in a federal election #May 28, 2004

Debby Carlson Debby Carlson (born April 5, 1957) is a former Liberal MLA in Alberta, who represented the electoral district of Edmonton Ellerslie from 1993 to 2004. Carlson won her seat in southeast Edmonton's Ellerslie area, and held it in the 1993, 1997, ...

, Edmonton Ellerslie resigned to run in a federal election #June 29, 2004 Gary Masyk,

Edmonton Norwood Edmonton-Norwood was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting from 1959 to 2004. History The Edmonton-Norwood e ...

crossed the floor to the Alberta Alliance

References

External links

Alberta Legislative AssemblyLegislative Assembly of Alberta Members Book
{{Alberta Assemblies 25