The Deep Six were a group of six Progressive Conservative Members of the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...

first elected in the 1993 provincial election. Sitting as

backbenchers In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

, they supported the government of

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 ...

in its spending cuts to reduce the provincial deficit, and advocated still larger and swifter cuts. Their name came from their support for deep spending cuts and from their physical location in the Legislature—deep in the backbenches. According to Klein strategist

Rod Love Roderick Michael Love (August 5, 1953 – October 26, 2014) was a Canadian political strategist. He served as chief of staff to Ralph Klein during Klein's tenure as Mayor of Calgary and Premier of Alberta. Political career He was born in Yorkton ...

, Klein would ask to be briefed on the group's activities every morning of his first term. The members of the Deep Six were

Jon Havelock Jonathan Niles Havelock was a Cabinet Minister from Alberta, Canada. Jon Havelock was elected as the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta member for Calgary Shaw in the 1993 Alberta general election after the former member of the r ...

, Mark Hlady,

Lyle Oberg Lyle Knute Oberg (born January 6, 1960) is an Albertan politician and former member of the Legislative Assembly. He is also a physician and business executive. Life and career Oberg was born near Forestburg, Alberta in 1960. A physician by pro ...

, Murray Smith,

Ed Stelmach Edward Michael Stelmach (; born May 11, 1951) is a Canadian politician and served as the 13th premier of Alberta, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and fluently speaks ...

, and

Lorne Taylor Lorne Taylor (born 1944) is a former tenured professor and member of the provincial legislature of Alberta, Canada. Political career Taylor was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1993 Alberta general election. He defeated thr ...

. Klein would later bring five of these six into his cabinet—Smith became Minister of Economic Development and Tourism in September 1994, and Havelock, Oberg, Stelmach, and Taylor were brought in after the 1997 election. Oberg and Stelmach were both candidates to succeed Klein in the 2006 leadership election, with Stelmach winning and becoming Premier.

References

{{reflist Politics of Alberta