Reform Party Of Alberta (1989–2004)
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The Reform Party of Alberta is a defunct
provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada, that was registered with
Elections Alberta Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections, referendums within the province. This is in accordance with the Alberta Election Act ...
. Its leader was David Salmon.


Early history

The party was registered by members of the former
Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protes ...
on August 24, 1989 not to contest
general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
, but to contest elections held by the Government of Alberta to select nominees for the
Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...
, a body that is appointed by the
Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...
on the recommendation of the
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
. The party contested Senate nominee elections, the 1989 Senate election and the 1998 Senate election. The Reform Party of Alberta nominated and ran only three candidates in its history:
Stanley Waters Lieutenant-general Stanley Charles Waters (June 14, 1920 – September 25, 1991) was Canada's first senator to be appointed to his Senate seat following a non-binding provincial Senate election. Early life Born in Winnipeg and educated at Stra ...
,
Ted Morton Frederick Lee Morton (born 1949), known commonly as Ted Morton, is an American-Canadian politician and former cabinet minister in the Alberta government. As a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, he represented the constituency of Fo ...
and
Bert Brown Bert Brown (March 22, 1938 – February 3, 2018) was a Canadian senator and retired farmer and development consultant who resided in Balzac, Alberta. Early life Brown farmed in Kathyrn, Alberta, from 1969 to 1999, after which they sold their fa ...
. The other and primary purpose was to keep Reform focused as a federal party instead of being distracted by provincial campaigns. Nonetheless, there was considerable agitation at this time by some Albertan Reform members to form an active provincial party that could challenge
Don Getty Donald Ross Getty (August 30, 1933 – February 26, 2016) was a Canadian politician who served as the 11th premier of Alberta between 1985 and 1992. A member of the Progressive Conservatives, he served as Energy Minister and Federal and Intergo ...
's unpopular Progressive Conservative government. In some opinion polls, the dormant Reform Party actually placed ahead of the
Tories A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...
. When
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 ...
was elected to lead the PCs in 1992, enthusiasm for an alternative
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party that might
split the vote Vote splitting is an election, electoral effect in which the distribution of votes among multiple similar candidates reduces the chance of winning for any of the similar candidates, and increases the chance of winning for a dissimilar candidate. ...
with the Tories and benefit the surging Liberals quickly faded. Unlike what is the case in most
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
, an Albertan political party did not lose its registration if it does not nominate candidates during a
general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
, de-registration only happens if the party ceases to file financial statements with the electoral office. The Reform Party did not nominate any candidates for election to 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 ...
in 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 ...
, due to a change in the rules the party registration was withdrawn by the chief electoral officer. The federal Reform Party's successor, the
Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...
, was also not interested in forming provincial wings, but unlike Reform, the CA did not register the Alliance name with provincial electoral officers during its short history. As a result, a section of the Albertan CA membership formed the Alberta Alliance in 2002. Unlike Reform, the Alberta Alliance was an active political party—it fielded a full slate of candidates in the 2004 general election, and won one seat in the Legislature. The Reform Party of Alberta was deregistered after the election, along with the Equity Party.


List of Leaders

*
Preston Manning Ernest Preston Manning (born June 10, 1942) is a Canadian retired politician. He was the founder and the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance in 2000 which in tur ...
(1989 - 2000) *David Salmon (2000 - 2004)


1989 Senatorial financial statement

According to the official archives of Elections Alberta, in the 1989 Senate election, the Stan Waters campaign received $147,822 in campaign donations, $19,000 transferred from the Reform Party of Alberta, and $23,558.96 was from fundraising functions, for a total of $190,380.96 in campaign period revenue. Expenses for the campaign were $197,641.00, resulting in a deficit of $7,260.04. Note: Future party leader David Salmon was Stan Waters official agent.


See also

*
Reform Party of Ontario The Reform Party of Ontario (RPO) (PRO; french: Parti Réformiste de l'Ontario) was a minor political party in Ontario, Canada. Until the 1999 provincial election, the party ran one candidate each election in order to keep the party's name in t ...
* List of Alberta political parties {{DEFAULTSORT:Reform Party of Alberta (1989-2004) Provincial political parties in Alberta Political parties established in 1989 Political parties disestablished in 2004 Defunct political parties in Canada Conservative parties in Canada Reform Party of Canada 1989 establishments in Alberta 2004 disestablishments in Alberta