Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the Alberta Legislature for the province of Alberta, Canada, and is seated at the Alberta Legislature Building in the provincial capital of Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly is a unicameral assembly of 87 members, elected first past the post from single-member electoral districts.[1] Bills passed by the legislature are given royal assent by Charles III, King of Canada, represented by the lieutenant governor of Alberta.[2]
Legislative Assembly of Alberta | |
---|---|
30th Alberta Legislature | |
Type | |
Type | of the Alberta Legislature |
History | |
Founded | September 9, 1905 |
Preceded by | North-West Legislative Assembly |
Leadership | |
Speaker | Nathan Cooper, UCP since May 30, 2019 |
Premier | Danielle Smith (Not a member of the Legislative Assembly), UCP since October 11, 2022 |
Government House Leader | Jason Nixon, UCP since April 30, 2019 |
Opposition Leader | Rachel Notley, NDP since April 30, 2019 |
Opposition House Leader | Christina Gray, NDP since February 8, 2021 |
Structure | |
Seats | 87 |
Political groups |
|
Elections | |
Last election | April 16, 2019 |
Next election | 2023 |
Meeting place | |
Alberta Legislative Building, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | |
Website | |
assembly |
The maximum period between general elections of the assembly, as set by Section 4 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is five years, which is further reinforced in Alberta's Legislative Assembly Act.[3] Convention dictates the premier controls the date of election and usually selects a date in the fourth or fifth year after the preceding election. Amendments to Alberta's Elections Act introduced in 2011 fixed the date of election to between March 1 and May 31 in the fourth calendar year following the preceding election.[4] Alberta has never had a minority government, so an election as a result of a vote of no confidence has never occurred.
To be a candidate for election to the assembly, a person must be a Canadian citizen older than 18 who has lived in Alberta for at least six months before the election and has registered with Elections Alberta under the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act. Senators, senators-in-waiting, members of the House of Commons, and criminal inmates are ineligible.[5]
The current and 30th Alberta Legislative Assembly was elected on April 16, 2019.
History
The first session of the first Legislature of Alberta opened on March 15, 1906, in the Thistle Rink, Edmonton, north of Jasper Avenue. After the speech from the throne, the assembly held its sessions in the McKay Avenue School. In this school Alberta MLAs chose the provincial capital,[6] Edmonton, and the future site for the Alberta Legislature Building: the bank of the North Saskatchewan River. Allan Merrick Jeffers,[7] a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design was the architect who was chosen to build the assembly building. In September 1912 Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Governor General of Canada, declared the building officially open.[8][9][10]
Louise McKinney and Roberta MacAdams were the first women elected to the assembly, in the 1917 election. They were also the first women in any legislature of the British Empire.
Current members
The current members of the Legislature were elected in the 30th Alberta general election held on April 16, 2019. Bold indicates cabinet members, and party leaders are italicized.
Member[11] | Party | Electoral district | First elected | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Leela Aheer | United Conservative||Chestermere-Strathmore||2015 | |||
Tracy Allard||United Conservative | Grande Prairie||2019 | |||
Mickey Amery||United Conservative | Calgary-Cross||2019 | |||
Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk||United Conservative | Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville||2019 | |||
Drew Barnes | United Conservative (2019-2021) | Cypress-Medicine Hat | 2012 | |
Independent (2021-) | ||||
Deron Bilous | New Democratic | Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview | 2012 | |
Jon Carson | New Democratic | Edmonton-West Henday | 2015 | |
Joe Ceci | New Democratic | Calgary-Buffalo | 2015 | |
Nathan Cooper | United Conservative | Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills | 2015 | |
Jason Copping | United Conservative | Calgary-Varsity | 2019 | |
Lorne Dach | New Democratic | Edmonton-McClung | 2015 | |
Thomas Dang | New Democratic | Edmonton-South | 2015 | |
Jasvir Deol | New Democratic | Edmonton-Meadows | 2019 | |
Devin Dreeshen | United Conservative | Innisfail-Sylvan Lake | 2018 (by-election) | |
David Eggen | New Democratic | Edmonton-North West | 2004* | |
Mike Ellis | United Conservative | Calgary-West | 2014 (by-election) | |
Richard Feehan | New Democratic | Edmonton-Rutherford | 2015 | |
Tanya Fir | United Conservative | Calgary-Peigan | 2019 | |
Kathleen Ganley | New Democratic | Calgary-Mountain View | 2015 | |
Shane Getson | United Conservative | Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland | 2019 | |
Nate Glubish | United Conservative | Strathcona-Sherwood Park | 2019 | |
Nicole Goehring | New Democratic | Edmonton-Castle Downs | 2015 | |
Brian Jean | United Conservative | Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche | 2022 (by-election) | |
Richard Gotfried | United Conservative | Calgary-Fish Creek | 2015 | |
Christina Gray | New Democratic | Edmonton-Mill Woods | 2015 | |
Peter Guthrie | United Conservative | Airdrie-Cochrane | 2019 | |
Dave Hanson | United Conservative | Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul | 2015 | |
Sarah Hoffman | New Democratic | Edmonton-Glenora | 2015 | |
Nate Horner | United Conservative | Drumheller-Stettler | 2019 | |
Grant Hunter | United Conservative | Taber-Warner | 2015 | |
Janis Irwin | New Democratic | Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood | 2019 | |
Jason Kenney | United Conservative | Calgary-Lougheed | 2017 (by-election) | |
Whitney Issik | United Conservative | Calgary-Glenmore | 2019 | |
Matt Jones | United Conservative | Calgary-South East | 2019 | |
Adriana LaGrange | United Conservative | Red Deer-North | 2019 | |
Martin Long | United Conservative | West Yellowhead | 2019 | |
Todd Loewen | United Conservative (2019-2021) | Central Peace-Notley | 2019 | |
Independent (2021-) | ||||
Jackie Lovely | United Conservative | Camrose | 2019 | |
Rod Loyola | New Democratic | Edmonton-Ellerslie | 2015 | |
Jason Luan | United Conservative | Calgary-Foothills | 2012† | |
Kaycee Madu | United Conservative | Edmonton-South West | 2019 | |
Ric McIver | United Conservative | Calgary-Hays | 2012 | |
Nicholas Milliken | United Conservative | Calgary-Currie | 2019 | |
Dale Nally | United Conservative | Morinville-St. Albert | 2019 | |
Chris Nielsen | New Democratic | Edmonton-Decore | 2015 | |
Nathan Neudorf | United Conservative | Lethbridge-East | 2019 | |
Demetrios Nicolaides | United Conservative | Calgary-Bow | 2019 | |
Jason Nixon | United Conservative | Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre | 2015 | |
Jeremy Nixon | United Conservative | Calgary-Klein | 2019 | |
Rachel Notley | New Democratic | Edmonton-Strathcona | 2008 | |
Ron Orr | United Conservative | Lacombe-Ponoka | 2015 | |
Rakhi Pancholi | New Democratic | Edmonton-Whitemud | 2019 | |
Prasad Panda | United Conservative | Calgary-Edgemont | 2015 (by-election) | |
Shannon Phillips | New Democratic | Lethbridge-West | 2015 | |
Angela Pitt | United Conservative | Airdrie-East | 2015 | |
Josephine Pon | United Conservative | Calgary-Beddington | 2019 | |
Roger Reid | United Conservative | Livingstone-Macleod | 2019 | |
Pat Rehn | United Conservative (2019-2021) | Lesser Slave Lake | 2019 | |
Independent (Jan-Jul 2021) | ||||
United Conservative (2021-) | ||||
Marie Renaud | New Democratic | St. Albert | 2015 | |
Miranda Rosin | United Conservative | Banff-Kananaskis | 2019 | |
Garth Rowswell | United Conservative | Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright | 2019 | |
Brad Rutherford | United Conservative | Leduc-Beaumont | 2019 | |
Irfan Sabir | New Democratic | Calgary-McCall | 2015 | |
Rajan Sawhney | United Conservative | Calgary-North East | 2019 | |
Sonya Savage | United Conservative | Calgary-North West | 2019 | |
Marlin Schmidt | New Democratic | Edmonton-Gold Bar | 2015 | |
Joseph Schow | United Conservative | Cardston-Siksika | 2019 | |
Rebecca Schulz | United Conservative | Calgary-Shaw | 2019 | |
Doug Schweitzer | United Conservative | Calgary-Elbow | 2019 | |
Tyler Shandro | United Conservative | Calgary-Acadia | 2019 | |
David Shepherd | New Democratic | Edmonton-City Centre | 2015 | |
Lori Sigurdson | New Democratic | Edmonton-Riverview | 2015 | |
RJ Sigurdson | United Conservative | Highwood | 2019 | |
Peter Singh | United Conservative | Calgary-East | 2019 | |
Mark Smith | United Conservative | Drayton Valley-Devon | 2015 | |
Jason Stephan | United Conservative | Red Deer-South | 2019 | |
Heather Sweet | New Democratic | Edmonton-Manning | 2015 | |
Travis Toews | United Conservative | Grande Prairie-Wapiti | 2019 | |
Devinder Toor | United Conservative | Calgary-Falconridge | 2019 | |
Searle Turton | United Conservative | Spruce Grove-Stony Plain | 2019 | |
Glenn van Dijken | United Conservative | Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock | 2015 | |
Jordan Walker | United Conservative | Sherwood Park | 2019 | |
Rick Wilson | United Conservative | Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin | 2019 | |
Dan Williams | United Conservative | Peace River | 2019 | |
Tany Yao | United Conservative | Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo | 2015 | |
Muhammad Yaseen | United Conservative | Calgary-North | 2019 |
* Absent from Legislature during 2008–2012 term
† Absent from Legislature during 2015–2019 term
Standings during 30th Assembly
The 30th Alberta Legislative Assembly was constituted after the general election on April 16, 2019. The United Conservative Party, led by Jason Kenney, won a majority of seats and formed the government. The New Democrats, led by outgoing Premier Rachel Notley, won the second most seats and formed the official opposition.[12]
Seating plan
- Party leaders are italicized. Bold indicates cabinet minister.
Jones | Singh | Long | Guthrie | Nielsen | Carson | Schmidt | Sigurdson | Deol | Loyola | Dach | |||||||
Milliken | Getson | Rehn | Nixon | Dang | Renaud | Ganley | Eggen | Irwin | Pancholi | Sweet | Feehan | ||||||
Pitt | Hanson | van Dijken | Orr | Shepherd | Gray | Phillips | Bilous | Notley | Ceci | Hoffman | Sabir | Goehring | |||||
Cooper | |||||||||||||||||
Schweitzer | Copping | Madu | Panda | Fir | Shandro | Savage | Nixon | Kenney | Toews | Aheer | Sawhney | McIver | LaGrange | Wilson | Glubish | Dreeshen | |
Armstrong-Homeniuk | Barnes | Loewen | Yaseen | Hunter | Nally | Luan | Schow | Ellis | Pon | Schulz | Nicolaides | Goodridge | Amery | Gotfried | Smith | ||
Walker | Stephan | Lovely | Turton | Reid | Horner | Issik | Neudorf | Allard | Rutherford | Rosin | Toor | Sigurdson | Yao | Rowswell | Williams |
References
- "Legislative Assembly of Alberta". www.assembly.ab.ca.
- The Alberta Act, 4-5 Edw. VII [1905], c. 3 (Canada), s. 12 .
- Legislative Assembly Act, RSA 2000, c. L-9, s. 3(1)
- Election Act, RSA 2000, c. E-1, s. 38.1(2)
- Election Act, RSA 2000, c. E-1, s. 56
- "History of the building". www.alberta.ca.
- "McDougall Centre". www.alberta.ca.
- http://www.assembly.ab.ca/pub/gdbook/CitizensGuide.pdf
- "Jeffers, Allan Merrick - Alberta On Record". albertaonrecord.ca.
- "Alberta Legislature". Alberta Legislature - Explore Edmonton.
- Legislative Assembly of Alberta: Elected Members of the Assembly
- "Jason Kenney rides UCP wave to majority government in Alberta". CBC News. Apr 16, 2019.