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 Legislature. The Progressive Conservative Party led by incumbent Premier Peter Lougheed won its second term in government in a landslide, taking over 62 per cent of the popular vote and winning 69 of the 75 seats in the legislature to form a majority government. The Social Credit Party saw its vote collapse. After 36 years in government from 1935 to 1971—virtually its entire history—it was ill-prepared for a role in opposition. It lost over half of its popular vote from the previous election, and was cut down to only four MLAs—just barely holding onto official party status.

Background

The 1971 general election resulted in the Progressive Conservative Party led by Peter Lougheed defeating the Social Credit Party which had governed Alberta continuously for 36 years consecutive years. The Progressive Conservatives defeated the Social Credit Party by 5.3 per cent in the popular vote and formed a majority government. Social Credit leader and former Premier Harry Strom continued as leader of the opposition until 1973 when he resigned, Strom continued in the legislature until the 1975 election, when he did not seek re-election. In the 1973 leadership election, Werner Schmidt, vice-president of Lethbridge Community College, who didn't hold a seat in the Legislative Assembly, ran against former Highways Minister Gordon Taylor, former Education Minister Robert Curtis Clark, and John Ludwig, dean of business education at Alberta College. Clark, who had the support of half of the party's MLAs, led Schmidt on the first ballot, 583 votes to 512 votes. But in an upset victory, Schmidt won on the second ballot with 814 votes, defeating Clark by 39 votes. Social Credit MLA Gordon Taylor grew detached with the party and supported Lougheed's plan to provide gas lines to rural areas. Taylor left the Social Credit caucus in 1975 just before the election. The New Democratic Party led by leader Grant Notley captured a single seat in the 1971 general election. The Alberta Liberal Party failed to capture a single seat in the 1971 general election led by leader Bob Russell. Russell contested the 1973 by-election in Calgary-Foothills finishing a distant fourth with 5.8 per cent of the vote. Russell resigned the leadership of the Liberal Party later in 1974, and was succeeded by Nicholas Taylor.

Election campaign

Progressive Conservative

Premier Peter Lougheed enjoyed strong support from his home constituency of Calgary-West, meaning he was able to campaign throughout the province. The Progressive Conservative Party campaigned a platform on administrative competence and promises outlined in an unpassed 1975–76 budget. Leaning on successful negotiations with the federal and Ontario governments and oil companies for the development of oil sands in the Winnipeg Agreement only 11 days before the legislature was dissolved. Other promises included the creation of the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, reduction of personal income taxes by at least 28 per cent, and increased social program spending, all of which were built on growing non-renewable natural resource revenue resulting from 1970s energy crisis. Campaign slogans utilized by the Progressive Conservatives included "Lougheed Leadership", "43 Months of Progress", and "Vote Today for Alberta". The Progressive Conservative government was criticized for interference with the free market, which was exemplified with the 1974 purchase of Pacific Western Airlines for $37.5-million. The Lougheed government was also criticized for significant government spending authorized through Order-in-Council instead of appropriations through the legislature.

Social Credit Party

The Social Credit Party ran a campaign advocating for the provincial government to provide low-interest loans to Albertans for housing, farming and small business purposes. Social Credit leader Werner Schmidt promoted greater revenue sharing with municipal governments, and more conciliatory stance to negotiations with the federal government, and greater emphasis on free market enterprise. The Social Credit Party referred to themselves as "the Alberta Party" throughout the election, but was unable to gather significant momentum with the phrase. The Social Credit Party was only able to muster 70 candidates to contest the provinces 75 electoral districts. Many of the candidates focused their advertising dollars and canvassing efforts on highlighting their individual experience and value as a constituent representative rather than emphasizing the Party's platform.

New Democratic Party

NDP leader Grant Notley was elected to the Spirit River-Fairview district in 1971 by a slim margin in a competitive three-way race. The pressure in his home riding required Notley to do much of his campaigning in his home riding, and not in locations across the province. Through his efforts in the legislature, Notley gained a reputation as a hard-working, sincere and capable representative and critic of Peter Lougheed. The NDP mustered candidates in all 75 constituencies, and as the only opposition party with a full slate of candidates, the NDP created the election slogan "The Only Real Opposition". The NDP's campaign strategy did not emphasis socialist programs in the early stages of the campaign, instead focusing on the Lougheed government's agreement with Syncrude for developing the oil sands. Notley and the NDP believed the Syncrude agreement would be the central issue of the election, as the agreement included significant public financial investments. Notley was able to obtain several confidential government documents relating to the Syncrude project's viability which the NDP released throughout the campaign, however the Progressive Conservatives steered away from debate on the subject. Later in the election the NDP brought forward more traditional socialist programs including children's dental care, increasing old age pensions, government run auto insurance and increasing public ownership of utility companies.

Liberal

The Liberal Party focused its campaign on leader Nick Taylor's charisma and environmental opposition to the Progressive Conservatives industrialization policy. Instead the Liberal Party emphasized that Alberta's economy should be focused on renewable resources such as agriculture, timber, tourism and modern professional skills. The Liberals emphasized their platform through the campaign slogan "The Alternative". The Liberal Party was able to field 46 candidates in the province's 75 electoral districts, although with a majority of the Party's support coming from Calgary and Edmonton, many of the rural candidates were paper candidates. Much of the Liberal campaign resources were focused on urban candidates, with most of the resources going towards Taylor's Calgary-Glenmore constituency.

Results

To no one's surprise, the Progressive Conservative Party won a lopsided victory, capturing 62.7 per cent of the vote and 69 of 75 seats in the legislature. The Edmonton Report cover featured a caricature of Peter Lougheed following the victory accompanied with the title "Peter The Greatest". The Social Credit Party was further decimated as they dropped from 21 seats (from 25 to 4), capturing 18.2 per cent of the vote. Leader Werner Schmidt failed to capture his own seat in Taber-Warner, capturing 2,418 votes (33.43 per cent), coming second to Progressive Conservative Robert Bogle who captured 4,614 votes (63.78 per cent). Independent Social Credit candidate Gordon Taylor was able to retain his seat. Schmidt resigned as leader of the Social Credit Party days after the election. The Liberal Party grew to nearly 5 per cent of the popular vote, but secured no seats. Nick Taylor came second in his constituency of Calgary-Glenmore with 4,166 votes, well behind the Progressive Conservative candidate Hugh Planche who garnered 10,641 votes. Taylor attributed the Liberal's overall poor performance to the connection with the unpopular federal Liberal Party. The New Democratic Party leader Grant Notley was able to capture his seat in Spirit River-Fairview with 50.83 per cent of the vote, defeating his only opponent, Progressive Conservative Alex Woronuk. Despite garnering 12.9 per cent of the popular vote, the NDP was only able to capture Notley's seat. The NDP was still somewhat pleased that candidates came second in northern areas of the province and all 16 Edmonton constituencies. Overall voter turnout in the election was 59.58 per cent. Note:

• Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Results by riding

3,723 59.63% 582 9.32% 1,686 27.01% 226 3.62% 5,221 68.92% 1,129 14.90% 737 9.73% 453 5.98% 3,665 67.48% 919 16.92% 826 15.21% 3,226 56.66% 1,119 19.65% 805 14.14% 526 9.24% 1,906 37.41%||| 2,992 58.72% 183 3.59% 5,251 52.12% 3,537 35.11% 879 8.72% 314 3.12% 64 0.64%||| 6,525 70.69% 786 8.51% 877 9.50% 962 10.42% 55 0.60%||| 6,068 72.85% 939 11.27% 713 8.56% 586 7.04% 10,867 75.70% 1,119 7.79% 712 4.96% 1,634 11.38% 6,159 73.68% 589 7.05% 449 5.37% 1,149 13.75% 10,917 67.50% 2,587 16.00% 1,366 8.45% 324 2.01% Hilda Armstrong 893 5.52% 55 0.34% 10,641 65.85% 838 5.19% 498 3.08% 4,166 25.78% 9,102 64.91% 3,397 24.22% 997 7.11% 440 3.14% 46 0.33%||| 8,586 67.80% 1,572 12.41% 1,747 13.80% 743 5.87% 4,978 57.56% 2,114 24.44% 940 10.87% 512 5.92% 43 0.50% Roger Lavoie (Ind.) 21 0.24% 3,800 48.76% 2,562 32.88% 725 9.30% 576 7.39% 56 0.72%||| 6,673 70.51% 1,364 14.41% 723 7.64% 584 6.17% 60 0.63%||| 8,983 78.28% 1,213 10.57% 674 5.87% 564 4.91% 6,483 72.40% 1,313 14.66% 1,141 12.74% 2,899 59.77% 1,826 37.65% 115 2.37% 3,211 34.23%||| 5,151 54.90% 799 8.52% 197 2.10% 2,065 53.21% 1,447 37.28% 202 5.20% 159 4.10%||| 3,224 67.77% 513 10.78% 815 17.13% 191 4.02% 2,678 36.29% 4,428 60.20% 249 3.37% 4,596 60.87% 1,341 17.76% 1,141 15.11% 413 5.47% 47 0.62% 6,662 64.72% 1,164 11.31% 1,759 17.09% 661 6.42% 27 0.26%||| 5,046 61.81% 764 9.36% 1,902 23.30% 374 4.58% 60 0.73%||| 5,689 67.96% 1,640 19.59% 620 7.41% 396 4.73%||| 3,996 61.79% 386 5.97% 1,125 17.40% 930 14.38% 7,735 74.14% 782 7.50% 1,837 17.61% 44 0.42% 5,247 64.14% 982 12.00% 1,312 16.04% 579 7.08% 28 0.34%||| 3,085 58.66% 888 16.89% 1,129 21.47% 82 1.56%||| 5,436 66.02% 1,035 12.57% 1,192 14.48% 491 5.96% 4,897 65.96% 619 8.34% 1,418 19.10% 472 6.36% 6,715 67.66% 1,093 11.01% 1,406 14.17% 698 7.03% 4,298 58.80% 1,045 14.30% 1,849 25.29% 48 0.66%||| 8,807 70.85% 1,559 12.54% 2,003 16.11% 4,810 62.18% 904 11.69% 1,546 19.98% 461 5.96% 3,996 54.21% 768 10.42% 2,108 28.60% 415 5.63% 28 0.38% Harry Garfinkel (Con. Social.) 24 0.33% 9,614 67.66% 1,101 7.75% 2,645 18.61% 830 5.84% 3,872 64.96% 651 10.92% 1,426 23.92% 6,466 61.08% 1,475 13.93% 1,962 18.53% 651 6.15% 2,927 68.61% 817 19.15% 134 3.14% 378 8.86% 4,037 63.64% 1,925 30.35% 234 3.69% 125 1.97% 4,029 66.27% 1,512 24.87% 376 6.18% 147 2.42% 2,859 52.68% 560 10.32% 530 9.77% 703 12.95% 737 13.68% 4,186 68.42% 1,414 23.11% 486 7.94% 2,387 57.91% 921 22.34% 791 19.19% 7,233 66.82% 1,915 17.69% 1,006 9.29% 645 5.96% 3,991 58.26% 1,914 27.94% 812 11.85% 2,019 37.08%||| 3,132 57.52% 126 2.31% 157 2.88% 4,370 81.94% 938 17.59% 3,671 55.37% 2,359 35.58% 330 4.98% 231 3.48% 5,678 46.33% 5,548 45.27% 417 3.40% 532 4.34% 53 0.43% 2,860 38.26%||| 4,400 58.86% 209 2.80% 3,567 60.76% 897 15.28% 1,292 22.01% 92 1.57 3,209 59.81% 1,837 34.24% 235 4.38% 49 0.91%||| 3,328 59.60% 1,263 22.62% 932 16.69% 6,566 65.74% 1,538 15.40% 1,317 13.19% 549 5.50% 3,784 65.60% 1,824 31.62% 116 2.01%||| 4,119 65.95% 1,537 24.61% 576 9.22% 2,757 56.15% 1,768 36.01% 370 7.54% 3,446 60.34% 347 6.08% 1,778 31.13% 119 2.08% 2,918 48.76% 3,017 50.42% 6,450 54.32% 2,221 18.70% 1,591 13.40% 1,564 13.17% 2,912 57.05% 848 16.61% 764 14.97% 561 10.99% 3,773 74.95% 866 17.20% 360 7.15% 5,109 63.31% 1,113 13.79% 923 11.44% 628 7.78% 269 3.34% 4,614 63.59% 2,418 33.32% 202 2.78% 4,268 69.66% 1,406 22.95% 192 3.13% 252 4.11% 3,644 53.26% 908 13.27% 2,270 33.18% 2,731 54.10% 1,274 25.24% 1,019 20.19% 3,039 58.91% 1,616 31.32% 496 9.61% 7,544 63.76% 2,076 17.55% 1,662 14.05% 522 4.41% 3,921 71.15% 676 12.27% 893 16.20%