[1] Ernest C. Manning led the Social Credit Party to its ninth consecutive majority government, winning 55 of the 65 seats in the legislature, despite getting less than 45 per cent of the popular vote.

The once-moribund Progressive Conservatives, led by young lawyer Peter Lougheed, emerged as the main opposition to Social Credit.

[6] The New Democratic Party (NDP) built a campaign on the foundation of higher oil royalties, greater participation by small businesses in oil and gas resources, transition electricity utilities to provincial ownership, provide for provincial car insurance, and development of rural natural gas infrastructure.

Lougheed sought candidates who were already public figures, often meeting with editors of local weekly newspapers, mayors and presidents of boards of trade to inquire who the community's leaders were.

[15] The Edmonton Journal positively remarked on Lougheed's success following the 1967 election, stating Albertans had a responsible and credible alternative as opposition.

A further effort in March 1964 by Liberal MLA and Calgary Alderman Bill Dickie to allow the matter to be settled by a municipal plebiscite also failed in the Legislature.

[19] A motion introduced by Bill Dickie was approved by the Legislature in February 1966 to hold a plebiscite on Daylight Saving Time.

[26][27] Calgary residents and businessmen Bill Creighton and David Matthews led a campaign for daylight saving times, arguing the benefits of an additional hour of late sunlight for sports.

[28] Creighton was able to garner endorsements from the Alberta Amateur Athletics Union and other local golf, baseball, football and tennis associations.

[33] The Council ran a number of advertisements in local papers advocating for standard time, those arguments included the danger for children walking to school in the dark or twilight, and possible reductions to academic performance.

[28] The new Progressive Conservative caucus continued to pressure the Social Credit government to provide individual municipalities the power to institute Daylight Saving Time.

A February 1968 motion by Edmonton MLA Don Getty and Bill Dickie for municipal authority to institute daylight saving time was rejected by the Legislature.

[35] In the aftermath of the plebiscite, the Calgary Herald blamed the defeat on "rural cousins" and the well organized Council for Standard Time, noting Calgarians voted two-to-one in favour of adopting daylight saving.

[36] The editorial board for the Calgary Herald decried the failure of the plebiscite, but predicted that the province would eventually adopt daylight saving time.