The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta led by Peter Lougheed won 49 of 75 seats with 46.4 per cent of the popular vote in the new legislature to form a majority government.

Lougheed's Progressive Conservatives defeated the incumbent Social Credit Party led by Premier Harry Strom who won 25 seats with 41.1 per cent of the popular vote.

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

[5] He briefly considered a spring campaign, in the hopes that the planting season would have farmers feeling optimistic and therefore inclined to support the incumbent government.

However, after concluding that farmers would not react well to going to the polls in the middle of planting or harvest season, Strom finally settled on August 30.

Lougheed's Progressive Conservative caucus further grew from the "Original Six" with the election of Robert Dowling in the October 1969 Edson by-election,[7] Bill Dickie, a long-time friend of Lougheed, crossing the floor from the Liberals to join his caucus in November 1969,[7] and Banff-Cochrane independent representative Clarence Copithorne joining the party in April 1971.

[9] The party recruited star candidates, including Calgary alderman George Ho Lem and former Calgary Stampeder star Don Luzzi (Edmonton alderman and future mayor Cec Purves was defeated in his bid to win the Social Credit nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona from Strathcona Centre incumbent Joseph Donovan Ross), but was handicapped in these efforts by Strom's unwillingness to offer cabinet posts or other incentives to potential new candidates.

[5] In one, which was pulled after a single showing, Strom appeared scowling in his living room, urging Albertans to lower their expectations of government.

[5] Another, produced by Tommy Banks and showing Strom in a variety of settings talking about the province's changing face, was more successful.

[6] The Edmonton Journal, which had earlier published a poll showing that a plurality of Edmontonians intended to vote Progressive Conservative, endorsed Lougheed for Premier.

The Progressive Conservatives took 46 per cent of the popular vote and won 49 of the 75 seats in the legislature, enough for a strong majority government.

This would be the first of twelve consecutive victories for the PCs; they would remain in government without interruption until their defeat in 2015, making them the longest serving political dynasty in Canadian history.

[23] In February 1966, the Social Credit government finally gave in to the calls for a provincial plebiscite on daylight saving time, approving a motion submitted by Bill Dickie.

Most of the opposition was located in rural areas, while strong support for daylight saving time was seen in the cities of Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, and Medicine Hat.

Only a few months later in April 1969, Strom announced Albertans would once again be asked to vote on daylight saving time in conjunction with the next scheduled provincial general election.

[27] Once again Calgary residents and businessmen Bill Creighton and David Matthews led a campaign for daylight saving times, just as they did in 1967, arguing the benefits of an additional hour of late sunlight for sports.

[28] Creighton learned from the successful and well-funded "no" campaign in 1967 led by the Alberta Council for Standard Time and Calgary lawyer and drive-in movie operator R. H. Barron.

Creighton and Matthews formed the "Yes for Daylight Saving Society" to advocate during the leadup to the 1971 plebiscite, mirroring the organized approach of the "no" campaign in 1967.

[32] The new Progressive Conservative government highlighted the change to observe daylight saving in the Speech from the Throne in early March 1972,[33] and Attorney-General Merv Leitch announced on March 14, 1972, that Alberta will officially observe daylight saving time, with the start date set for April 30, 1972, and lasting until October 29, 1972.