List of premiers of Alberta

Alberta uses a unicameral Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the premier is the leader of the party that controls the most seats in the Legislative Assembly.

The premier picks a cabinet, usually from the elected members of the Legislative Assembly, to form the Executive Council of Alberta, and presides over that body.

William Aberhart's first mandate as premier was almost cut short, when a large part of his caucus showed willingness to vote against his government's budget; but when he promised to bring in radical banking reform they were satisfied.

Shortly before the 1913 election Sifton's Liberals jammed through a controversial bill greatly expanding the size of the legislative assembly.

[6] Charles Stewart replaced Sifton and held the Liberal government through the lackluster 1917 election which 11 MLAs serving in the armed forces were automatically re-elected.

Both would be surprised by the United Farmers who routed the Liberals and Conservatives in rural areas to form the government in the 1921 election.

The loosely organized farmer candidates running in rural constituencies captured a majority of the seats.

UFA executive member Herbert Greenfield, the second choice, became the new premier, although he too had not run in the election so had to await success in a by-election to take his seat.

This and another scandalous divorce by UFA MLA Oran McPherson, speaker of the Legislative Assembly, gave the United Farmers an image of moral decay.

[8] In 1934 Richard Reid replaced Brownlee but served as premier for less than two years, leading the United Farmers government into total defeat at the hands of the new Social Credit party.

Albertans turned away from the United Farmers government and began to follow evangelical radio preacher William Aberhart, known as Bible Bill.

Voters flocked to the radical monetary reforms proposed by Aberhart and British SC theorist Clifford Douglas, looking for an escape to the Great Depression.

His government almost fell during a 1936 caucus rebellion, in which his own MLAs forced him to promise to try to reform the banking system.

Harry Strom, a long time cabinet minister, replaced Manning and led the party to defeat in the 1971 election at the hands of the Progressive Conservatives under Peter Lougheed.

The fourth government of Alberta was first led by Peter Lougheed, defeating the 36-year reign of Social Credit in 1971.

[10] Don Getty, one of Lougheed's long-time cabinet ministers, returned to politics to win the leadership of the party.

Getty's premiership was endorsed by a win in the 1986 general election that saw the NDP climb to 16 seats as the official opposition.

Getty's reign became very unpopular as he led Alberta into large deficit spending, and marked an era of big government that, some said, the province could not afford.

[12] Ralph Klein, the former mayor of Calgary, led the party into the 1993 election, promising a new era of debt reduction and fiscal accountability.

The price of oil rebounded and the government, despite low rates of taxes on the wealthy and corporations, was showing a surplus of $3 billion every year.

In 2006 at a Progressive Conservative convention delegates forced him to pick a retirement date by giving him relatively low numbers in a leadership review.

[14] Ed Stelmach succeeded Klein as premier, following his win of the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative party in 2006.

Rachel Notley was appointed and sworn in as premier on May 24, 2015, following her party's capturing of 54 out of 87 seats in the Legislature.

The NDP's surprise victory was attributed to the unpopularity of the Prentice government's budget, a strong performance by Notley in the leaders' debates, and splitting of the right-wing vote between the PC and Wildrose parties.

On May 22, 2015, Notley suspended a caucus member, leaving her party with 53 out of 87 seats, which did not change the balance of power in the legislature.

The NDP held 52 seats at the time of the legislature's dissolution in March 2019, and were defeated in the ensuing general election on April 16, 2019, making it the first one-mandate government in provincial history.