Alberta Senate nominee election, 2004
Encyclopedia
The 3rd Alberta Senate nominee election was held on November 22, 2004 in conjunction with the Alberta general election, 2004
. Alberta
is the only Canadian
province
to elect nominees for the Senate of Canada.
and the NDP
, boycotted the election in demonstration of their opposition to the process. As a result, the only candidates to contest the election were representatives of the right-of-centre Alberta Progressive Conservatives
, Alberta Alliance Party
and Social Credit parties, and a number of independents. After much pressure from the Liberal and NDP camps (who did not want their supporters to feel compelled to vote for a right-of-centre candidate), polling officers were instructed to advise voters on election day
that they did not have to vote in the Senate election.
The candidate nominated by Social Credit did not obtain the 1500 signatures required to get on the ballot, and the party therefore was not represented in the election.
As of the date of the election, there were three vacant Alberta seats in the Senate of Canada and another will become vacant within six years. Voters could vote for up to four candidates, though many candidates encouraged their supporters to vote for only one, a legal option, to prevent the vote totals of their competitors from rising.
2,176,341 votes were cast (714,709 ballots).
Prime Minister Paul Martin
refused to advise Governor General
Adrienne Clarkson
to appoint the elected Senate nominees to the Upper Chamber, instead putting forward three appointees of his choosing: Grant Mitchell
, Elaine McCoy
and Claudette Tardif
on March 24, 2005.
Senate reform proponents actively decried the appointments, urging the new Senators to vacate their seats for the elected Senators in waiting. The new appointments left little hope of another vacancy for Alberta's Senate seats in the near future.
In the 2006 Canadian federal election
Stephen Harper
promised he would advise the Governor General to appoint the Senators in waiting if his party won. On April 19, 2007 Harper announced his intention to put Bert Brown
forward for appointment after long time Alberta Senator Daniel Hays announced his early retirement.
It is expected if anymore vacancies opened in the near future that Harper will pick in order on the list, meaning Betty Unger
is next in line for a Senate appointment.
Source: Elections Albertahttp://www.electionsalberta.ab.ca/SNE%20official%20results.pdf
Note:
Some sources show Betty Unger
as a candidate with the most votes. However these aren't the official results, her website had stated she was placed second in the Senate Nominee Election.
Alberta general election, 2004
The Alberta general election of 2004 was the twenty-sixth general election for the province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
. Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
is the only Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
to elect nominees for the Senate of Canada.
Background
Both of Alberta's opposition parties, the Liberal PartyAlberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...
and the NDP
Alberta New Democratic Party
The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...
, boycotted the election in demonstration of their opposition to the process. As a result, the only candidates to contest the election were representatives of the right-of-centre Alberta Progressive Conservatives
Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta...
, Alberta Alliance Party
Alberta Alliance Party
The Alberta Alliance was a right wing provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Many of its members were former supporters of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance federal political party and its predecessor, the Reform Party of Canada. Members also joined from such other provincial fringe parties...
and Social Credit parties, and a number of independents. After much pressure from the Liberal and NDP camps (who did not want their supporters to feel compelled to vote for a right-of-centre candidate), polling officers were instructed to advise voters on election day
Election Day (politics)
Election Day refers to the day when general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate, while in other countries elections are always held on a weekday...
that they did not have to vote in the Senate election.
The candidate nominated by Social Credit did not obtain the 1500 signatures required to get on the ballot, and the party therefore was not represented in the election.
As of the date of the election, there were three vacant Alberta seats in the Senate of Canada and another will become vacant within six years. Voters could vote for up to four candidates, though many candidates encouraged their supporters to vote for only one, a legal option, to prevent the vote totals of their competitors from rising.
2,176,341 votes were cast (714,709 ballots).
Election day
Many Liberal and NDP supporters were observed discarding their Senate nominee ballots, while the proportion of spoiled ballots was higher in ridings and polls where the Liberals and NDP did well in the concurrent Legislature election.Nominations & Appointments
Liberal Party of CanadaLiberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
Prime Minister Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
refused to advise Governor General
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
Adrienne Clarkson
Adrienne Clarkson
Adrienne Louise Clarkson is a Canadian journalist and stateswoman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 26th since Canadian Confederation....
to appoint the elected Senate nominees to the Upper Chamber, instead putting forward three appointees of his choosing: Grant Mitchell
Grant Mitchell (politician)
-Early life:He received a B.A. degree from the University of Alberta and an M.A. degree from Queen's University. From 1976 to 1979, he worked as a public servant with the Government of Alberta...
, Elaine McCoy
Elaine McCoy
Elaine McCoy, QC, BA, LL.B is a Canadian senator from Alberta. She has been the last remaining member of the Canadian Senate to sit as a Progressive Conservative since the retirement of Senator Lowell Murray on September 26, 2011.-Senate of Canada:Senator McCoy was appointed to the Senate by...
and Claudette Tardif
Claudette Tardif
Claudette Tardif is a Canadian senator from Alberta. She was appointed to the senate by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, on the advice of Prime Minister Paul Martin, on March 24, 2005, representing the Liberal Party of Canada....
on March 24, 2005.
Senate reform proponents actively decried the appointments, urging the new Senators to vacate their seats for the elected Senators in waiting. The new appointments left little hope of another vacancy for Alberta's Senate seats in the near future.
In the 2006 Canadian federal election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
promised he would advise the Governor General to appoint the Senators in waiting if his party won. On April 19, 2007 Harper announced his intention to put Bert Brown
Bert Brown
For the English footballer Bert Brown, see Sailor BrownBert Brown is a Canadian Senator and retired farmer and development consultant currently residing in Balzac, Alberta.-Early life:...
forward for appointment after long time Alberta Senator Daniel Hays announced his early retirement.
It is expected if anymore vacancies opened in the near future that Harper will pick in order on the list, meaning Betty Unger
Betty Unger
Betty E. Unger is a Canadian politician and a Progressive Conservative Senator in waiting from Alberta, Canada. Unger owned and operated a successful Alberta nursing services company for many years....
is next in line for a Senate appointment.
Results
| Candidate | Party | Votes # | Votes % | Ballots % | "Elected" | Appointed |
Bert Brown Bert Brown For the English footballer Bert Brown, see Sailor BrownBert Brown is a Canadian Senator and retired farmer and development consultant currently residing in Balzac, Alberta.-Early life:... |
Progressive Conservative Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta... |
312,041 | 14.3% | 43.7% | X | X |
Betty Unger Betty Unger Betty E. Unger is a Canadian politician and a Progressive Conservative Senator in waiting from Alberta, Canada. Unger owned and operated a successful Alberta nursing services company for many years.... |
Progressive Conservative | 311,964 | 14.3% | 43.6% | X | Cliff Breitkreuz Cliff Breitkreuz Clifford N. Breitkreuz . He was raised on a farm and lived there until he left to earn his university degrees . In 1967 he returned to farming, and started teaching at Onoway Junior/Senior High School not long after that... |
Progressive Conservative | 241,306 | 11.1% | 33.8% | X | Link Byfield Link Byfield -Columnist and Writer:Byfield was editor and publisher for the now defunct Alberta Report magazine for 18 years. He is the son of conservative columnist Ted Byfield... |
Independent | 238,751 | 11.0% | 33.4% | X | Resigned |
Jim Silye Jim Silye Jim Silye is a Canadian politician, businessman, and former professional football player for the Canadian Football League.... |
Progressive Conservative | 217,857 | 10.0% | 30.5% |
David Usherwood | Progressive Conservative | 193,056 | 8.9% | 27.0% |
Michael Roth | Alberta Alliance Alberta Alliance Party The Alberta Alliance was a right wing provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Many of its members were former supporters of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance federal political party and its predecessor, the Reform Party of Canada. Members also joined from such other provincial fringe parties... |
176,339 | 8.1% | 24.7% |
Vance Gough | Alberta Alliance | 167,770 | 7.7% | 23.5% |
Tom Sindlinger Tom Sindlinger Tom Sindlinger is a politician in Alberta, Canada, and former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.Tom Sindlinger was elected as a member for the district of Calgary-Buffalo in the 1979 for the Progressive Conservatives. He disagreed with his party on matters relating to the Heritage Trust... |
Independent | 161,082 | 7.4% | 22.5% |
Gary Horan | Alberta Alliance | 156,175 | 7.2% | 21.9% |
|---|
Source: Elections Albertahttp://www.electionsalberta.ab.ca/SNE%20official%20results.pdf
Note:
- For results by district please see districts listed in the Alberta general election, 2004Alberta general election, 2004The Alberta general election of 2004 was the twenty-sixth general election for the province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
.
Some sources show Betty Unger
Betty Unger
Betty E. Unger is a Canadian politician and a Progressive Conservative Senator in waiting from Alberta, Canada. Unger owned and operated a successful Alberta nursing services company for many years....
as a candidate with the most votes. However these aren't the official results, her website had stated she was placed second in the Senate Nominee Election.