The 27th Alberta Legislative Assembly was in session from April 14, 2008, to March 26, 2012, with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the 2008 Alberta general election held on March 3, 2008. The Legislature officially resumed on April 14, 2008, and continued until the fifth session was prorogued on March 22, 2012, and dissolved on March 26, 2012,[1] prior to the 2012 Alberta general election on April 23, 2012.
| 27th Alberta Legislature | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Majority parliament | |||
| 14 April 2008 – 26 March 2012 | |||
 | |||
| Parliament leaders | |||
| Premier | Ed Stelmach December 14, 2006 – October 7, 2011 | ||
| Alison Redford October 7, 2011 – March 23, 2014 | |||
| Cabinets | Stelmach cabinet Redford cabinet | ||
| Leader of the Opposition | David Swann December 15, 2008 – September 10, 2011 | ||
| Raj Sherman September 12, 2011 – April 23, 2012 | |||
| Party caucuses | |||
| Government | Progressive Conservative Association | ||
| Opposition | Liberal Party | ||
| Recognized | Wildrose Party | ||
| New Democratic Party | |||
| Unrecognized | Alberta Party | ||
| Legislative Assembly | |||
| Speaker of the Assembly | Ken Kowalski April 14, 1997 – May 23, 2012 | ||
| Government House Leader | Dave Hancock March 12, 2008 – September 5, 2013 | ||
| Members | 83 MLA seats | ||
| Sovereign | |||
| Monarch | Elizabeth II February 6, 1952 – September 8, 2022 | ||
| Lieutenant Governor | Hon. Norman Kwong January 20, 2005 – May 11, 2010 | ||
| Hon. Donald Ethell May 11, 2010 – June 12, 2015 | |||
| Sessions | |||
| 1st session April 14, 2008 – December 4, 2008 | |||
| 2nd session February 10, 2009 – November 26, 2009 | |||
| 3rd session February 4, 2010 – December 2, 2010 | |||
| 4th session February 22, 2011 – December 8, 2011 | |||
| 5th session February 7, 2012 – March 22, 2012 | |||
| |||
Alberta's twenty-sixth government was controlled by the majority Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, led by Premier Ed Stelmach until his resignation on October 7, 2011, where he was succeeded by Alison Redford. The Official Opposition was led by David Swann of the Liberal Party, and later Raj Sherman. The Speaker was Ken Kowalski.
Election aftermath
editThe result of the 2008 election resulted in the Progressive Conservative party strengthening their ranks and picking up many districts. The results had fooled most of the pundits who were predicting quite the opposite.
Premier Ed Stelmach shuffled the Cabinet on March 13, 2008. The more notable members of his cabinet included Ron Liepert, Lindsay Blackett and Mel Knight. The opposition criticized Stelmach for not reducing the size of cabinet which had become bloated to record levels.
1st Session
editThis article needs to be updated. (November 2011) |
The 1st Session of the 27th Alberta Legislature began on April 14, 2008, with the re-election of Ken Kowalski as speaker of the assembly defeating Laurie Blakeman on the first ballot.[2]
The first throne speech during the assembly was read by Normie Kwong the next day. The 1st session was marked by a number of initiatives that cast the government in a negative light.
No Meet Committee
editIn March 2012 it came to light that the "Select Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing", a committee of the Legislative Assembly had not sat for over three years, despite each member of the committee receiving a $1,000 stipend. The committee was chaired by Ray Prins, a backbench Progressive Conservative MLA for Lacombe-Ponoka who received an additional $38,000 per year for the appointment. The committee's 21 members included individuals from all political parities in the Assembly.[3] In response, Premier Alison Redford instituted a freeze on committee pay and announced members would have to return six months of pay. After public criticism continued, Redford ordered all Progressive Conservative MLAs to pay back all pay received since the committee last met.[4]
Budget
editBudget 2012
editBudget 2012: Investing in People was presented in the Legislature by Minister of Finance Ron Liepert on February 9, 2012. The budget projected CA$40.3-billion in revenue, with $41.1-billion in expenses and a total deficit of $886-million.[5] The budget would outline government direction towards results-based budgeting and reviews of all government programs and services, and lay the groundwork for three-year funding cycles for municipalities, school boards and post-secondary institutions.[6] The budget projected a path to balance in the next fiscal year, with a projected surplus of $952-million. The projected economic growth for 2012 in Alberta was 3.8%, and West Texas Intermediate benchmark at USD$99.25 per barrel.[7]
Membership in the 27th Alberta Legislative Assembly
editSeating plan
edit| Allred | Sandhu | Xiao | Anderson | Forsyth | Leskiw | ||||||||||||
| McQueen | Fawcett | Dallas | Denis | Johnson | Doerksen | Quest | Taft | Pastoor | Chase | Kang | |||||||
| Cao | Mitzel | Johnston | Weadick | Drysdale | Brown | Vandermeer | MacDonald | Taylor | Swann | Blakeman | Hehr | Mason | Notley | ||||
| Kowalski | |||||||||||||||||
| Ady | Groenveld | Redford | Ouellette | Knight | Horner | Evans | Snelgrove | Stelmach | Hancock | Liepert | Renner | Zwozdesky | Tarchuk | Goudreau | Morton | Lindsay | |
| Boutilier | Marz | Olson | Rogers | Webber | Klimchuk | Blackett | Campbell | Oberle | Fritz | Hayden | Danyluk | Jablonski | Prins | Horne | Sarich | ||
| Berger | Lund | VanderBurg | McFarland | Rodney | Bhardwaj | Woo-Paw | Bhullar | DeLong | Griffiths | Lukaszuk | Calahasen | Sherman | Elniski | Amery | Benito | Jacobs |
Official Seating Plan (Retrieved December 9, 2009)
Standings changes during the 27th Assembly
edit| Number of members per party by date |
2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 3 | May 15 | Jul 18 | Sep 14 | Jan 4 | Apr 12 | Jun 24 | Oct 25 | Nov 22 | Jan 24 | Mar 15 | Sep 12 | Nov 21 | Jan 27 | Mar | ||
| Progressive Conservative | 72 | 71 | 70 | 68 | 67 | 68 | 67 | 66 | ||||||||
| Liberal | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | ||||||||||||
| Wildrose | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| New Democratic | 2 | |||||||||||||||
| Alberta Party | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Independent | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| Independent Liberal | 0 | 12 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Independent Wildrose Alliance | 0 | 11 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Total members | 83 | 82 | 83 | 82 | ||||||||||||
| Vacant | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Government Majority | 61 | 60 | 58 | 57 | 53 | 51 | 53 | 51 | 50 | |||||||
- Guy Boutilier began caucusing with the Wildrose Alliance on June 24, 2010, but kept independent status due to a $40,000.00 difference in private members research funding.[8]
- Raj Sherman joined the Liberal party, but did not officially join the Liberal caucus, however, he did become the Liberal leader on September 10, 2011.
| Membership changes in the 27th Assembly | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Name | District | Party | Reason | |
| March 3, 2008 | See List of Members | Election day of the 27th Alberta general election | |||
| May 15, 2009 | Ron Stevens | Calgary-Glenmore | Progressive Conservative | Resigned seat to accept a judicial appointment. | |
| July 18, 2009 | Guy Boutilier | Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo | Independent | Removed from the Progressive Conservative caucus. | |
| September 14, 2009 | Paul Hinman | Calgary-Glenmore | Wildrose Alliance | Elected in a by-election. | |
| January 4, 2010 | Rob Anderson | Airdrie-Chestermere | Wildrose Alliance | Crossed the floor from the Progressive Conservative caucus | |
| January 4, 2010 | Heather Forsyth | Calgary-Fish Creek | Wildrose Alliance | Crossed the floor from the Progressive Conservative caucus | |
| April 12, 2010 | Dave Taylor | Calgary-Currie | Independent | Left Liberal caucus to sit as an Independent. | |
| June 24, 2010 | Guy Boutilier | Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo | Independent Wildrose Alliance | Joined the Wildrose Alliance as an Independent.[8] | |
| October 25, 2010 | Guy Boutilier | Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo | Wildrose Alliance | Fully joined Wildrose Alliance caucus | |
| November 22, 2010 | Raj Sherman | Edmonton-Meadowlark | Independent | Removed from Progressive Conservative caucus | |
| January 24, 2011 | Dave Taylor | Calgary-Currie | Alberta Party | Joined Alberta Party | |
| March 15, 2011 | Raj Sherman | Edmonton-Meadowlark | Independent Liberal | Joined the Liberal Party, but not the caucus. | |
| June 26, 2011 | See List of Members | Wildrose | Caucus name changed from Wildrose Alliance to Wildrose | ||
| September 12, 2011 | Raj Sherman | Edmonton-Meadowlark | Liberal | Joined the Liberal caucus.[9] | |
| November 21, 2011 | Bridget Pastoor | Lethbridge-East | Progressive Conservative | Crossed the floor from the Liberal caucus[10] | |
| January 27, 2012 | Lloyd Snelgrove | Vermilion-Lloydminster | Independent | Left the Progressive Conservative caucus due to issues with Premier Redford.[11] | |
| March 2012 | Richard Marz | Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills | Progressive Conservative | Vacated seat[12] | |
References
edit- ^ Journals of the Twenty-Seventh Legislature of the Province of Alberta: Fourth and Fifth Sessions (PDF) (CXIX ed.). Edmonton: Legislative Assembly of Alberta. 2012. p. 119. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
- ^ "Legislative Assembly of Alberta: The 27th Legislature, Hansard" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. April 14, 2008. pp. 1–2.
- ^ "Alberta MLAs earned thousands for committee that never meets". CBC News. Edmonton. The Canadian Press. March 7, 2012. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
- ^ Gerein, Keith (June 15, 2012). "UPDATE: Who's paid back their "no-meet" committee money?". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
- ^ "Budget 2012: Investing in People - Overview (Fact Card)" (PDF). open.alberta.ca. Government of Alberta. 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
- ^ "Budget 2012: Investing in People - Speech: 2012 Address" (PDF). open.alberta.ca. Government of Alberta. 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
- ^ "Province delivers Budget 2012". CTV News. February 9, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
- ^ a b "MLA delays joining Wildrose due to funding". CBC News. July 29, 2010.
- ^ "Liberal leader Sherman now caucus member". CBC News. September 12, 2011. Retrieved September 12, 2011.
- ^ Cryderman, Kelly (November 21, 2011). "Lethbridge MLA Pastoor crosses floor to join Conservatives". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on November 23, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
- ^ "Snelgrove resigns from Tory caucus". Edmonton Journal. January 27, 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Contact Information for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills". Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Retrieved March 21, 2012.