An election for the leadership of the

Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party () is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election, with the first three provincial ...

was held on September 10, 2011, which was caused by

David Swann David Richard Swann (born June 19, 1949) is a Canadian medical doctor and politician. He was the leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition in the Alberta Legislature from December 2008 until resigning as party leader in ...

's announcement on February 1, 2011, of his intention to resign as leader. The election is the party's

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

since the 2008 election. MLA

Raj Sherman Rajnish K. "Raj" Sherman (born 1965) is a Canadian politician from Alberta and former Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Edmonton-Meadowlark; which he formerly represented as a Progressive Conservative. Sherman was ele ...

was elected on the first ballot. An open nomination system was used in which any Albertan could vote in the election, even if they were not party members. Because of a Progressive Conservative leadership election, the PCs elected a new leader on October 1, 2011. The media were speculating that the new PC leader, who would become

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

, may call a

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...

rather than wait until 2013. This did not come to fruition, however, and

Alison Redford Alison Merrilla Redford (born March 7, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician. She was the 14th premier of Alberta, having served in this capacity from October 7, 2011, to March 23, 2014. Redford was born in Kitimat, British Columbia ...

stated that a

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

would be held in the spring.

Timeline

* February 1:

announces his resignation * May 28–29: Liberal Party General Convention * August 1: Close of nominations * September 10: Polling and leadership announcement

Candidates

At the close of nominations, there were five candidates for leader: *

Laurie Blakeman Laurie Blakeman (born May 23, 1958) is a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Edmonton-Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. She is a member of the Alberta Liberal Party, and was first elected in the 1997 ele ...

, MLA * Bill Harvey * Hugh MacDonald, MLA * Bruce Payne, a Calgary businessman *

, MLA

Results

References

{{Alberta Liberal Party Alberta Liberal Party leadership election

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Liberal Party leadership election Alberta Liberal Party leadership election Alberta Liberal Party leadership election