The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election, 2011 was prompted by

Ed Stelmach Edward Michael Stelmach (; born May 11, 1951) is a Canadian politician who served as the 13th premier of Alberta, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and fluently spea ...

's announcement that he would not be seeking re-election in the 28th general election and therefore would be resigning as leader of the Progressive Conservatives. With the Progressive Conservatives forming the

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

, the winner of the election consequently became

Premier of Alberta The premier of Alberta is the head of government and first minister of the Canadian province of Alberta. The current premier is Danielle Smith, leader of the governing United Conservative Party, who was sworn in on October 11, 2022. The premi ...

. Stelmach provided official notice of resignation on May 27, 2011. The PC Association then announced the timeline of the election, with the nomination deadline on July 15, and the first ballot on September 17. As no candidate had over 50% of the vote, the second ballot, with the top three candidates, took place on October 1, 2011. Upon no candidate receiving over 50% on that ballot, the second preference votes were added, 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 ...

was declared the leader, after Gary Mar received the most votes on the first and second ballots.

Declared candidates

; Doug Griffiths MLA for Battle River-Wainwright since 2002. :Support from caucus members: 2 Doug Griffiths, Kyle Fawcett :Support from outside caucus: :Date campaign launched: February 16, 2011 ; Doug Horner MLA for Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert since 2001. Served in the cabinet from 2004 to 2011. :Support from caucus members: 14 Doug Horner, Ray Danyluk, Hector Goudreau, Jack Hayden, Frank Oberle, Jr., Luke Ouellette, Lindsay Blackett, Jeff Johnson, Wayne Drysdale, Dave Quest, Diana McQueen,

Ken Kowalski Kenneth Reginald Kowalski (born September 27, 1945) is a politician and former teacher from Alberta, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, where he served from 1979 to 2012, sitting with the governing Progressive Conse ...

, Len Mitzel, Pearl Calahasen :Additional supporters from caucus after first ballot: Carl Benito,

Don Getty Donald Ross Getty (August 30, 1933 – February 26, 2016) was a Canadian athlete, businessman, and politician who served as the 11th premier of Alberta between 1985 and 1992. Before entering politics, Getty had been a quarterback for the Edmon ...

:Date campaign launched: February 4, 2011 ; Gary Mar MLA from 1993 to 2007. Served in the cabinet from 1993 to 2006. Alberta representative in Washington, D.C. from 2007 to 2011. :Support from caucus members: 27

Iris Evans Iris Sylvia Evans (born December 31, 1941) is a former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations for the Canadian province. From November 25, 2004 to December 15, 2006 she serve ...

, Cindy Ady, Lloyd Snelgrove, Thomas Lukaszuk, Ron Liepert, Heather Klimchuk, Rob Renner, Mary Anne Jablonski, Verlyn Olson, George Rogers,

Yvonne Fritz Yvonne Marie Fritz (born September 17, 1950) is a Canadian politician and former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Calgary-Cross as a Progressive Conservative. She designed the flag of Calgary al ...

, Moe Amery, Len Webber, Teresa Woo-Paw, Neil Brown, Broyce Jacobs, Naresh Bhardwaj, Fred Horne,

Dave Hancock David Graeme Hancock (born August 10, 1955) is a Canadian lawyer and was the 15th premier of Alberta in 2014. Since 2017, he has served as a judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta. From 1997 to 2014, he was a Member of the Legislative Ass ...

, Mel Knight,

Ray Prins Raymond Frank "Ray" Prins (born April 15, 1951) is a Canadian politician and was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the constituency of Lacombe-Ponoka as a Progressive Conservative. Early life Prins was born April ...

, Barry McFarland, Richard Marz, Ty Lund, Arno Doerksen, George VanderBurg, Alana DeLong :Additional supporters from caucus after first ballot: Ted Morton, Doug Griffiths, Jonathan Denis, Ken Allred, Evan Berger, Manmeet Bhullar, George Groeneveld :Support from outside caucus: Gary Mar, Lorne Taylor,

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 2 ...

, Danny Williams, Steve West, Rick Orman :Date campaign launched: March 16, 2011 ; Ted Morton MLA for Foothills-Rocky View since 2004. Served in the cabinet from 2006 to 2011. Third place finisher in the 2006 leadership race. :Support from caucus members: 11 Ted Morton, Ken Allred, David Xiao, Doug Elniski, Carl Benito, Tony Vandermeer, Peter Sandhu, Jonathan Denis, Dave Rodney, Evan Berger, George Groeneveld. :Support from outside caucus: :Date campaign launched: January 25, 2011 ; Rick Orman MLA for Calgary Montrose from 1986 to 1993. Minister of Career Development and Employment from 1986 to 1988.

Minister of Labour Minister of labour (in British English) or labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

from 1988 to 1989. Minister of Energy from 1989 to 1992. :Support from caucus members: :Support from outside caucus: Rick Orman :Date campaign launched: May 11, 2011 Alison Redford 2011 campaign

;

MLA for

Calgary-Elbow Calgary-Elbow is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. The seat is held by NDP MLA Samir Kayande, who won the seat in the 2023 provincial election The riding was created in 1971 from the southeast ...

since 2008 and minister of justice from 2008 to 2011. :Support from caucus members: 2

, Art Johnston :Additional support from caucus after first ballot: Doug Elniski, Dave Rodney, David Xiao, Kyle Fawcett :Support from outside caucus: :Date campaign launched: February 16, 2011

Results

First ballot

The first ballot was on September 17, 2011. Two days following the first ballot, Morton and Orman decided to endorse Mar. Griffiths followed the next day.

Second ballot

preferential ballot Ranked voting is any voting system that uses voters' Ordinal utility, rankings of candidates to choose a single winner or multiple winners. More formally, a ranked vote system depends only on voters' total order, order of preference of the cand ...

was cast on October 1, 2011. Because no candidate received more than 50% of the vote on the first count, the third-place finisher was dropped, and the second preference votes cast on Horner's ballots were counted and added to the remaining candidate's totals. Mar led after the first round, and Horner was eliminated. After second preferences were applied, Redford was declared the winner.

Works cited

References

Bibliography

External links

Doug Griffiths Leadership WebsiteDoug Horner Leadership WebsiteGary Mar Leadership WebsiteTed Morton Leadership WebsiteRick Orman Leadership WebsiteAlison Redford Leadership Website
{{PC Alberta

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 ...

Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership