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 The 2008 Alberta general election was held on March 3, 2008, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. It was expected to be called early because the governing Progressive Conservatives held a leadership election on December 2, 2 ...

held on March 3, 2008. The Legislature officially resumed on April 14, 2008, and continued until the fifth session was

prorogued A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two electio ...

on March 22, 2012, and dissolved on March 26, 2012, prior to the

2012 Alberta general election The 2012 Alberta general election was held on April 23, 2012, to elect members of the 28th Legislative Assembly of Alberta. A Senate nominee election was called for the same day. During the 2011 Progressive Conservative Association leadership e ...

on April 23, 2012. Alberta's twenty-sixth government was controlled by the majority

Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (often referred to colloquially as Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta) was a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta that existed from 1905 to 2020. The party ...

, led by

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 ...

Ed Stelmach Edward Michael Stelmach (; born May 11, 1951) is a Canadian politician and 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 speaks ...

until his resignation on October 7, 2011, where he was succeeded by

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 ...

. The

Official Opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...

was led by David Swann of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

, and later Raj Sherman. The

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

was

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 ...

Election aftermath

The 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 Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

on March 13, 2008. The more notable members of his cabinet included

Ron Liepert Ronald Liepert (born October 8, 1949) is a Canadian politician who serves as the Member of Parliament for Calgary Signal Hill in the House of Commons of Canada. He previously served in the Cabinet of Alberta as Minister of Finance, Energy, H ...

, Lindsay Blackett and

Mel Knight Melvyn Reginald Knight (born July 30, 1944) was the Minister of Energy of Alberta and a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Early life Mel Knight was born July 30, 1944 in Beaverlodge, Alberta. His ...

. The opposition criticized Stelmach for not reducing the size of cabinet which had become bloated to record levels.

1st Session

The 1st Session of the 27th Alberta Legislature began on April 14, 2008, with the re-election of

as speaker of the assembly defeating Laurie Blakeman on the first ballot. 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

In 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. 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.

Budget

Budget 2012

''Budget 2012: Investing in People'' was presented in the Legislature by Minister of Finance

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. 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. 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 West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a grade or mix of crude oil; the term is also used to refer to the spot price, the futures price, or assessed price for that oil. In colloquial usage, WTI usually refers to the WTI Crude Oil futures contract ...

benchmark at USD$99.25 per barrel.

Membership in the 27th Alberta Legislative Assembly

Seating plan

Official Seating Plan
(Retrieved December 9, 2009)

Standings changes during the 27th Assembly

# 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. # 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.

References

External links

Alberta Legislative AssemblyLegislative Assembly of Alberta Members Book
{{Canadian Legislative Bodies Terms of the Alberta Legislature 2008 in Canadian politics 2009 in Canadian politics 2010 in Canadian politics 2011 in Canadian politics 2012 in Canadian politics 2008 in Alberta 2009 in Alberta 2010 in Alberta 2011 in Alberta 2012 in Alberta de:Legislativversammlung von Alberta fr:Assemblée législative de l'Alberta zh:亞伯塔省省議會