By-elections to the 29th Alberta Legislature

By-elections to the 29th Alberta Legislature have been held to fill vacancies in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta after the 2015 election. To date, two by-elections have been held to fill vacancies in the 29th Alberta Legislature.

The 29th Alberta Legislature was formed after the 2015 election, during which the New Democrats won their first majority government under the leadership of Rachel Notley. Three by-elections since have been in ridings which were initially won by the Progressive Conservatives, and have returned one Wildrose, one Progressive Conservative, and one United Conservative member each to the legislature. Two held in ridings initially won by Wildrose returned United Conservative members.

Summary table

By-election	Date	Incumbent	Party		Winner	Party		Cause	Retained
Fort McMurray-Conklin	July 12, 2018	Brian Jean		United Conservative	Laila Goodridge		United Conservative	Resigned several months after losing the UCP leadership election to Jason Kenney.	Yes
Innisfail-Sylvan Lake	July 12, 2018	Don MacIntyre		United Conservative	Devin Dreeshen		United Conservative	Resigned after being charged with sexual interference with a minor.[1]	Yes
Calgary-Lougheed	December 14, 2017	Dave Rodney		United Conservative	Jason Kenney		United Conservative	Resigned to provide a seat for new UCP leader Jason Kenney	Yes
Calgary-Greenway	March 22, 2016	Manmeet Bhullar		Progressive Conservative	Prabhdeep Gill		Progressive Conservative	Killed in highway accident	Yes
Calgary-Foothills	September 3, 2015	Jim Prentice		Progressive Conservative	Prasad Panda		Wildrose	Disclaimed seat and resigned as party leader following government's defeat in general election	No

Fort McMurray-Conklin

There will be a by-election in Fort McMurray-Conklin due to the March 5, 2018 resignation of United Conservative Party MLA and former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean.[2] The by-election is being held on July 12, 2018.[3]

Alberta provincial by-election, July 12, 2018: Fort McMurray-Conklin Upon the resignation of Brian Jean on March 5, 2018
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Conservative	Laila Goodridge	2,689	67.02%	+0.84%
	New Democratic	Jane Stroud	1,149	28.64%	-2.15%
	Alberta Party	Sid Fayed	103	2.57%	–
	Liberal	Robin Le Fevre	42	1.05%	-1.98%
	Green	Brian Deheer	29	0.72%	–
Total valid votes			4,012	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			20	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			12,370	32.59%	-11.86%
	United Conservative notional hold		Swing		+1.50%
Source(s) Elections Alberta. "Election results". Retrieved August 13, 2018.

Innisfail-Sylvan Lake

There will be a by-election in Innisfail-Sylvan Lake due to United Conservative Party MLA Don MacIntyre's sudden resignation on February 5, 2018 after he was charged with sexual assault and "sexual interference" (i.e., touching a minor for a sexual purpose)[1] The by-election is being held on July 12, 2018.[3]

Alberta provincial by-election, July 12, 2018: Innisfail-Sylvan Lake upon the resignation of Don MacIntyre on February 2, 2018
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Conservative	Devin Dreeshen	8,029	81.67	+10.99
	New Democratic	Nicole Mooney	915	9.31	-13.83
	Alberta Party	Abigail Douglass	731	7.44	+1.25
	Liberal	Nicolaas Jansen	93	0.95	—
	Independent	David Inscho	63	0.64	—
Total valid votes			9,831
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			37
Turnout			9,868	31.22	-24.27
Eligible voters			31,604
	United Conservative notional hold		Swing		+12.41
Source(s) Elections Alberta. "Election results". Retrieved August 13, 2018.

Calgary-Lougheed

The by-election was held when Dave Rodney resigned his seat on November 1, 2017 to make way for Jason Kenney, the leader of the newly-formed United Conservative Party.[4] Kenney ended up winning the byelection and held the seat for the United Conservative Party.[5]

Alberta provincial by-election, December 14, 2017: Calgary-Lougheed upon the resignation of Dave Rodney on November 1, 2017
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Conservative	Jason Kenney	7,760	71.51	+8.35[lower-alpha 1]
	New Democratic	Phillip van der Merwe	1,822	16.79	-15.24
	Liberal	David Khan	1,009	9.30	+4.49
	Reform	Lauren Thorsteinson	137	1.26
	Green	Romy Tittel	60	0.55
	Independent	Wayne Leslie	42	0.39
	Independent	Larry Heather	22	0.20
Total valid votes			10,852	98.84
Rejected, spoiled and declined			127	1.16	-0.30
Eligible voters / Turnout			31,067	35.34	-16.01
	United Conservative notional hold		Swing		+11.80
Source(s) Elections Alberta. "Election Results: Calgary-Lougheed". Retrieved 2018-03-15.

1. Swing is calculated from the sum of Progressive Conservative and Wildrose vote shares.

Calgary-Greenway

The riding of Calgary-Greenway was left vacant on November 23, 2015, when incumbent Progressive Conservative MLA Manmeet Bhullar was killed in a vehicle accident on Alberta Highway 2.[6] The resulting by-election was won by Prabhdeep Gill of the Progressive Conservatives.[7]

The by-election resulted in a Progressive Conservative hold, but saw the vote share for that party drop by 15 points from the 2015 election.

Alberta provincial by-election, March 22, 2016: Calgary-Greenway upon the death of Manmeet Bhullar on November 23, 2015
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Prabhdeep Gill	2,292	27.73	-15.04
	Wildrose	Devinder Toor	1,957	23.68	+2.62
	Liberal	Khalil Karbani	1,870	22.63	-
	New Democratic	Roop Rai	1,667	20.17	-16.00
	Green	Thana Boonlert	166	2.01	-
	Independent	Said Hussein Abdulbaki	146	1.77	-
	Independent	Larry Heather	106	1.28	-
	Independent	Sukhi Rai	61	0.74	-
Total valid votes			8,265	100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots
Turnout				29.23
Eligible voters			28,278
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-8.83

Calgary-Foothills

Following the Alberta Progressive Conservatives' defeat in the 2015 provincial election, outgoing premier Jim Prentice announced on election night that even though he had personally won re-election in Calgary-Foothills, he was resigning his seat in the legislature.[8] This had the effect of voiding the election result, and necessitated the calling of a by-election to fill the seat.

The by-election to succeed him was scheduled for September 3, 2015, and was won by Prasad Panda of the Wildrose Party. Panda's victory increased the Wildrose caucus to 22 members in the Legislature, and kept the Progressive Conservatives at 9.[9]

Alberta provincial by-election, September 3, 2015: Calgary-Foothills Voiding of general election results due to Jim Prentice disclaiming his seat
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Wildrose	Prasad Panda	4,877	38.35	+20.24
	New Democratic	Bob Hawkesworth	3,270	25.71	-6.65
	Progressive Conservative	Blair Houston	2,746	21.59	-18.74
	Liberal	Ali Bin Zahid	791	6.22	-0.94
	Alberta Party	Mark Taylor	610	4.80	+4.80
	Green	Janet Keeping	377	2.96	+0.92
	Independent	Antoni Grochowski	46	0.36	–
Total valid votes			12,717
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots
Turnout				39.48
Eligible voters			32,212
	Wildrose gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		+19.49

References

1. Former Alberta MLA Don MacIntyre resigned following sexual assault, sexual interference charges
2. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/former-wildrose-leader-brian-jean-resigns-from-alberta-legislature/article38216115/
4. Bellefontaine, Michelle (29 October 2017). "Calgary MLA steps downs to allow Jason Kenney to run for legislature seat". CBC.ca.
5. Stagg, Carly (December 13, 2017). "Kenney gains seat to tackle Notley head to head in legislature after resounding byelection victory". CBC.ca.
6. "Alberta Conservative MLA Manmeet Bhullar killed in car crash". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
7. Wood, James (23 March 2016). "Tories hold Calgary-Greenway riding after byelection". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
8. "Jim Prentice resigns after orange wave sweeps Alberta". CBC News. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
9. "Wildrose's Panda defeats NDP in Calgary-Foothills byelection battle". Calgary Herald, September 4, 2015.