Alberta Senate nominee election, 2004

The 3rd Alberta Senate nominee election was held on November 22, 2004 in conjunction with the Alberta general election, 2004. Alberta is the only Canadian province to elect nominees for the Senate of Canada.

Background

Both of Alberta's opposition parties, the Liberal Party and the NDP, boycotted the election in demonstration of their opposition to the process. As a result, the only candidates to contest the election were representatives of the right-of-centre Alberta Progressive Conservatives, Alberta Alliance Party and Social Credit parties, and a number of independents. After much pressure from the Liberal and NDP camps (who did not want their supporters to feel compelled to vote for a right-of-centre candidate), polling officers were instructed to advise voters on election day that they did not have to vote in the Senate election.

The candidate nominated by Social Credit did not obtain the 1500 signatures required to get on the ballot, and the party therefore was not represented in the election.

As of the date of the election, there were three vacant Alberta seats in the Senate of Canada and another will become vacant within six years. Voters could vote for up to four candidates, though many candidates encouraged their supporters to vote for only one, a legal option, to prevent the vote totals of their competitors from rising.

2,176,341 votes were cast (714,709 ballots).

Election day

Many Liberal and NDP supporters were observed discarding their Senate nominee ballots, while the proportion of spoiled ballots was higher in ridings and polls where the Liberals and NDP did well in the concurrent Legislature election.

Nominations & Appointments

Liberal Party of Canada Prime Minister Paul Martin refused to advise Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to appoint the elected Senate nominees to the Upper Chamber, instead putting forward three appointees of his choosing: Grant Mitchell, Elaine McCoy and Claudette Tardif on March 24, 2005.

Senate reform proponents actively decried the appointments, urging the new Senators to vacate their seats for the elected Senators in waiting. The new appointments left little hope of another vacancy for Alberta's Senate seats in the near future.

In the 2006 Canadian federal election Stephen Harper promised he would advise the Governor General to appoint the Senators in waiting if his party won. On April 19, 2006 Harper announced his intention to put Bert Brown forward for appointment after long time Alberta Senator Daniel Hays announced his early retirement.

It is expected if anymore vacancies opened in the near future that Harper will pick in order on the list, meaning Betty Unger is next in line for a Senate appointment.

Results

Source: Elections Alberta [http://www.electionsalberta.ab.ca/SNE%20official%20results.pdf]

Note:
*For results by district please see districts listed in the Alberta general election, 2004.

Some sources show Betty Unger as a candidate with the most votes. However these aren't the official results. [http://www.bettyunger.ca Betty Unger Senator Elect Homepage] states Betty was placed second in the Senate Nominee Election.