ALBERTA GENERAL ELECTION, 1905

The 'Alberta general election of 1905' was the first general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 9 1905 to elect members of the Alberta legislature to the 1st Alberta Legislative Assembly, shortly after the province was created out of the Northwest Territories on September 1 1905.
The Alberta Liberal Party of Alexander C. Rutherford won twenty three of the twenty five seats in the new legislature, defeating the Conservative Party, which was led by a young lawyer, Richard Bennett, who later served as Prime Minister of Canada.
Prior to the 1905 election the two political parties saw numerous changes and defections, In Alberta a host of former Liberal-Conservative MLA's jumped ship to the Liberals, when Sir Wilfrid Laurier appointed the Liberal provisional government prior to the election. The Conservatives had no strong leader to rally around at the time as Frederick Haultain, had moved to Saskatchewan.
The election in 1905 was a bitter one, especially in Calgary and Southern Alberta where the Liberals were accused of vote tampering and interfering with Conservative voters. Recounts especially in Calgary took almost a month and saw the result swing back and forth. The scandal led to the arrest of some key Liberal organizers, including William Cushing's campaign manager, who had been a returning officer at a Calgary polling station.

Contents

Results

Members of the Legislative Assembly elected

Peace River

See also

References

Results

Party		Party Leader	Candidates[1]	Elected	Popular Vote
					#	%	Liberal	Alexander C. Rutherford	261	'23'	14,4853	57.56%	Conservative	Richard Bennett	232	' 2 '	9,3163	37.13%	Independent		7	-	1,336	5.31%	Labor		2	-	843	%
'Total'			'56'	'25'	'25,163 '	'100%'
'Source:' Elections Alberta

'Note:'
#2 Liberals contested the Peace River district after the results were voided.
#Conservative L. Dubuc only contested the original Peace River election.
#Vote returns for the first Peace River election are not included in totals.

Members of the Legislative Assembly elected

'For complete electoral history, see individual districts'

1st Alberta Legislative Assembly
	District	Member	Party
Athabasca	William Bredin	Liberal
Banff	Charles W. Fisher	Liberal
Calgary	William Cushing	Liberal
Cardston	John William Woolf	Liberal
Edmonton	Charles Wilson Cross	Liberal
Gleichen	Charles Stuart	Liberal
High River	Albert Robertson	Conservative
Innisfail	John A. Simpson	Liberal
Lacombe	William Puffer	Liberal
Leduc	Robert Telford	Liberal
Lethbridge	Leverett DeVeber	Liberal
Macleod	Malcolm McKenzie	Liberal
Medicine Hat	William Finlay	Liberal
Pincher Creek	John Plummer Marcellus	Liberal
Ponoka	John R. McLeod	Liberal
Red Deer	John T. Moore	Liberal
Rosebud	Cornelius Hiebert	Conservative
St. Albert	Henry William McKenney	Liberal
Stony Plain	John McPherson	Liberal
Strathcona	Alexander Cameron Rutherford	Liberal
Sturgeon	John R. Boyle	Liberal
Vermillion	Matthew McCauley	Liberal
Victoria	Francis A. Walker	Liberal
Wetaskiwin	Anthony Rosenroll	Liberal

Peace River

James Cornwall was declared elected to the Peace River district on election night 1905 for the Liberal Party. The election results were overturned by significant irregularities leaving the seat vacant. A new election was held on February 15, 1906.
Thomas Brick declared his candidacy in the new election for the Liberals after being asked to run by a large group of people whom appeared at his homestead. He faced James Cornwall who attempted to re-win his seat and he also ran under the Liberal banner. The runner up candidate from the original 1905 election Conservative L. Dubuc did not run again leaving a weird two way race under the same party banner. Thomas Brick would go on to defeat James Cornwall in a landslide.^[2]

	District	Member	Party
Election Night				Peace River	James Cornwall	Liberal
February 15, 1906				Peace River	Thomas Brick	Liberal

See also

★ List of Alberta political parties

References

1. Members elected to first legislature November 17, 1905
2. I remember Peace River, Alberta and adjacent districts. Part I Yvette T. M. Mahé