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.

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, with another set to 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.

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

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.

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.

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