Alberta general election, 1982

Alberta general election, 1982

← 1979 November 2, 1982 (1982-11-02) 1986 →
← outgoing members members →
79 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 40 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	66.00%
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Peter Lougheed Grant Notley Gordon Kesler Party Progressive Conservative New Democratic Western Canada Concept Leader since 1965 1968 1982 Leader's seat Calgary-West Spirit River-Fairview ran in Highwood (lost) Last election 74 seats, 57.4% 1 seat, 15.8% pre-creation Seats before 73 1 1 Seats won 75 2 0 Seat change 2 1 1 Popular vote 588,485 177,166 111,131 Percentage 62.3% 18.7% 11.8% Swing 4.9% 2.9% —   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader George Richardson Tom Sindlinger Party Social Credit Reform Movement Leader since 1982 1982 Leader's seat ran in Whitecourt (lost) Calgary-Buffalo (lost re-election) Last election 4 seats, 19.9% pre-creation Seats before 1 1 Seats won 0 0 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 7,843 6,258 Percentage 0.8% 0.7% Swing 19.1% —
Premier before election Peter Lougheed Progressive Conservative Premier-designate Peter Lougheed Progressive Conservative

Peter Lougheed
Progressive Conservative

Peter Lougheed
Progressive Conservative

The Alberta general election of 1982 was the twentieth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 2, 1982 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

Less than four years had passed since the Progressive Conservatives won their landslide victory in 1979. Premier Peter Lougheed decided to call a snap election to catch fledgling new parties off guard, most notably the separatist Western Canada Concept which was capitalizing on anger over Lougheed's perceived weakness in dealings with the federal government, in particular his acceptance of the hugely unpopular National Energy Program. The WCC's Gordon Kesler had won a by-election earlier in the year, and Lougheed decided that it would be wise to stage a showdown with the WCC sooner rather than later.

Lougheed then proceeded to mount a campaign based largely on scare tactics, warning Albertans angry with Ottawa but yet uneasy with the WCC that they could end up with a separatist government by voting for a separatist party. The strategy worked for the Tories, who won their fourth consecutive term in government, and returned to the 62% popular vote level it had attained in the 1975 election. This netted the Tories 75 seats in the legislature—in terms of percentage of seats won, the second-largest majority government in the province's history. In the process, they reduced the opposition to only four MLAs in total.

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