Alberta general election, 1948

Alberta general election, 1948

August 17, 1948 (1948-08-17)
57 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 29 seats were needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Ernest Manning Elmer E. Roper James H. Prowse Party Social Credit Co-operative Commonwealth Liberal Leader since May 31, 1943 1942 June 26, 1947 Leader's seat Edmonton Edmonton Edmonton Last election 51 seats, 50.5% 2 seats, 24.2% did not run Seats before 50 2 1 Seats won 51 2 2 Seat change 1 ±0 1 Popular vote 164,003 56,387 52,655 Percentage 55.6% 19.1% 17.9% Swing 5.1% 5.1% —
Premier before election Ernest Manning Social Credit Premier-designate Ernest Manning Social Credit

The Alberta general election of 1948 was the eleventh general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on August 17, 1948, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

Ernest C. Manning led the Social Credit to a fourth term in government, increasing its share of the popular vote further above the 50% mark it had set in the 1944 election. It won the same number of seats — 51 of the 57 seats in the legislature — that it had won in the previous election.

The remaining seats were won by the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, the Liberal Party and independents.

Along with this election, voters got to also vote in a province wide plebiscite. The ballot asked voters about utility regulation.

Results

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Electrification plebiscite

The electrification plebiscite was possibly the third plebiscite conducted province-wide in Alberta's history. The ballot was not a traditional yes/no question, but presented two options on electricity regulation, asking if the province should create a Crown corporation to manage electricity, or leave the electricity industry in the hands of the companies currently in the business (a mixture of municipal operations and private companies).

The result shows how evenly divided the province was on the issue, with a plurality of only 151 votes in favour of leaving the old system in place. In fact, the majority of voters in Edmonton and in the rural areas were in favour of provincial control but an even larger majority in Calgary voted in favour of the old system.

For a breakdown of results, please see individual districts.

Members elected

For complete electoral history, see individual districts.

See also

• 1957 Liquor Plebiscite
• 1967 Daylight Saving Plebiscite
• 1971 Daylight Saving Plebiscite
• List of Alberta political parties