1979 Alberta general election

1979 Alberta general election

← 1975 March 14, 1979 (1979-03-14) 1982 →
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79 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 40 seats were needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   SC Leader Peter Lougheed Robert C. Clark Party Progressive Conservative Social Credit Leader since 1965 1975 Leader's seat Calgary-West Olds-Didsbury Last election 69 seats, 62.7% 4 seats, 18.2% Seats before 69 4 Seats won 74 4 Seat change 5 ±0 Popular vote 408,097 141,284 Percentage 57.4% 19.87% Swing 5.25% 1.7%   Third party Fourth party   LIB Leader Grant Notley Nicholas Taylor Party New Democratic Liberal Leader since 1968 1974 Leader's seat Spirit River-Fairview ran in Calgary-Glenmore (lost) Last election 1 seat, 12.9% 0 seats, 4.98% Seats before 1 0 Seats won 1 0 Seat change ±0 ±0 Popular vote 111,984 43,792 Percentage 15.75% 6.16% Swing 2.81% 1.18%
Premier before election Peter Lougheed Progressive Conservative Premier after election Peter Lougheed Progressive Conservative

The 1979 Alberta general election was held on March 14, 1979, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, which had been expanded to 79 seats.

The Progressive Conservative Party of Peter Lougheed won its third consecutive term in government. During the campaign, some Progressive Conservatives spoke of winning "79 in '79", i.e., all 79 seats in the legislature. This harkened back to Social Credit's unofficial slogan from the 1963 election, "63 in '63". The Tories came up short of this goal, and actually lost over five percentage points of the popular vote. Nonetheless, they still won an overwhelming majority, with 74 seats.

Social Credit held on to the four seats they had won in the 1975 election, and formed the official opposition in the legislature. Grant Notley, leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party, was the only other opposition member.