1963 Alberta general election


The 1963 Alberta general election was the fifteenth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on June 17, 1963, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
The Social Credit Party, led by Ernest C. Manning, won its eighth consecutive term in government, winning roughly the same number of seats in the legislature and share of popular vote that it had in the 1959 election.
Some Social Credit supporters were so confident of their party's chances that they talked of winning "63 in '63", i.e., all 63 seats in the legislature in the 1963 election. They fell short of this goal, but still had an overwhelming majority, reducing the opposition to only three MLAs in total. Indeed, as a share of the overall seats available, this represented Social Credit's greatest victory in its 36-year reign.
Much of the opposition vote shifted away from the Progressive Conservative Party, now led by Milt Harradence, resulting in the party losing its sole seat.
The Liberal Party was a partial beneficiary of the PC Party's decline, but picked up only one additional seat, for a total of two, despite winning almost 20% of the popular vote.
1963 was the last year in Alberta provincial politics when an MLA was acclaimed with the acclamation of Leonard Halmrast in Taber-Warner.
After the PCs won power, they would later speak of "79 in '79".

Results

Notes:
1 The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation adopted the name "New Democratic Party" for the 1963 and subsequent elections.
2 The "Labour Progressive Party" returned to its original "Communist Party of Alberta" name for the 1963 and subsequent elections.
* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Members elected

For complete electoral history, see individual districts.