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Tom Monto

Klein Tory cuts, windfall of seats beyond popularity, then Alberta rolls in dough, 1993-2006

Updated: Mar 20, 2021

[Talking about] "Klein’s first government in 1993.

Yes, there were big cuts back then, initially to get the budget balanced and then to pay down the $23-billion debt.


Yet it wasn’t Klein who initiated this agenda. That was Liberal Leader Laurence Decore, who repeatedly hammered Don Getty’s earlier government about reckless over-spending and raced about the province brandishing a ticking debt clock. If he hadn’t stuck his foot in his mouth over abortion, Decore could have indeed been premier.


Ever a populist, Klein jumped upon this austerity bandwagon — the two leaders described by NDP [leader] Ray Martin as Tweedledum and Tweedledee in their competing campaign pledges to slash spending.

[Actually I think he said Tweedledum and Tweedledummer!]


It was a good line, but it didn’t help poor Ray or his party: Klein was elected with 51 seats, while Decore’s lot banked 32. The NDP got zero.


That’s the point today’s Klein revisionists rarely mention. Every single member of that 1993 legislature — Tory and Grit — was elected on a program of cuts, and when Klein’s government actually implemented them, he’d be returned to power with more seats: 63 in 1997 and a remarkable 74 in 2001. People voted for the program and then rewarded the man who delivered."

(From Nelson, Chris (February 7, 2019). "Nelson: Ralph Bucks and the fine art of frittering away $1.4 billion". Calgary Herald. Retrieved August 7, 2020)


Actually in 1997 only 51 percent of voters "voted for the program", and only 51 percent of the voters "rewarded the man who delivered." That was the proportion of votes the Conservative took in that election. It just looked like Klein's Conservatives were more popular than that because they took more than three-quarters of the seats.


We must realize that under our existing FPTP system, the number of seats a party gets is not very much related to its percentage of the vote, the measure of its popularity among voters.


in 1993 the NDP had 11 percent of the vote but got no seats.

Before that election it had had about 16 seats but in 1993 it won none although proportionally due nine or ten.

Its percentage of the vote had dropped from 26 to 11, but its seats had dropped by 100 percent.

Klein's Tories with 45 percent of the vote won 61 percent of the seats


In 1997, the NDP dropped by another two percent of the vote and this time it won two seats. Less votes than before --- but more seats!

Klein's Tories with 51 percent of the vote won 76 percent of the seats


In 2001, the NDP again won two seats although getting enough votes to proportionately be due 6 or 7 seats.

Klein's Tories with 62 percent of the vote won 89 percent of the seats.


In 2004, the NDP won four seats although getting enough votes to proportionately be due 8 or 9 seats.

Klein's Tories with 47 percent of the vote won 75 percent of the seats.


With so many seats being shoo-ins and so many candidates and their supporters being lost hopes, voters flocked away from the voting booths. No more than 54 percent of eligible voters voted in the 1997 and 2001 elections.


Meanwhile Klein at Decore's urging engaged in massive cuts. The cuts were such and the rebound in oil sales was such that by 2006 Alberta had a surplus budget where it was bringing in $7B more than it was spending.


As sign of this economic turnaround and to avoid having to engage in a clear turn-around in government spending on education and healthcare, Klein government issued Prosperity bonus of $400 to each Albertan (amounting altogether to $1.4B).


Obviously questions are raised whether Klein actually had to make such deep cuts when he did. Or did he just act like an excitable boy, believing either that all things are good and getting better or all things are bad and getting worse. He did not exert a steady hand on the helm of the province's government, which at least 55 percent of voters seem to have desired.


And perhaps it was even a "Silent Majority" that desired such steady nerve and calm action. A majority that was hidden by the workings of the FPTP electoral system.


Thanks for reading.

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