Canada's Left-Leaning Party Wins Oil Rich, Conservative Bastion

NDP supporters cheer as election results come in the victory party at the election headquarters in Edmonton, Alberta.

Published 6 May 2015

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The New Democratic Party majority provincial government marks a historic win in Canada's oil sands province.

In a major political shift, Canada's province of Alberta elected the social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP) to a majority government on Tuesday, ending 44 years of Conservative Party rule in the western province.

The NDP has promised to bring Alberta’s key industry, the oil and gas sector, under review. The province is home to Canada's oil tarsands, the number one source of U.S. oil imports and among the largest oil reserves in the world.

Conservative governments have been extremely favorable toward the oil industry, supporting tarsands expansion and pipeline projects.

The NDP have proposed a review of Alberta's complex system of royalties paid to the government by oil and gas companies for natural resource use, a corporate tax increase from 10 to 12 percent, and scaled-back support of select pipeline projects, such as the controversial Keystone XL pipeline and Northern Gateway pipeline.

NDP Premier-elect Rachel Notley has also said the province needs to pay more attention to environmental issues and enhance carbon reduction targets shirked by previous Conservative governments.

Oil and gas investors are expected to react negatively to Alberta's political turn.

The NDP will form a majority government with 53 seats in the provincial legislature, where it has never won more than 16 of the 87 seats.

The conservative Wildrose Party will form the official opposition with 21 seats, while the incumbent Conservatives took a major plunge in popular support, winning only 10 seats. Outgoing Conservative Premier Jim Prentice immediately resigned as party leader and from legislature.

Notley said she believed the election was also historic in terms of the number of women candidates elected.

Polling for Canada's October 2015 federal election shows the federal NDP under leader Thomas Mulcair in third place behind Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives and Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party.