1944 Alberta general election

The Alberta general election of 1944 was the tenth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on August 8, 1944 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

After the death of Social Credit Party founder and premier William Aberhart in 1943, Ernest C. Manning became leader. Manning steered the party down a more moderate path, largely dispensing with the party's social credit policies of monetary reform that it had been unable to implement.

Manning led Social Credit to a third term in government with a resounding victory in the 1944 election, winning over 50% of the popular vote. The Liberal and Conservative parties continued their strategy of running joint candidates as independents, but were even less successful that in the 1940 election: independents' share of the popular vote declined by 25 percentage points. This brought the "Independents Movement" or "Unity Movement" to an end.

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation won almost a quarter of the popular vote, but only two seats in the legislature.

Results

Party	Party Leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular Vote
Party	Party Leader	# of candidates	1940	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change Template:Canadian politics/party colours/Social Credit/row	Social Credit	Ernest C. Manning	57	36	51	+41.7%	146,367	51.88%	+8.98% Template:Canadian politics/party colours/Independents/row	Independent	36	19	3	-84.2%	47,239	16.75%	-25.72% Template:Canadian politics/party colours/CCF/row	Cooperative Commonwealth	57	-	2	70,307	24.92%	+13.81 Template:Canadian politics/party colours/Independents/row	Veteran's & Active Force	1	*	1	*	3,532	1.25%	* Template:Canadian politics/party colours/Communist/row	Labour Progressive ¹	30	-	-	-	12,003	4.26%	+3.91% Template:Canadian politics/party colours/Labour/row	Labour United	1	*	-	*	1,788	0.63%	* Template:Canadian politics/party colours/Independents/row	Single Tax	1	*	-	*	480	0.17%	* Template:Canadian politics/party colours/Labour/row	Farmer's Labour	1	*	-	*	390	0.14%	*
Total		184	57	57	-	282,106	100%
Source: Elections Alberta

Notes:

¹ Compared to the the Communist Party results from the previous election.

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Members elected

For complete electoral history, see individual districts

	District	Member
Acadia-Coronation	C.E. Gerhart	Social Credit
Alexandria	Selmer Berg	Social Credit
Athabasca	Gordon Lee	Social Credit
Banff-Cochrane	A.H. Wray	Social Credit
Beaver River	Lucien Maynard	Social Credit
Bow Valley-Empress	Wilson Cain	Social Credit
Bruce	J.L. McPherson	Social Credit
Calgary #1	Rose Wilkinson	Social Credit
Calgary #2	H.B. Macdonald	Independent
Calgary #3	Andrew Davison	Independent
Calgary #4	Fred Anderson	Social Credit
Calgary #5	A.J.E. Liesemer	Cooperative Commonwealth
Camrose	Chester Sayers	Social Credit
Cardston	N.E. Tanner	Social Credit
Clover Bar	F.M. Baker	Social Credit
Cypress	Edith Thurston	Social Credit
Didsbury	H.G. Hammell	Social Credit
Drumheller	Gordon Taylor	Social Credit
Edmonton #1	Elmer Roper	Cooperative Commonwealth
Edmonton #2	Ernest Manning	Social Credit
Edmonton #3	John P. Page	Independent
Edmonton #4	William J. Williams	Veterans & Active Force
Edmonton #5	Norman James	Social Credit
Edson	Norman Willmore	Social Credit
Gliechen	George E. Bell	Social Credit
Grand Prarie	Ira McLaughlin	Social Credit
Grouard	W.A. Fallow	Social Credit
Hand Hills	W.W. Cross	Social Credit
Innisfail	A.E. MacLellan	Social Credit
Lac St. Anne	A.V. Bourcier	Social Credit
Lacombe	D.B. MacMillan	Social Credit
Leduc	R.E. Ansley	Social Credit
Lethbridge	J.C. Landeryou	Social Credit
Little Bow	Peter Dawson	Social Credit
Macleod	James Hartley	Social Credit
Medicine Hat	John L. Robinson	Social Credit
Okotoks-High River	Ivan Casey	Social Credit
Olds	Norman E. Cook	Social Credit
Peace River	W.F. Gilliland	Social Credit
Pembina	R.D. Jorgenson	Social Credit
Pincher Creek-Crowsnest	E.O. Duke	Social Credit
Ponoka	Ora Moore	Social Credit
Red Deer	David A. Ure	Social Credit
Redwater	James Popil	Social Credit
Rocky Mountain House	A.J. Hooke	Social Credit
Sedgewick	Albert Fee	Social Credit
Spirit River	Henry DeBolt	Social Credit
St. Albert	Charles Holder	Social Credit
St. Paul	J.W. Beaudry	Social Credit
Stettler	William Mackie	Social Credit
Stony Plain	Cornelia Wood	Social Credit
Taber	Roy S. Lee	Social Credit
Vegreville	Michael Ponich	Social Credit
Vermillion	W.R. Cornish	Social Credit
Wainwright	William Masson	Social Credit
Warner	Solon Low	Social Credit
Wetaskiwin	J.A. Wingblade	Social Credit
Willingdon	William Tomyn	Social Credit

Results

Members elected

See also