2014 Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election


The 2014 Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election was prompted by Alison Redford's announcement that she would be resigning as leader of the Progressive Conservatives and Premier of Alberta on March 23, 2014.
According to the party's constitution, the process to select a new leader must take no less than four months and no more than six months from when the leader resigns. A Two-round system was chosen with September 6, 2014 set as the date for the first round of voting. If no candidate had received a majority, a second round of voting with the top two candidates on the ballot would have occurred on September 20. Unlike the 2011 leadership election a preferential ballot was not used. All party members were eligible to vote. Jim Prentice was elected on the first ballot.
Because the Progressive Conservatives form the government by virtue of holding a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, in accordance with convention the winner of the leadership election was appointed by the Lieutenant Governor as Premier of Alberta. In the meantime, Dave Hancock served as interim PC leader and thus Premier.
To be nominated, a candidate had to gather at least 100 signatures from party members in each of the province's five regions, pay a non-refundable $50,000 deposit and be registered as a candidate with Elections Alberta.

Timeline

[Thomas Lukaszuk]

;Background
MLA for Edmonton-Castle Downs since 2001. Served as Minister of Employment and Immigration, Minister of Education, Deputy Premier, Minister of Enterprise and Advanced Education, and Labour Minister.
;Supporters

[Ric McIver]

;Background
MLA for Calgary-Hays since 2012, previously councillor on Calgary City Council, runner up Mayoral candidate in the 2010 Calgary municipal election. McIver was Minister of Transportation and then Minister of Infrastructure until resigning to enter the leadership campaign.
;Supporters

[Jim Prentice]

;Background
MP for Calgary Centre-North, federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, federal Minister of Industry, federal Minister of the Environment. Runner-up to Peter MacKay in the 2003 Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership election in which he advocated the merger of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and the Canadian Alliance. Since resigning from parliament, Prentice has served as vice-chairman of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
;Supporters

Withdrawn

Ken Hughes">Ken Hughes (politician)">Ken Hughes

MLA for Calgary-West since 2012, previously Member of Parliament for Macleod. Hughes was Chair of Alberta Health Services before re-entering politics and served in the provincial cabinet as Minister of Energy and Minister of Municipal Affairs until resigning to contest the leadership. Hughes had declared his intention to run but withdrew prior to the official opening of nominations in order to support Jim Prentice's prospective candidacy.

Declined

The first and only ballot was held on September 6, 2014.
CandidateVotesPercentage
Jim Prentice17,96376.81
Ric McIver2,74211.72
Thomas Lukaszuk2,68111.46
Total23,386100.00