17th Alberta Legislature

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17th Alberta Legislature
Majority parliament
2 March 1972 – 14 February 1975
Parliament leaders
Premier	Peter Lougheed September 10, 1971 – November 1, 1985
Cabinet	Lougheed cabinet
Leader of the Opposition	Harry Strom December 10, 1971 – November 22, 1972
	James Douglas Henderson February 15, 1973 – August 21, 1973
	Robert Curtis Clark September 15, 1973 – November 28, 1980
Party caucuses
Government	Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
Opposition	Social Credit Party
Unrecognized	New Democratic Party
Legislative Assembly
Speaker of the Assembly	Gerard Amerongen March 2, 1972 – June 11, 1986
Opposition House Leader	Gordon E. Taylor March 2, 1972 – February 14, 1973
Members	75 MLA seats
Sovereign
Monarch	Elizabeth II February 6, 1952 – September 8, 2022
Lieutenant Governor	Hon. Grant MacEwan January 26, 1966 – July 2, 1974
	Hon. Ralph Garvin Steinhauer July 2, 1974 – October 18, 1979
Sessions
1st session March 2, 1972 – November 22, 1972
2nd session February 15, 1972 – December 14, 1973
3rd session March 7, 1974 – November 6, 1974
4th session January 23, 1975 – February 14, 1975
← 16th → 18th

The 17th Alberta Legislative Assembly was in session from March 2, 1972, to February 14, 1975, with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the 1971 Alberta general election held on August 30, 1971. The Legislature officially resumed on March 2, 1972, and continued until the fourth session was prorogued and dissolved on February 14, 1975, prior to the 1975 Alberta general election.^[1]

Alberta's seventeenth government was controlled by the majority Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta for the first time, led by Premier Peter Lougheed. The Official Opposition was led by former Premier Harry Strom of the Social Credit Party, and subsequently James Douglas Henderson and Robert Curtis Clark. The Speaker was Gerard Amerongen who would serve in the role until he was defeated in the 1986 Alberta general election.

Energy policy came to the forefront near the end of the fourth session of the Legislature when on January 16 a joint press conference was held by the owners of Syncrude Canada Ltd., a joint venture company created to extract oil from the Athabasca oil sands seeking $1-billion in investment following the withdrawal of Atlantic Richfield or risk the failure of the venture.^[2] Debate over the proposed investment Alberta's news with proponents noting the high costs of development, necessity for domestic oil supplies during the recent 1973 oil crisis, and the risk of stalling future development in the oil sands, while opponents felt the ultimatum was tantamount to blackmail.^[2] All provincial governments were provided the opportunity to invest in the agreement, and on February 3 the Governments of Ontario, Canada and Alberta met with Shell Oil and the original partners in the consortium. The Winnipeg Agreement was announced the next day, where the Government of Canada would invest $300-million for 15 per cent of Syncrude Canada Ltd., and the Government of Ontario would invest $100-million for 5 per cent equity, and Alberta would invest $200-million for convertible debenture and finance a $200-million power plant for the site.^[2] Representatives from Shell Oil stormed out of the meeting after an hour after the concession for a government-guaranteed base price for oil sands production was not provided.^[3] Liberal leader Nick Taylor and NDP leader Grant Notley were very critical of the agreement.^[2]

• A party requires four seats to have official party status in the legislature. Parties with fewer than four seats are not entitled to party funding although their members will usually be permitted to sit together in the chamber.

For complete electoral history, see individual districts.

• Normandin, G. Pierre, ed. (1975). The Canadian Parliamentary Guide. Ottawa: Mortimer Company Ltd. ISSN 0315-6168. OCLC 893686591. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
• Office of the Chief Electoral Officer; Legislative Assembly Office (2006). A Century of Democracy: Elections of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, 1905-2005. The Centennial Series. Edmonton, AB: Legislative Assembly of Alberta. ISBN 0-9689217-8-7. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
• Perry, Sandra E.; Footz, Valerie L. (2006). Massolin, Philip A. (ed.). A Higher Duty: Speakers of the Legislative Assemblies. Edmonton, AB: Legislative Assembly of Alberta. ISBN 0-9689217-3-6. Retrieved August 9, 2020.

• Alberta Legislative Assembly
• Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Book
• By-elections 1905 to present