Legislative Assembly of Alberta

The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the Alberta Legislature for the province of Alberta, Canada, and is seated at the Alberta Legislature Building in the provincial capital of Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly is a unicameral assembly of 87 members, elected first past the post from single-member electoral districts.[1] Bills passed by the legislature are given Royal Assent by Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, represented by the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta.[2]

Legislative Assembly of Alberta
30th Alberta Legislature
Type
Type	Unicameral house of the Alberta Legislature
History
Founded	September 9, 1905 (1905-09-09)
Preceded by	North-West Legislative Assembly
Leadership
Speaker	Nathan Cooper, UCP since May 30, 2019
Premier	Jason Kenney, UCP since April 30, 2019
Government House Leader	Jason Nixon, UCP since April 30, 2019
Opposition Leader	Rachel Notley, NDP since April 30, 2019
Opposition House Leader	Deron Bilous, NDP since May 13, 2019
Structure
Seats	87
Political groups	United Conservative (62)   New Democratic (24)   Independent (1)
Elections
Last election	April 16, 2019
Next election	31st Alberta general election
Meeting place
Alberta Legislative Building, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Website
assembly.ab.ca

The maximum period between general elections of the assembly, as set by Section 4 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is five years, which is further reinforced in Alberta's Legislative Assembly Act.[3] Convention dictates the Premier controls the date of election and usually selects a date in the fourth or fifth year after the preceding election. Amendments to Alberta's Elections Act introduced in 2011 fixed the date of election to between March 1 and May 31 in the fourth calendar year following the preceding election.[4] Alberta has never had a minority government, so an election as a result of a vote of no confidence has never occurred.

To be a candidate for election to the assembly, a person must be a Canadian citizen older than 18 who has lived in Alberta for at least six months before the election and has registered with Elections Alberta under the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act. Senators, senators in waiting, members of the House of Commons, and criminal inmates are ineligible.[5]

The current and 30th Alberta Legislative Assembly was elected on April 16, 2019.