# 2021 Alberta Senate nominee election

The 2021 Alberta Senate nominee election, formally the 5th Senate Nominee Election, was held in Alberta to help select (non-binding) nominees for appointment to represent Alberta in the Senate of Canada. The Senate election was held on October 18 in conjunction with the 2021 Alberta municipal elections.

## Background

Alberta is the only province to hold elections for nominees to the Senate. These elections, held under Alberta's Senate Election Act, are not binding on the prime minister when he advises the governor general on appointments to the Senate. However, in the previous four senate elections, nine senate nominees have been selected; and, of these, five were appointed to the Senate of Canada.
The act also establishes that the number of Senate nominees is to be set by the Lieutenant Governor-in-Council when issuing the order in council. The current order in council sets the number of senate candidates to be selected as three.

### Candidacy requirements

To be eligible to run as a senate candidate, a person had to be qualified under Section 23 of the Constitution Act (1867) and under Section 7 of the Alberta Senate Election Act. The prospective senate candidate also had to determine if they would be endorsed by a registered provincial party in Alberta or aligned with a federal party in Canada. Eligible, prospective senate candidates had to register under the Elections Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act prior to collecting their nomination signatures. Additionally, signatures could only be collected from between the date of the writ of election and nomination day, with candidates collecting at least 500 valid signatures, from eligible voters, in order to be placed on the ballot. Lastly, a $4,000 deposit had to be provided to Elections Alberta, before September 20, to become a fully nominated candidate.

### Senate vacancies

The Alberta Senate Nominee Election will select three candidates, that may be chosen by the prime minister to fill the current single vacancy in the Senate:
* Senator Grant Mitchell resigned from the Senate on April 24, 2020.
* Senator Elaine McCoy died in December 2020.
* Karen Sorenson was appointed to the Senate on July 29, 2021, filling one of the two vacancies.

## Electoral system

The election used block voting, to elect three Senate nominees.

## Prospective candidates

As of September 16, 2021, several prospective senate candidates had filed nomination papers with Elections Alberta. There were enough prospective candidates nominated that the ballot was not acclaimed.
Prospective Senate candidates :
| Candidate name | Provincial affiliation | Federal alignment | Registration date | Nomination accepted | On ballot |
| Rick Bonnett | Independent | Independent | September 17, 2021 | September 17, 2021 | Yes |
| Erika Barootes | Independent | Conservative Party of Canada | June 15, 2021 | September 14, 2021 | Yes |
| Pam Davidson | Independent | Conservative Party of Canada | June 30, 2021 | September 15, 2021 | Yes |
| Mykhailo Martyniouk | Independent | Conservative Party of Canada | August 5, 2021 | September 10, 2021 | Yes |
| Karina Pillay | Independent | Independent | September 14, 2021 | September 15, 2021 | Yes |
| Chad Jett Thunders Saunders | Independent | Independent | August 31, 2021 | September 3, 2021 | Yes |
| Sunil Sookram | Independent | Independent | July 20, 2021 | August 19, 2021 | Yes |
| Randy Hogle | N/A | N/A | July 28, 2021 | N/A (withdrew) | No |
| Doug A. Horner | Independent | Independent | September 10, 2021 | September 20, 2021 | Yes |
| Duncan Kinney | Independent | Independent | April 14, 2021 | September 16, 2021 | Yes |
| Jeff Nielsen | Independent | Independent | August 23, 2021 | September 16, 2021 | Yes |
| Nadine R. Wellwood | Independent | People's Party of Canada | September 20, 2021 | September 20, 2021 | Yes |
| Ann McCormack | Independent | People's Party of Canada | September 20, 2021 | September 20, 2021 | Yes |
| Kelly Lorencz | Independent | People's Party of Canada | September 20, 2021 | September 20, 2021 | Yes |

## Results
### By candidate

No candidate received votes from a majority of the 1.1M voters who voted.
The most popular candidate received votes from less than 38 percent of the voters.
As is often the case with block voting, one party took all the seats.
Official poll results as per report posted by Elections Alberta:
| | Candidate | Party | Party | Votes # | Votes % | Valid Ballots % | Elected |
| | Pam Davidson | Conservative | Conservative | 382,243 | 18.22% | 54.56% | Y |
| | Erika Barootes | Conservative | Conservative | 358,002 | 17.06% | 51.10% | Y |
| | Mykhailo Martyniouk | Conservative | Conservative | 237,228 | 11.31% | 33.86% | Y |
| | Doug Horner | Independent | Independent | 179,455 | 8.55% | 25.61% | |
| | Karina Pillay | Independent | Independent | 144,168 | 6.87% | 20.58% | |
| | Duncan Kinney | Independent | Independent | 128,945 | 6.15% | 18.40% | |
| | Ann Mccormack | People's | People's | 109,812 | 5.23% | 15.67% | |
| | Kelly Lorencz | People's | People's | 107,176 | 5.11% | 15.30% | |
| | Nadine Wellwood | People's | People's | 98,401 | 4.69% | 14.04% | |
| | Jeff Nielsen | Independent | Independent | 95,768 | 4.56% | 13.67% | |
| | Rick Bonnett | Independent | Independent | 93,277 | 4.45% | 13.31% | |
| | Sunil Sookram | Independent | Independent | 87,932 | 4.19% | 12.55% | |
| | Chad Jett Thunders Saunders | Independent | Independent | 75,514 | 3.60% | 10.78% | |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 2,097,921 | | 700,625 | |
| Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | Rejected, Spoiled and Declined | 418,203 | 418,203 | 418,203 | |
| Total Ballots Cast | Total Ballots Cast | Total Ballots Cast | Total Ballots Cast | 1,118,828 | 1,118,828 | 1,118,828 | |

### By party

| Affiliation | Affiliation | Seats | Total Votes | Votes % |
| | Conservative | 3 | 977,473 | 46.59% |
| | Independent | 0 | 805,059 | 38.37% |
| | People's | 0 | 315,389 | 15.03% |
| Total | | 3 | 2,097,921 | 100.00% |
Vote share
Conservative
46.59%
PPC
15.03%
Others
38.37% :
Senate Nominees
Conservative
100.00% :