Canada’s most conservative province has elected an NDP government

CBC election desk made the predication 70 minutes after the polls closed.

A piece of history:

As a result of the 1982 provincial election, Grant Notley was joined by a second NDP MLA, Ray Martin, and became leader of the opposition. Notley spent his political career patiently building the social democratic NDP in one of Canada’s most conservative provinces.

In October 1984, Notley and five other passengers were killed in a plane crash. His death came shortly before the party’s breakthrough in the 1986 provincial election in which the NDP won 16 seats with 29% of the vote.

Notley’s daughter, Rachel Notley, ran as an NDP candidate and was elected in the provincial riding of Edmonton Strathcona in the 2008 provincial election. She won the Alberta New Democrat leadership election on October 18, 2014.

The rest of the story is now in the news – a majority government for NDP.