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. As of December 2025, none of the candidates selected in this election have been nominated to the Senate.
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 , 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 ballotRick BonnettIndependentIndependentSeptember 17, 2021September 17, 2021YesErika BarootesIndependentConservative Party of CanadaJune 15, 2021September 14, 2021YesPam DavidsonIndependentConservative Party of Canada"To support me in the nomination race, you will need to be a member of the Conservative Party before July 29, 2021." https://pamdavidson.ca/ June 30, 2021September 15, 2021YesMykhailo MartynioukIndependentConservative Party of CanadaAugust 5, 2021September 10, 2021YesKarina PillayIndependentIndependentSeptember 14, 2021September 15, 2021YesChad Jett Thunders SaundersIndependentIndependentAugust 31, 2021September 3, 2021YesSunil SookramIndependentIndependentJuly 20, 2021August 19, 2021YesRandy HogleN/AN/AJuly 28, 2021N/A (withdrew)NoDoug A. HornerIndependentIndependentSeptember 10, 2021September 20, 2021YesDuncan KinneyIndependentIndependentApril 14, 2021September 16, 2021YesJeff NielsenIndependentIndependentAugust 23, 2021September 16, 2021YesNadine R. WellwoodIndependentPeople's Party of CanadaSeptember 20, 2021September 20, 2021YesAnn McCormackIndependentPeople's Party of CanadaSeptember 20, 2021September 20, 2021YesKelly LorenczIndependentPeople's Party of CanadaSeptember 20, 2021September 20, 2021Yes
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 per cent of the voters.
As is often the case with block voting, one party took all the seats.A Report on Alberta Elections (1982)
Official poll results as per report posted by Elections Alberta: CandidatePartyVotes #Votes %Valid Ballots %ElectedAppointedPam DavidsonConservative382,24318.22%54.56%Erika BarootesConservative358,00217.06%51.10%Mykhailo MartynioukConservative237,22811.31%33.86%Doug HornerIndependent179,4558.55%25.61% Karina PillayIndependent144,1686.87%20.58% Duncan KinneyIndependent128,9456.15%18.40% Ann McCormackPeople's109,8125.23%15.67% Kelly LorenczPeople's107,1765.11%15.30% Nadine WellwoodPeople's98,4014.69%14.04% Jeff NielsenIndependent95,7684.56%13.67% Rick BonnettIndependent93,2774.45%13.31%Sunil SookramIndependent87,9324.19%12.55% Chad Jett Thunders SaundersIndependent75,5143.60%10.78%Total2,097,921700,625Rejected, Spoiled and Declined418,203Total Ballots Cast1,118,828
By party AffiliationSeatsTotal votesVotes %Conservative3977,47346.59%Independent0805,05938.37%People's0315,38915.03%Total32,097,921100.00%
See also Alberta Senate nominee elections Elections Alberta
References