Premier
Strom called a snap election for August 1971. For the campaign, Lougheed crafted a simple slogan—"NOW!"—symbolizing his goal of increasing Alberta's clout in Canada. His platform combined fiscally conservative economic policies with a modern, urban outlook. Lougheed's urbane image also struck a responsive chord in contrast to Strom's rather dour image.
In the election, Lougheed and the Tories swept the Socreds from power, ending what was, at the time, one of the longest unbroken run in government at the provincial level in Canada. While the PCs finished only five percentage points ahead of the Socreds—46 percent to 41 percent—they reaped a major windfall in the cities. The PCs took every seat in Edmonton, and all but five in Calgary. Due to the nature of the first past the post system, which awards power solely on the basis of seats won, this gave Lougheed a strong majority government, with 49 seats to the Socreds' 25 and the NDP's one.
Lougheed spent most of his tenure as premier in a bitter fight with the federal government over control of Alberta's resources. His first term also saw the start of a decade-long development boom, and he later established the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, which used oil revenues to invest for the long term in such areas as health care and research. He won an even stronger mandate in 1975, reducing the opposition to only six MLAs in total (four Socreds, one New Democrat and one independent). He would lead the party to two more landslide victories in 1979 and 1982. His last victory netted the PCs a staggering 75 seats out of 79—in terms of percentage of seats won, the second-largest majority government in the province's history. As a result, he governed with very large majorities for virtually his entire tenure, and was in a position to enact practically any program he wanted. This served him well, since he was a Red Tory leading a party whose base was largely social conservatives in rural parts of the province.
Lougheed retired in 1985, and Don Getty, a member of the original PC caucus from 1967, was chosen his successor.
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