It was June 1968. The original Trudeaumania was in full swing and Calgary geologist and businessman Nick Taylor (pictured in the photo above with his supporters) made his first expedition into federal politics as the Liberal candidate in the Calgary-Centre riding. The well-known oilman would come close to winning the riding in an election where the Liberals would earn 35.7% of the vote in Alberta.
When the ballots were counted in Calgary-Centre, Mr. Taylor placed only 301 votes behind Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament Douglas Harkness.
The Liberals succeeded in electing four MPs in Alberta in 1968, the last Liberal MPs elected in Alberta until the 1993 election: Patrick Mahoney in Calgary-South, Hu Harries in Edmonton-Strathcona, Bud Olson in Medicine Hat, and Allen Sulatycky in Rocky Mountain. All four MPs were defeated in the 1972 election.
In 2011, Mr. Mahoney joked that the Liberal Party “will elect an MP in Calgary again before the Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup.” Neither of these things have yet to happen as of August 2015.
Despite his loss in 1968, Mr. Taylor would later become leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and, after a few years in the political wilderness, was elected as MLA for the Westlock-Sturgeon and Redwater from 1986 until he was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 1996.
