OTTAWA (AFP) — Ruling Conservatives in oil-rich Alberta won an 11th straight majority late Monday, in the Canadian province's first general election with new leader Ed Stelmach at the helm.
The party took 72 of 83 seats in the provincial legislature, up from 60 seats held previously.
"Welcome to Alberta's century," Stelmach told supporters in Edmonton, the provincial capital. He replaced long-time premiere Ralph Klein last year.
The election campaign pitted energy companies looking to expand oil production three-fold, against environmentalists who have described efforts to extract the vast oil deposits as "the most destructive project on the planet."
Pundits were surprised by the Conservative sweep, having predicted a protest vote after 37 years in power would blunt the Tory juggernaut.
Oil sands are deposits of bitumen -- a molasses-like viscous oil that will not flow unless heated or diluted with lighter hydrocarbons.
While conventional crude oil is pumped from the ground, oil sands must be mined and bitumen separated from the sand and water, then upgraded and refined.
At an estimated 173 billion barrels, Alberta's oil sands are the second largest oil reserve in the world behind Saudi Arabia, but they have been neglected, except by local companies, because of high extraction costs.
Since 2000, skyrocketing crude oil prices and improved extraction methods have made exploitation more economical, and have lured several multinational oil companies to mine the sands.
But environmentalists say oil sands companies are creating toxic waste ponds which have been seeping into groundwater. Meanwhile, their unchecked carbon emissions have been linked to global warming.
Oil companies counter that multi-billion dollar energy royalties have helped Alberta pay off its debt, and have made it a fiscal darling among its peers.
According to the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, oil sands output is expected to triple over the next decade, making Canada one of the biggest energy producers in the world.
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