election, he led the party to eight seats, twice as many as it had held at dissolution of the legislature, while also getting the second-highest popular vote, though the NDP retained official opposition status with 16 seats. Decore, who was elected in Edmonton-Glengarry, defeating New Democrat John Younie, declared "there is a new party on the horizon", as one of his candidates Percy Wickman had unseated Premier Don Getty. In the legislature, Decore focused his attacks in the government around fiscal responsibility and the province's rapidly rising debt. He was also critical of the government's involvement in the private sector which had, in some high-profile cases, resulted in companies defaulting on huge government loans. The Liberals rose rapidly in the polls, and Progressive Conservative Premier Don Getty resigned in 1992 rather than lead his party into another election that it might well lose. The Progressive Conservatives' new leader, Environment Minister and former Calgary mayor Ralph Klein, had won the leadership in part by making arguments similar to Decore's. He favoured a near-immediate balancing of the provincial budget and rapid debt repayment thereafter, and declared his government "out of the business of business". In the 1993 election, Decore therefore faced a Premier with whom he agreed on many issues; he coped by arguing that the Progressive Conservatives had, as a party, no moral authority left on the issues on which Klein was campaigning. The campaign was also notable as the former mayors of Edmonton and Calgary were facing off as party leaders. The Liberals won 32 of the province's 83 seats, the highest percentage they had won since leaving government in 1921 and the highest percentage won by any opposition party in the province's history. They returned to official opposition status for the first time since 1967, while banishing the New Democrats from the legislature. Decore now led the second-largest opposition caucus in the province's history. However, many Liberal MLAs and party members were unhappy to find themselves in the opposition after expecting to win power for the first time in more than 70 years. The disappointing results led to calls within the party for Decore to step down. Decore resigned his leadership in 1994, and did not seek re-election as MLA in the 1997 election. Personal life, death, and legacy His father had been a prominent member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada and Laurence attended St. John's Ukrainian