bill which permitted the vote to take place during the October 1989 Alberta municipal elections. While Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was supportive of provincially nominated Senators, he did not support the concept of an election that would provide only a single name for the Prime Minister to consider. Candidates The Reform Party of Canada was eager to participate in the Senate nominee election, and federal party leaders created the Reform Party of Alberta in 1989 with the purpose of participating in the Senate nominee election, and not the Alberta general elections. A nomination meeting was scheduled in Red Deer for August 28, 1989 with each of the 26 federal constituency associations of the Reform Party in Alberta eligible to send 10 voting delegates to suggest names of candidates. The nomination was a major success for the Reform Party as a majority of the 26 constituency associations sent the maximum of 10 candidates. Retired Lieutenant-general Stan Waters gave a passionate speech criticizing out of control federal spending and announced his goal in the Senate would be to "carve into the hearts of every Ottawa politician the words 'Cut Spending'". Waters won the Reform Party nomination on the first ballot, defeating Edmonton Alderman Robert Matheson and Calgary lawyers Murray Smith and Victor Burstall. The Reform Party was well organized with Diane Ablonczy, Jim Denis and Preston Manning guiding the campaign, and the party budgeting for the Senate nominee election exceeded $250,000, with $80,000 destined for television advertising. The results of this effort were the Reform Party candidate Waters receiving a majority of the votes in rural Alberta and Calgary, and finishing second in Edmonton. University of Lethbridge political scientist Faron Ellis credits the 1989 Senate nominee election with lending creditability to the upstart Reform Party prior to the 1993 Canadian general election. The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta had three candidates contest the party's nomination, former Solicitor General Marvin Moore, Triple-E Senate campaigner Bert Brown and Brian Heidecker. The nomination convention was scheduled for September 16, and Moore dropped out to support Brown who won the nomination when 10,000 party members voted. Brown's candidacy was undermined by Progressive Conservative Party of Canada Members of Parliament urging Albertans not to participate in the election. Furthermore, Brown's popularity was hurt through his conservative association with Mulroney's government which was in the process of introducing the Goods and services tax. The Liberal Party of Alberta