 Alberta 's women , especially those of the UFA @-@ affiliated United Farm Women of Alberta , were active in the province 's moral reform movement . They were also active in seeking the vote : in 1913 a delegation of them arrived at the legislature demanding the vote ; Sifton asked them " did you ladies wash up your luncheon dishes before you came down here to ask me for the vote ? If you haven 't you 'd better go home because you 're not going to get any votes from me . " In October 1914 another delegation arrived , bearing the signatures of 40 @,@ 000 people . At that time , the Premier agreed that most traditional objections to extension of the franchise were " played out " , but expressed concern at the increases that would result to the cost of elections and uncertainty at whether most of the province 's women actually wanted suffrage . In February 1915 a larger delegation arrived at the legislature and occupied the MLAs ' seats , demanding that the franchise be extended quickly enough to allow women to vote in the upcoming prohibition referendum ; an angry Sifton refused and suggested to the women that if they wanted the vote , they should contact their MLAs and promise that they would use their votes to re @-@ elect them , " which is after all one of the strongest way in which you can appeal to male human nature , as represented in the legislature . " Even so , he committed to raising the issue in the legislature after the referendum . On September 17 , 1915 , he told UFA President James Speakman that he had given instructions for the preparation of a statute " placing men and women in Alberta on the basis of absolute equality so far as Provincial matters are concerned . " True to his word , he introduced legislation in the spring of 1916 giving women the vote in all provincial and municipal elections . The Conservatives supported it enthusiastically , and only St. Albert MLA Lucien Boudreau voted against it ( though <unk> Liberal James Gray Turgeon admitted that he was supporting his leader 's legislation against his own convictions ) . 
