Klein made the transition from municipal to provincial politics, and was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the riding of Calgary-Elbow in the 1989 general election. Klein won the election, defeating Liberal candidate and lawyer Gilbert Clark and two others with 49.6 per cent of the vote. He was subsequently named the Minister of Environment in Don Getty's government, while the Premier lost the election in his home seat of Edmonton-Whitemud, had to wait two months to be elected to the "safe" Progressive Conservative district of Stettler.