Pahl ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature in the
1979 Alberta general election. He won the new electoral district of
Edmonton-Mill Woods with a landslide to pick up the seat for the governing Progressive Conservative party. Pahl ran for a second term in office in the
1982 Alberta general election. He more than doubled his popular vote to be re-elected by a substantial margin. After the election Premier
Peter Lougheed appointed Pahl to a position in the
Executive Council of Alberta as Minister without portfolio responsible for native affairs. He kept that portfolio after
Don Getty became premier in 1985. Pahl was involved in a row with federal Minister of Aboriginal Affairs
David Crombie over the
Lubicon Lake Indian Nation. The band was promised a settlement of land for a native reserve in 1940. After decades of unrest and negotiation Pahl declared the matter settled in a news conference which Crombie denied. Pahl also announced that subsurface mineral rights will be included with all future land claims settlements with the Government of Alberta. Pahl ran for a third term in office in the
1986 Alberta general election but was defeated in a closely contested election by
Gerry Gibeault a candidate for the
New Democrats. ==Late life==