Heather Klimchuk
Heather Klimchuk (born August 10, 1958) is a Canadian politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Edmonton-Glenora as a Progressive Conservative, from 2008 to 2015. She was Minister of Human Services from 2014 until defeated in the 2015 provincial election.
Heather Klimchuk | |
---|---|
Klimchuk at the 2014 Tour of Alberta | |
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Edmonton-Glenora | |
In office March 3, 2008 – May 5, 2015 | |
Preceded by | Bruce Miller |
Succeeded by | Sarah Hoffman |
Personal details | |
Born | Calgary, Alberta | August 10, 1958
Political party | Progressive Conservative |
Spouse(s) | Wade Klimchuk |
Residence | Edmonton, Alberta |
Occupation | Real Estate Agent, Politician |
Portfolio | Minister of Human Services |
Political career
Before being elected in the 2008 Alberta General Election, Klimchuk also ran the 2001 and 2004 election campaigns of former Edmonton-Glenora MLA Drew Hutton.[1]
She was narrowly elected as MLA for Edmonton-Glenora in the 2008 election over Alberta Liberal Party incumbent Bruce Miller by 96 votes, less than 1% of votes cast. In the 2011 PC leadership election Klimchuk supported Gary Mar,[2] who was defeated by Alison Redford. Klimchuk was re-elected by a more comfortable margin in the 2012 election and was named Minister of Human Services on September 15, 2014 in the first cabinet of Jim Prentice.[3] She has previously served as Minister of Culture and Community Services and Minister of Service Alberta.[4]
She was considered to be part of the progressive or Red Tory wing of the PC Party.[5]
Personal life
Klimchuk has a long family history with the PC Party. Her father worked on Premier Peter Lougheed's first electoral campaign and was a classmate of Joe Clark's at law school.[5] Her public service experience prior to serving as a Member of the Legislature includes working as a researcher and writer for both Premier Lougheed and Premier Don Getty.She also assisted with the initiation of the Alberta Seniors´ information phone line.
Klimchuk holds a bachelor of arts (special) from the University of Alberta in political science. She and her husband, Wade, have two children: Kyrsten and Keifer.[3]
Election results
2008 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Glenora | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
Progressive Conservative | Heather Klimchuk | 4,604 | 39.90% | 11.22% | ||||
Liberal | Bruce Miller | 4,508 | 39.07% | 3.94% | ||||
New Democratic | Arlene Chapman | 1,743 | 15.11% | −15.81% | ||||
Green | Peter Johnston | 408 | 3.54% | 1.47% | ||||
Wildrose Alliance | Elden Van Hauwaert | 275 | 2.38% | 0.04% | ||||
Total | 11,538 | |||||||
Rejected, spoiled and declined | 58 | |||||||
Eligible electors / Turnout | 29,821 | 38.89% | ||||||
Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal | Swing | 7.58% | ||||||
Source: The Report on the March 3, 2008 Provincial General Election of the Twenty-seventh Legislative Assembly. Elections Alberta. July 28, 2008. pp. 294–297. |
2012 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Glenora | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
Progressive Conservative | Heather Klimchuk | 6,176 | 38.20 | –1.7 | ||||
New Democratic | Ray Martin | 4,141 | 25.61 | +10.5 | ||||
Wildrose | Don Koziak | 2,732 | 16.90 | +13.36 | ||||
Liberal | Bruce Miller | 1,668 | 10.32 | –28.75 | ||||
Alberta Party | Sue Huff | 1,451 | 8.97 | - | ||||
Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | -1.7 |
2015 Alberta general election | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
New Democratic | Sarah Hoffman | 12,403 | 68.5 | |||||
Progressive Conservative | Heather Klimchuk | 3,137 | 17.3 | |||||
Wildrose | Don Koziak | 1,381 | 7.6 | |||||
Liberal | Karen Sevcik | 542 | 3.0 | |||||
Alberta Party | Chris Vilcsak | 445 | 2.5 | |||||
Green | David Parker | 199 | 1.1 |
References
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-09-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "mla support in the alberta pc leadership contest (july 14, 2011) - daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics".
- "Legislative Assembly of Alberta".
- https://www.facebook.com/Heather.Klimchuk/info
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-09-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)