Kelly Block

Kelly Block MP (born November 30, 1961) is a Canadian politician who was elected to represent the electoral district of Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek in the 2008 Canadian federal election (which was then the Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar district). Prior to her election to the House of Commons, Block served two terms as mayor of Waldheim, Saskatchewan. Block was Waldheim's first female mayor, and also served as chairperson of the Gabriel Springs Health District. Block was later appointed to the Saskatoon Regional Health Authority when the government of Saskatchewan amalgamated its health districts. Block ran unsuccessfully for the Saskatchewan Party nomination for the provincial Martensville constituency by-election in November 2006 against Nancy Heppner.

Kelly Block MP
Shadow Minister of Public Services and Procurement
Incumbent
Assumed office November 2019
Leader	Andrew Scheer
Official Opposition Critic for Transport
In office 20 November 2015 – 21 October 2019
Leader	Rona Ambrose Andrew Scheer
Preceded by	Hoang Mai
Succeeded by	Todd Doherty
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar (2008-2015)
Incumbent
Assumed office October 14, 2008
Preceded by	Carol Skelton
Personal details
Born	(1961-11-30) November 30, 1961 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Political party	Conservative
Residence	Warman, Saskatchewan
Profession	mayor, administrator

Career

Block is a member of the Conservative Party. She was appointed to the Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) and the Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee (ETHI). In fall 2009, Block was moved from PROC and appointed to the budget and finance committee. With the commencement of the 41st Parliament in 2011, Block was appointed to the health committee, and the government operations and estimates committee. Block was also appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to serve as the regional caucus chairperson for the Saskatchewan Conservative caucus.

Block was awarded the Maclean's Parliamentarian of the Year – Rising Star – Award in June 2010 after receiving the highest number of weighted votes from fellow parliamentarians of all parties.[1][2]

In October 2012, Block sent out a flyer to her constituents entitled Ending Unfair Benefits for Refugee Claimants which criticized refugee claimants and rejected refugee applicants access to extended healthcare benefits.[3] She was criticized in the media[4] and Parliament[5] for the newsletter. Block defended the message but said the content was a draft, and expressed regret about some of the language used.[6]

Following the 2013 redrawing of Saskatchewan's federal electoral boundaries, Block stated she would run in the new riding of Humboldt-Warman-Martensville-Rosetown (later renamed Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek) .[7]

In September 2013, Block was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Natural Resources.[8]

In the 2015 federal election, won by the Liberal Party, Block was elected in the redrawn riding of Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek. She was appointed as the Conservative critic for Transport by interim leader Rona Ambrose.[9]

In 2019, Block was re-elected with an increased margin and the fourth-highest voter turnout in the election. [10] She was appointed as the Opposition critic for Public Services and Procurement Canada by Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer. [11]

Electoral record

2019 Canadian federal election: Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Kelly Block	35,313	78.56	13.84
	New Democratic	Jasmine Calix	5,535	12.31	-6.35
	Green	Dean Gibson	873	1.94	-0.3
	Liberal	Rebecca Malo	2,085	4.64	-9.73
	People's	Cody Payant	799	1.78	–
	Independent	Glenn Wright	344	0.76	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			44,949	100.0
Total rejected ballots			240
Turnout			45,189	78.5
Eligible voters			57,601
Source: Elections Canada[12][13]

2015 Canadian federal election: Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Kelly Block	26,004	64.7	-3.64	–
	New Democratic	Glenn Wright	7,499	18.7	-5.71	–
	Liberal	Alexander Slusar	5,774	14.4	+10.48	–
	Green	Lynn Wesley Oliphant	902	2.2	-0.40	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			40,179	100.0		$216,795.70
Total rejected ballots			109	0.19	–
Turnout			40,288	73.18	–
Eligible voters			55,048
	Conservative hold		Swing		-4.68
Source: Elections Canada[14][15]

2011 Canadian federal election: Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Kelly Block	14,652	48.70	+3.31
	New Democratic	Nettie Wiebe	14,114	46.91	+2.49
	Liberal	Lee Reaney	697	2.32	-2.09
	Green	Vicki Strelioff	626	2.08	-2.49
Total valid votes/Expense limit			30,089	100.00
Total rejected ballots			131	0.43
Turnout			30,220	62.29
	Conservative hold		Swing		+0.82

2008 Canadian federal election: Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Kelly Block	12,166	45.4	-0.2	$78,169
	New Democratic	Nettie Wiebe	11,913	44.5	+5.5	$63,284
	Green	Amber Jones	1,228	4.6	+2.1	$8,174
	Liberal	Roy Bluehorn	1,176	4.4	-7.7	$10,785
	Independent	Rick Barsky	134	0.5	+0.5	N/A
	Christian Heritage	Marcel Bourassa	111	0.4	-0.5	$50
	Libertarian	Kevin Stricker	74	0.3	+0.3	$1,339
Total valid votes/Expense limit			26,802	100.0	$78,625
	Conservative hold		Swing		-2.85

References

1. Geddes, John (2 June 2010). "Rising Star: Kelly Block". Maclean's. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
2. "Tight race in Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar". The StarPhoenix. 15 October 2008. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012.
3. Warick, Jason (2012-10-16). "MP Kelly Block sends flyer criticizing refugees' access to healthcare". Postmedia Network. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
4. Mandryk, Murray (2012-10-16). "MP's message only too clear". The StarPhoenix. Postmedia Network. Archived from the original on 2013-08-24. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
5. Bolen, Michael (2012-10-17). "Kelly Block's Newsletter On Refugee Health Cuts Called 'Offensive'". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
6. "Kelly Block defends flyer". CBC News. 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
7. Graham, Jennifer (2013-08-21). "Contentious redrawing of federal election ridings in Saskatchewan complete". Maclean's. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-10-06. Retrieved 2013-10-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
9. Hamilton, Charles (2015-11-20). "Kelly Block and Gerry Ritz are now part of the Conservative's new shadow cabinet". The StarPhoenix. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
10. Britneff, Beatrice (2019-10-23). "The ridings that had the lowest, highest voter turnout in the 2019 election". Global News. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
11. "Block named as Conservative public services and procurement critic". The Humboldt Journal. 2019-11-29. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
12. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
13. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
14. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, 30 September 2015
15. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2015-08-15 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Official website
• Kelly Block – Parliament of Canada biography