Paul Hinman

Paul Hinman (born 1959 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a provincial politician and small business entrepreneur from Alberta, Canada. He was formerly the leader of the Wildrose Alliance. He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 2004 to 2008 representing the electoral district of Cardston-Taber-Warner. On September 14, 2009, Hinman returned to the Legislative Assembly by winning a by-election in Calgary-Glenmore, but lost his bid for re-election on April 23, 2012. He currently serves as the interim leader of the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta.[1][2]

Paul Hinman
Hinman in 2012
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
In office September 14, 2009 – April 23, 2012
Preceded by	Ron Stevens
Succeeded by	Linda Johnson
Constituency	Calgary-Glenmore
In office November 22, 2004 – March 3, 2008
Preceded by	Broyce Jacobs
Succeeded by	Broyce Jacobs
Constituency	Cardston-Taber-Warner
Leader of the Alberta Alliance and Wildrose Alliance
In office November 19, 2005 – October 17, 2009
Preceded by	Eleanor Maroes (interim)
Succeeded by	Danielle Smith
Personal details
Born	1959 (age 60–61) Edmonton, Alberta
Political party	Wexit Canada (2020)
Other political affiliations	Wildrose Alliance
Children	Mark, Jordan, Tanner, Janna
Residence	Calgary, Alberta
Alma mater	University of Alberta

Early life

Hinman was born in Edmonton in 1959.[3] He grew up in Calgary in the neighbourhood of Haysboro.[4]

Hinman has been active in the Scouts Canada organization since his childhood and continues to maintain his involvement with the program through leadership roles as an adult. He enjoys participating in outdoor activities such as hiking in the mountains and horseback riding.[5]

Hinman became politically aware at an early age, through his grand father Edgar "Ted" Hinman who served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Cardston and as Provincial Treasurer in the Social Credit government under Ernest Manning.[3]

Hinman has travelled to Denmark, Spain, the Caribbean Islands, Africa and Hong Kong. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and comes from a long line of Mormon pioneers.[6][7][8] He spent two years in the Philippines serving an LDS Mission, where he learned to speak Tagalog.[5][6][7][8]

Hinman prior to winning his seat in the Alberta Legislature was an irrigation farmer, cow-calf producer, purebred-cattle breeder, feedlot operator and small-business entrepreneur. He attended the University of Alberta Faculty of Pharmacy.[5]

Today Hinman currently resides near his childhood home in Calgary.

Political career

Hinman became politically active working for the Reform Party of Canada in the early years. He served on policy and election committees. He later served positions in the Conservative Party of Canada. He serves as a board member for the federal Conservative Party of Canada in the electoral district of Lethbridge.

In provincial politics, he was the southern regional director for the Alberta First Party. Hinman served as vice-president of policy for the Alberta Alliance Party from its founding convention on February 14, 2002, until he was named deputy leader on January 8, 2005.

MLA of Cardston-Taber-Warner

Himan was elected to his first term as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing the constituency of Cardston-Taber-Warner in the 2004 provincial election on November 22, 2004.

He defeated incumbent Broyce Jacobs who was affiliated with the Progressive Conservatives by 129 votes to capture the riding and pickup the district for the Alberta Alliance banner. He was the only person elected under the Alliance banner for the party that election. His win helped to retain the seat the Alliance gained in the Legislature when Edmonton-Norwood MLA Gary Masyk crossed the floor in June 2004.[9]

His win was historic as he became the first person elected under a fourth party banner in the Alberta Legislature since 1986.

Leadership election

Former Alberta Alliance leader Randy Thorsteinson stepped down as leader of the party shortly after the 2004 provincial election.

Hinman was one of four candidates who ran in the 2005 Alberta Alliance Party leadership election. The other three candidates were Ed Klop, Marilyn Burns and David Crutcher.

After a vigorous campaign, Hinman won the election on the third ballot at the leadership convention held on November 19, 2005 in Red Deer, Alberta to take over the party from interim leader Eleanor Maroes.

Wildrose Alliance

Under Hinman's leadership, the Alberta Alliance and the upstart Wildrose Party of Alberta merged to unite the right wing of the political spectrum in Alberta at a convention held on January 19, 2008 in Calgary.

In the 2008 provincial election, held just weeks after the merger convention, Hinman lost to his Progressive Conservative opponent, Broyce Jacobs by 39 votes. The party improved its popular vote in the riding although Hinman only campaigned in the riding for five days.[10] The party also improved its popular vote in most of the other ridings where it ran candidates, but was unable to pick up any seats.

Hinman received accolades during the campaign for his performance in the televised leaders debate.

A year later, Hinman stepped down as leader of the Wildrose Alliance Party, triggering a leadership convention on October 2009 in Edmonton. Hinman remained interim leader of the Alliance until the election of Danielle Smith as party leader on October 17.[11] Like Smith, he is a libertarian.[12]

Calgary-Glenmore by-election

On May 15, 2009 Calgary-Glenmore MLA Ron Stevens announced his resignation to accept a position as a judge. Hinman ran in the ensuing by-election, seeking to return to the legislature from a riding where he had grown up and where he was currently living.[13] Hinman was selected as the Wildrose Alliance candidate at a well-attended nomination meeting and subsequently won the by-election with 37% of the vote.

Alberta provincial by-election, September 14, 2009: Calgary-Glenmore
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Wildrose Alliance	Paul Hinman	4,052	36.87	28.80
	Liberal	Avalon Roberts	3,774	34.34	1.17
	Progressive Conservative	Diane Colley-Urquhart	2,847	25.90	−24.77
	New Democratic	Eric Carpendale	148	1.34	−2.42
	Social Credit	Len Skowronski	99	0.90
	Independent	Antoni Grochowski	71	0.65
Total			10,991
Rejected, spoiled and declined			35
Eligible electors / turnout			28,164	39.15
	Wildrose Alliance gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		14.99
Source: "Report on the September 14, 2009 Calgary-Glenmore By-Election" (PDF). Elections Alberta. November 20, 2009. Retrieved January 29, 2012.

Leadership of the United Conservative Party

On September 8, 2017, Danielle Smith of NewsTalk770, announced that Paul Hinman is running for Leader of the new, United Conservative Party.

References

1. Gilligan, Melissa (July 17, 2020). "Paul Hinman named interim leader of Alberta's new Wildrose Independence Party". Global News. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
2. Morgan, Cory (July 17, 2020). "Paul Hinman is just the man the Wildrose Independence Party needs". Western Standard. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
3. "Alberta Votes 2008 Paul Hinman". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
4. "Hinman to run in Calgary byelection" (PDF). Lethbridge Herald. 25 June 2009. p. A2.
5. "Our Leader - Paul Hinman". Wildrose Alliance Party. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
6. "Paul Hinman - Famous Mormons". famousmormons.net. Retrieved 2018-07-05.
7. Campbell, Joel (2009-04-30). "Global media spotlight successes of Mormons". DeseretNews.com. Retrieved 2018-07-05.
8. "Paul Hinman wants to contest UCP leadership! He has till tonight to raise $57,500! I'm not making this up! - Alberta Politics". Alberta Politics. 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2018-07-05.
9. "Alberta lawmaker defects from Klein's Conservatives". CBC News. June 30, 2004. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
10. Renata D'Aliesio (May 7, 2009). "How Paul Hinman lost his seat in the legislature". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013.
11. "Smith elected Wildrose Party leader". CBC News. 2009-10-17. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
12. Braid, Don (16 September 2009). "Plain-spoken Hinman refreshed after time away". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 30 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
13. "Meet Paul Hinman". Wildrose Alliance. Archived from the original on August 10, 2009. Retrieved September 21, 2009.

External links

• Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
• Wildrose Alliance Party website