Bob Benzen (born March 3, 1959) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician, who was elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

in a by-election on April 3, 2017."Byelection results: Liberal Mona Fortier, Conservative Bob Benzen projected to win"

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, April 3, 2017. He represents the electoral district of

Calgary Heritage Calgary Heritage is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2015. Calgary Heritage was created by the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution and was legally ...

as a member of the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

. He succeeded former Conservative

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

, who had resigned as an MP in 2016. Prior to his election, Benzen was a businessman specializing in data storage and information management for energy companies. Benzen was responsible for initiating

Erin O'Toole Erin Michael O'Toole (born January 22, 1973) is a Canadian politician who has been the member of Parliament (MP) for Durham since 2012. A member of the Conservative Party, O'Toole served as the party's leader and the leader of the Official ...

's removal as Conservative leader in 2022, after he submitted a letter from 36 Conservative MPs calling for a leadership review.

Politics

Benzen voted in support of Bill C-233, an act to amend the ''

Criminal Code of Canada The ''Criminal Code'' (french: Code criminel)The citation of this Act by these short titles is authorised by thEnglishantexts of section 1. is a law that codifies most criminal offences and procedures in Canada. Its official long title is ''A ...

'' (

sex-selective abortion Sex-selective abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of the infant. The selective abortion of female fetuses is most common where male children are valued over female children, especially in parts of Eas ...

), which would make it an indictable or summary offence for a medical practitioner to knowingly perform an abortion solely on the grounds of the child's genetic sex. Benzen voted against a bill that would prohibit forcing children or adults to undergo conversion therapy aimed at altering their sexual orientation, however, the bill was ultimately passed and conversion therapy in Canada was banned. On October 21, 2022, Benzen announced that he would retire from his role as MP on December 31, 2022.

Electoral record

References

External links

* 1959 births Businesspeople from Calgary Conservative Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Politicians from Calgary Living people 21st-century Canadian politicians {{Alberta-politician-stub