Brent M. Rathgeber (born July 24, 1964) is a lawyer, author and politician from
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada. He was a
Progressive Conservative member of the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...
from 2001 to 2004 and 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 the
2008 federal election as a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
. He resigned from the Conservative caucus in 2013 and sat as an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
. He ran as an independent candidate in the riding of
St. Albert—Edmonton
St. Albert—Edmonton is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2015.
St. Albert—Edmonton was created by the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution and was ...
in the
2015 federal election but was defeated by Conservative candidate
Michael Cooper
Michael Jerome Cooper (born April 15, 1956) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the boys varsity coach at Culver City High School. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning ...
.
In 2016, Rathgeber returned to the business world as a political consultant. He joined Cody Law Office in
St. Albert, providing a full range of legal services, advocacy and consulting.
Early life
Rathgeber was born in
Melville, Saskatchewan
Melville is a small city in the east-central portion of Saskatchewan, Canada. The city is northeast of the provincial capital of Regina and southwest of Yorkton. Melville is bordered by the rural municipalities of Cana No. 214 and Stanley No ...
. After graduating from Melville Comprehensive School in 1982, He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the
University of Saskatchewan
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
.
Career
Alberta MLA (2001–2004)
Rathgeber won election to the provincial electoral district of
Edmonton Calder
Edmonton-Calder was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting from 1971 to 1993 and again from 1996 to 2019.
His ...
in the
2001 Alberta general election
The 2001 Alberta general election was held on March 12, 2001 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
The incumbent Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, led by Ralph Klein, won a strong majority for its tenth consecutive term i ...
after defeating
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
incumbent
Lance White.
In the
2004 Alberta general election
The 2004 Alberta general election was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
The election was called on October 25, 2004. Premier Ralph Klein decided to go to the polls earlier than the legislated dead ...
, after only serving one term in office, he was defeated by
David Eggen
David Manson Eggen (born 1962) is a Canadians, Canadian politician. He is a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, in 2019 he was elected as the member representing Edmonton North West. He previously served three terms as the member re ...
of the
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* t ...
.
House of Commons (2008–2015)
Rathgeber stood as 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 ...
candidate for the federal electoral district of
Edmonton—St. Albert
Edmonton—St. Albert was a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2015.
Geography
The riding included the city of St. Albert, Alberta, St. A ...
in the 2008 election and was elected with 61.6 per cent of the vote. He was re-elected in the 2011 federal election.
Regarding supply management, Rathgeber said "One can occasionally be critical of the Government without being disloyal. I proudly serve in the Conservative (Government) Caucus but do not leave the viewpoints of my constituents behind every time I board a plane to Ottawa. It is natural for me to question Supply Management, since I represent 140,000 consumers but not a single dairy farmer. Similarly, all of my adult constituents are taxpayers but only a tiny fraction work for the federal government; as a result, I believe it is appropriate that I question public pensions (including my own) and demand respect for taxpayer dollars generally."
Rathgeber has voiced his support for motion 312, which says Canada should re-examine when human life begins.
Rathgeber blogged in 2012 that voters complained to him about the
limousine
A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment.
A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a prof ...
expenses of Tory cabinet ministers when he travelled to Saskatchewan for a funeral.
On 5 June 2013, Rathgeber announced that he had resigned from the Conservative Caucus due to what he believed to be the "Government's lack of commitment to transparency and open government."
In November 2014, Rathgeber was awarded the honour of "Member of Parliament who best represents his constituents" by ''Maclean's'' magazine. This award was voted on by all Members of Parliament and recognized his ability to represent constituents more effectively when freed from party positions and discipline.
In the 2015 federal election, he ran as an independent in
St. Albert—Edmonton
St. Albert—Edmonton is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2015.
St. Albert—Edmonton was created by the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution and was ...
, a reconfigured version of his old riding. He finished third, with 19.7 percent of the vote, behind Conservative candidate,
Michael Cooper
Michael Jerome Cooper (born April 15, 1956) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the boys varsity coach at Culver City High School. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning ...
.
Post-parliamentary career
Rathgeber wrote a column for ''
iPolitics
''iPolitics'' is a Canadian digital newspaper, which covers stories in Canadian politics. The site was launched in 2010 by founding editor and publisher James Baxter, and offers daily coverage of political news, a quarterly print magazine, politic ...
''.
Bibliography
* ''Irresponsible Government: The Decline of Parliamentary Democracy in Canada'' (September 2014)
Dundurn Press
Dundurn Press is one of the largest Canadian-owned book publishing companies of adult and children's fiction and non-fiction. The company publishes Canadian literature, history, biography, politics and arts. Dundurn has about 2500 books in print, ...
The book contrasts the current state of Canadian democracy to the founding principles of responsible government established by the Fathers of Confederation in 1867. It examines the consequences of the inability or disincentive of modern elected representatives to perform their constitutionally mandated duty to hold the Prime Minister and his cabinet to account and the resultant disregard with which the executive now views Parliament. A chapter is devoted to ''Withholding the power: Canada's broken
Access to Information laws''.
Electoral record
Provincial elections
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rathgeber, Brent
1964 births
Living people
Conservative Party of Canada MPs
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta
Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs
Independent MPs in the Canadian House of Commons
People from Melville, Saskatchewan
Politicians from Edmonton
University of Saskatchewan alumni
Canadian political writers
Writers from Edmonton
Writers from Saskatchewan
21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers
Independent candidates in the 2015 Canadian federal election
University of Saskatchewan College of Law alumni