Charles Dent (born July 20, 1951 in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

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 ...

) is a Canadian politician, is a former radio station manager, a volunteer fire fighter, a former municipal level politician and a long serving cabinet minister in the Northwest Territories territorial government.

Early life

Son of Aileen and

Ivor Dent Ivor Graham Dent, (February 7, 1924 – March 29, 2009) was a politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as mayor of Edmonton (1968-1974) and was a candidate for the House of Commons of Canada and the Legislative Assembly of Alberta on behal ...

. Ivor served as mayor of Edmonton 1968-1974 and the first president of the Alberta NDP, founded in 1962. Dent graduated from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

and moved to

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

, Northwest Territories, in 1976. He founded a radio station after he arrived in Yellowknife, CJCD-FM Mix 100. He managed that station until he was elected as an MLA in 1991. Dent began his political career on the Yellowknife city council. He held the position of alderman from 1984 to 1985 and became President of President of the NWT Association of Municipalities.

Politics

Dent ran for a seat in the Northwest Territories legislature in the 1991 Northwest Territories general election. He was re-elected in the

1995 Northwest Territories general election File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strikes ...

with a comfortable margin. He ran for a third term in office in the

1999 Northwest Territories general election The 1999 Northwest Territories general election was held on December 6, 1999. This was the first election under the new boundaries that were created when Nunavut was carved out of the Northwest Territories. 19 members were elected, five fewer than ...

winning just under half of the popular vote. He ran for his fourth and final term in office in the

2003 Northwest Territories general election The 2003 Northwest Territories general election was held on November 24, 2003, to elect the 19 members of the Legislative Assembly. The election was called on October 27. Premier Stephen Kakfwi had previously chosen not to run. The territory op ...

. During his time in the Legislature he served numerous portfolios in the cabinet including. Government House Leader, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Minister of Human Resources, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, Minister Responsible for Seniors, and Minister Responsible for Persons with Disabilities. He did not run for a fifth term in 2007.

References

External links

Charles Dent biography
1951 births Living people Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories People from Yellowknife Politicians from Edmonton University of Alberta alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians {{NorthwestTerritories-politician-stub