Chris Warkentin (born November 20, 1978) is a businessman and

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 ...

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.

Personal life

Warkentin was born in

Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...

and raised on the family farm east of Grande Prairie, near the Hamlet of

DeBolt DeBolt is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada within the Municipal District of Greenview No. 16. A variant name is Debolt. H. E. Debolt, an early postmaster, gave the community his last name. The hamlet is located in census division No. 18. ...

in the MD of Greenview. He is an alumnus of the

Peace River Bible Institute The Peace River Bible Institute is a degree-granting college recognized by the province of Alberta. PBRI's Bachelor of Religious Education course was recognized after its establishment in the 1980s by the American Association of Bible Colleges. Th ...

, and also studied business and marketing at

Grande Prairie Regional College Northwestern Polytechnic (NWP), formerly known as Grande Prairie Regional College (GPRC) is a community college in northwestern Alberta, Canada. The college's main campus is located in Grande Prairie, with a secondary campus in Fairview, and ma ...

before going on to own and operate a custom home building company. He has served on the board of his local

constituency association and was involved with the

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protes ...

and the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...

Political career

Warkentin 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 ...

as a

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 in the riding of

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

in the 2006 federal election, and was re-elected in that same riding in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. Following the redistribution of seats before the 2015 federal election, he was re-elected and currently serves as the Member of Parliament for the new riding of

Grande Prairie—Mackenzie Grande Prairie—Mackenzie is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in northwestern Alberta, Canadian federal electoral redistribution, 2012, created in 2012 from the Peace River (electoral district), Peace River district. I ...

. Warkentin has won every election he has contested with more than 56% of the vote, and a margin of more than 36 percentage points over the runner-up. Warkentin served as the Chair of the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Committee from 2011 to 2015. In February 2015, Warkentin was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada,

Diane Finley Diane Finley (born October 3, 1957) is a former Canadian politician. From 2006 through 2015, she served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Her ministerial portfolios included Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, M ...

. Following the defeat of the Conservative government in October 2015, Warkentin was appointed Official Opposition Critic for Agriculture. In September 2016, a shadow cabinet shuffle moved Warkentin to the role of Official Opposition Deputy House Leader.

Electoral record

References

External links

Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Warkentin, Chris 1978 births Conservative Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta People from Grande Prairie 21st-century Canadian politicians