David Khan (born May 17, 1974) is a Canadian politician, was the leader of the

Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral de l'Alberta) is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election ...

from 2017 to 2020. Prior to running for leader, Khan served as the party's executive vice-president. He was elected leader on June 4, 2017.

Political positions

Khan does not support co-operation with the

Alberta Party The Alberta Party, formally the Alberta Party Political Association, is a political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. The party describes itself as a centrist and pragmatic in that is not dogmatically ideological in its approach to politi ...

, but does support forging closer ties with the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...

. Khan's leadership platform included a

basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...

pilot project, elimination of the small business tax,

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

for the

Legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

, more free votes for MLAs, bringing private schools into the public system, and establishing universal pharmacare for those under 24.

Personal life

Born in Calgary, Khan's father was an immigrant to Canada from Pakistan while his mother is

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. Professionally, Khan is a lawyer who practices indigenous law and is fluently bilingual in both

and French. He is the first openly gay leader of a major Alberta political party.

Election results

He was previously the party's 2014 by-election candidate in

Calgary-West Calgary-West (formerly styled Calgary West from 1957 to 1971) is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. The electoral riding of Calgary West is one of the two original Calgary ridings of the seven that ...

and 2015 provincial election candidate in

Calgary-Buffalo Calgary-Buffalo is a current provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of ...

, finishing third both times. Khan was also the Liberal candidate in the December 14, 2017 by-election in

Calgary-Lougheed Calgary-Lougheed is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. It is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting. The district is primaril ...

. He again placed third, behind

United Conservative Party The United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) is a conservative political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. It was established in July 2017 as a merger between the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Wildrose Party. ...

leader

Jason Kenney Jason Thomas Kenney (born May 30, 1968) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 18th premier of Alberta from 2019 until 2022 and the leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) from 2017 until 2022. He also served as the member of ...

and the

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

candidate. Under his leadership, the Alberta Liberal Party experienced its worst results in history in the 2019 provincial election.

2019 general election

2017 by-election

2015 general election

2014 by-election

References

External links

David Khan
Living people 21st-century Canadian politicians Alberta Liberal Party candidates in Alberta provincial elections Gay politicians Lawyers in Alberta Leaders of the Alberta Liberal Party LGBT politicians from Canada Politicians from Calgary Canadian politicians of Pakistani descent Canadian people of English descent 1970s births 21st-century LGBT people {{Alberta-politician-stub