Gary W. Bikman (born November 13, 1943) is a Canadian politician who was previously an elected member to 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 sin ...

representing the electoral district of

Cardston-Taber-Warner Cardston-Taber-Warner 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 1996 and 2019. The district was created ...

. Prior to his election to the legislature, Bikman served on the town council of

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, including stints as mayor, deputy mayor and councillor since 1980. Bikman was born and raised in southern Alberta. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

in Provo,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. Bikman has extensive business experience, having successfully owned and managed an oilfield service company for 25 years. He cofounded and led ChopStix Restaurants from 2006 to 2010 and ChopStix International Franchising from 2010 to 2012. Bikman has been a sessional instructor at the University of Lethbridge's faculty of management and at Lethbridge College. He has also served intermittently as a member of the Chinook Arch Regional Library Board and as a scout leader in the village of Stirling. Bikman has been a critic of the Alberta government's decision to cut funding supports for persons with developmental disabilities in the 2013-2014 budget. After the 2012 election, he faced some controversy when, in an interview with

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...

shortly after the election, he attributed his party's defeat to urban voters, who largely remained loyal to the governing Progressive Conservatives, possessing less "

common sense ''Common Sense'' is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political arg ...

" than the rural voters who turned to the Wildrose Party. Bikman was first elected in the 2012 provincial election, as part of the

Wildrose Party The Wildrose Party (legally Wildrose Political Association, formerly the ''Wildrose Alliance Political Association'') was a conservative provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. The party was formed by the merger in early 2008 of the Albe ...

caucus. On December 17, 2014, he was one of nine Wildrose MLAs who crossed the floor to join the Progressive Conservative caucus. Bikman failed to earn the PC nomination as a candidate of his riding for the May 5, 2015 election.

Electoral history

References

External links

Gary Bikman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bikman, Gary Wildrose Party MLAs Living people People from Lethbridge People from Stirling, Alberta Mayors of places in Alberta Canadian Latter Day Saints 1943 births Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Brigham Young University alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians Canadian expatriates in the United States