Kaycee Madu

Kelechi "Kaycee" Madu (born ) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has served as the deputy premier of Alberta and minister of skilled trades and professions since October 24, 2022. A member of the United Conservative Party (UCP), Madu has represented Edmonton-South West in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta since the 2019 provincial election. He was previously Alberta's minister of municipal affairs from 2019 to 2020, before becoming minister of justice and solicitor general of Alberta in 2020. Madu is the first Black person to serve as a provincial minister of justice in Canada.

Madu was shuffled to the labour and immigration portfolio in 2022 after a probe into a phone call he made to Edmonton's Chief of Police after receiving a traffic ticket. The probe found that Madu had not interfered in the administration of justice, but that his phone call to the chief of police created a "reasonable perception of interference".

Early life

Madu was born and raised in Southeastern Nigeria, and attended the University of Lagos graduating with a Bachelor of Laws, and being called to the bar in Nigeria. He immigrated to Edmonton in 2005 with his wife Emem for her postgraduate studies at the University of Alberta.

Madu would work for Alberta Hospital, Legal Aid Alberta and the Government of Alberta in a number of different roles.

Political career

Kelechi Madu was an active member of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, organizing delegate selection meetings, and later supporting the merger of the party with the Wildrose Party in 2017. Madu would volunteer and support Jason Kenney during the 2017 PC leadership election and the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership election following the merger.

During the 2019 Alberta general election Madu would contest the constituency of Edmonton-South West, which was previously held by New Democratic Party MLA Thomas Dang, who chose to run in Edmonton-South following the 2017 electoral boundary redistribution. Madu would defeat four candidates capturing 10,245 votes (45%), above the next closest candidate John Archer, a former reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Brian Mason's press secretary, representing the NDP with 9,539 (42%). Madu would be the only United Conservative Party candidate elected within the boundaries of the city of Edmonton.

Minister of Municipal Affairs

On April 30, 2019, Madu was appointed to the Executive Council of Alberta as the Minister of Municipal Affairs, and held that role until August 25, 2020, when he was appointed Minister of Justice and Solicitor General.

Early in his mandate, Madu wrote an op-ed published in Postmedia newspapers titled ''Spending by Alberta's two big cities— is unsustainable'' which called on municipal leaders in Calgary City Council and Edmonton City Council to lower spending and reduce taxes, claiming the cities placed an "undue burden" on residents. The article was published on October 22, 2019, two days prior to the introduction of the provincial budget. Claims made in the op-ed were challenged by the Mayors of Calgary and Edmonton, including that the data supplied by Canadian Federation of Independent Business significantly overestimated the 10-year growth in municipal expenditures, and did not account for inflation.

During his time as Minister of Municipal Affairs, Madu was responsible for a number of controversial funding reductions to Alberta municipalities. Among those decisions, included the repealing of the ''City Charters Fiscal Framework Act'' which legislated provincial transfers to the Cities of Edmonton and Calgary; reductions to the Municipal Sustainability Initiative, an infrastructure financing program which was reduced cumulatively by $236-million over two years from 2020–21 to 2021–22; and reduction of the Grants in Place of Taxes program by 50%, which provides municipalities with grants which off-set the property tax requisitions for provincially owned buildings. Madu oversaw the beginning of property assessment valuation changes to oil and gas infrastructure, changing from a valuation based on the replacement cost, to the depreciated value of the asset, which led to the leaders of a number of rural municipalities in Alberta speaking out. According to ''CTV News'', municipalities in rural Alberta raised concerns that the proposed changes would "cost them millions" by reducing the property tax base by between $108-million to $291-million.

Madu introduced ''Local Authorities Election Amendment Act, 2020'' (Bill 29) to the Alberta Legislature in June 2020, which amended the legislation which outlines the rules for municipal and school board elections. The amendments to the ''Local Authorities Election Act'' removed the requirement for candidates to disclose their donors prior to election day, removed limits on spending by third-party advertisers outside the local election campaign period from May 1 to election day in October, and allowed individuals to donate up to $5,000 to as many candidates as they want during an election. The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, which represents urban municipal elected officials in Alberta released a statement shortly after the introduction of Bill 29, stating the relationship between Minister Madu and the association was "Broken". Bill 29 and other policy decisions were cited as the reason for the statement by the AUMA. One month following the statement, Premier Jason Kenney shuffled his Cabinet, moving Madu to Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, and promoting backbench MLA Tracy Allard to the role of Minister of Municipal Affairs.

On March 4, 2020, Kaycee Madu was designated as a Queen's Counsel by the lieutenant governor of Alberta via an Order-in-Council. Queen's Counsel is the highest honour awarded to lawyers who have made significant contributions to the advancement of law and society.

Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta

Madu was named Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta in August 2020. As the first Black person to serve in the role, as well as his work experience with the legal aid system, Madu's appointment was praised for bringing "much-needed perspective".

Lethbridge police

In March 2021, CBC News reported that the Lethbridge Police Service monitored the environment minister under the previous New Democratic government, among other scandals. This prompted Madu to give an April 16 deadline to the service to "address issues of recruiting, training, oversight, discipline, transparency and communications". Upon receipt of the service's submission, Madu indicated his disappointment. In January 2022, the service signed an agreement which would begin an inquiry surrounding the issues.

Traffic ticket incident

On March 10, 2021, Madu was stopped by the Edmonton Police Service and issued a traffic ticket for using his cellphone while driving in a school zone. Following the incident, Madu would call Chief of Police Dale McFee, raising concerns about the context of the stop, discussing people of colour being stopped by police and tension with the Lethbridge Police Service. McFee later stated that Madu did not ask for the ticket to be rescinded.

The incident was revealed on January 17, 2022 and prompted calls for Madu's resignation.

Madu was placed on a leave of absence later in the day by Premier Jason Kenney pending the conclusion of a probe into his conduct. In the interim, energy minister Sonya Savage assumed his position in an acting capacity.

An investigation into the matter by Alberta Court of Queen's Bench judge Adele Kent found that Madu had not interfered in the administration of justice, but that his phone call to the chief of police created a "reasonable perception of interference."

Minister of Labour and Immigration

On February 25, 2022, Madu was removed from his position as justice minister and demoted to minister of labour and immigration. Tyler Shandro, former labour and immigration minister, swapped roles with Madu and took over as justice minister.

Deputy Premier and Minister of Skilled Trades and Professions

On October 24, 2022, Madi was named deputy premier along with Nathan Neudorf by premier Danielle Smith.

Electoral history

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Madu, Kaycee
United Conservative Party MLAs
Living people
Black Canadian politicians
Politicians from Edmonton
21st-century Canadian politicians
Canadian people of Nigerian descent
Members of the Executive Council of Alberta
University of Lagos alumni
Lawyers in Alberta
1974 births