Marlin Schmidt (born October 16, 1978) is a Canadian politician who currently represents the

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

Edmonton-Gold Bar Edmonton-Gold Bar is a provincial electoral district, in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 in the province mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The d ...

in 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 singl ...

. First elected in the

2015 Alberta general election The 2015 Alberta general election was held on May 5, 2015, following a request of Premier Jim Prentice to the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Donald Ethell to dissolve the Legislative Assembly on April 7, 2015. This election elected members to th ...

, Schmidt served as the Minister of Advanced Education in the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

(NDP) government led by Rachel Notley. Prior to serving with the Legislative Assembly, Schmidt specialized in site remediation for over a decade. From 2008 to 2015 he worked for Alberta Environment as a soil and groundwater contamination specialist, and previous to this, he worked as a remediation specialist, beginning in 2002. He holds a master of science degree in applied environmental geosciences from

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

in Germany and a bachelor of science from

Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to: *Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK **Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950) **Queen's University of Belfast ...

in Kingston. Schmidt drew criticism in July 2020 for comments he made in the Legislature about the late British Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

. His remarks were in opposition to a bill proposed by the governing

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. ...

that modified the province's

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

laws, which Schmidt said Thatcher would have opposed. Schmidt went on to say that he "count on enjoying the fact that Margaret Thatcher is still dead" and regretted she had died "probably 30 years too late". The comments were deemed "totally inappropriate," by the Speaker of the Legislature, which prompted Schmidt to withdraw his comments and apologize.

Electoral history

2019 general election

2015 general election

2012 general election

References

1978 births Living people 21st-century Canadian politicians Alberta New Democratic Party MLAs Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Politicians from Edmonton Queen's University at Kingston alumni University of Tübingen alumni {{Alberta-politician-stub