Moe Amery (né Amiri; September 20, 1954) is a former member of 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 ...
, who represented the constituency of
Calgary-East
Calgary-East (formally styled Calgary East) is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
Calgary-East has existed twice, the first incarnatio ...
as a
Progressive Conservative.
Early life
Amery was born Moe Amiri (he changed his name sometime between 1989 and 1993) in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
on September 20, 1954, and came to Canada in 1974.
He studied at the
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...
from 1975 until 1977, after which time he relocated to Calgary to become a realtor until his election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in 1993.
Provincial Politics
Electoral record
Amery's first two bids for elected office were unsuccessful; he sought provincial election in
Calgary-Forest Lawn in the
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
and
1989 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 1989.
Africa
* 1989 Beninese parliamentary election
* 1989 Botswana general election
* 1989 Equatorial Guinean presidential election
* 1989 People's Republic of the Congo parliamentary election
* ...
, but was defeated both times, finishing second to
New Democrat
New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...
Barry Pashak
Leonard Barry Pashak (April 21, 1937February 3, 2021) was a Canadian college instructor and politician. He served as member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta (MLA) from 1986 to 1993, sitting with the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) ...
each time.
He was more successful in
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
, when he more than doubled Pashak's vote count in the newly formed
Calgary-East
Calgary-East (formally styled Calgary East) is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
Calgary-East has existed twice, the first incarnatio ...
.
He was handily re-elected in each of the
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
,
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
,
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
, and
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; ...
elections.
Legislative initiatives
In 1994, Amery introduced two different bills called the ''Maintenance Enforcement Amendment Act''. The first, a
private member's bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...
, would have made it impossible for individuals in arrears on child support payments to register their vehicles or renew their drivers' licenses. The second, a government bill, included the objectives of the first, but also took other measures, including ending a provision by which money held in a joint bank account could not be drawn upon to satisfy child support payments owed by one of the account-holders.
The government bill passed with the support of the Progressive Conservatives and some
Liberals, including
Sine Chadi
Sine Kassim Chadi (born February 13, 1956) is a Canadian businessman, philanthropist and former politician. He is currently CEO and Chairman of Imperial Equities Inc. a publicly traded company on the TSX Venture Exchange. Chadi has been the CE ...
and
Michael Henry.
Other Liberals - including
Gary Dickson
Robert Gary Dickson is a lawyer and former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the first Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner.
Dickson was initially elected as a member of the Alberta Liberal Party in a 1992 by-elect ...
,
Debby Carlson
Debby Carlson (born April 5, 1957) is a former Liberal MLA in Alberta, who represented the electoral district of Edmonton Ellerslie from 1993 to 2004.
Carlson won her seat in southeast Edmonton's Ellerslie area, and held it in the 1993, 1997, ...
,
Bettie Hewes
Elizabeth Jane "Bettie" Hewes (March 12, 1924 – November 6, 2001) was a politician from Alberta, Canada.
Hewes graduated from the University of Toronto in 1944 with a degree in occupational therapy. From 1964 to 1967, she was the executiv ...
,
Mike Percy,
Percy Wickman
Percy Dwight Wickman (June 10, 1941 – July 3, 2004) was a Canadian politician and well-known activist for people with disabilities. He was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Wickman served as an alderman on Edmonton City Council from 1977 to 198 ...
,
Ken Nicol,
Nicholas Taylor, and
Colleen Soetaert - opposed the bill on the grounds that it didn't go far enough in taking measures to recover payments, promoted animosity in an already adversarial process, and was written with insufficient consultation with the recently privatized registries centres.
After the government bill passed, the private member's bill was ruled redundant by Speaker
Stanley Schumacher
Stanley Stanford Schumacher (12 June 1933 – 10 October 2020) was a politician from Alberta, Canada. He was speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and a member of the House of Commons of Canada.
Early life
Stanley Stanford Schuma ...
.
Amery has introduced a number of private member's bills designed to extend
primary education
Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...
to include
kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...
, requiring school boards to provide it and making attendance compulsory. The first two of these - both called the ''School Amendment Act'', sponsored in 1995 and 1997 - failed to reach second reading before the legislature adjourned. Amery's third attempt, the ''School (Early Childhood Services) Amendment Act'', was defeated on second reading.
Liberals were unanimous in their support of the bill, pointing to similar bills that had previously been sponsored by Liberal MLAs
Grant Mitchell and
Michael Henry.
Several of Amery's Progressive Conservative Colleagues, including
Mary O'Neill Mary O'Neill may refer to:
* Mary O'Neill (Canadian politician), member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
* Mary Devenport O'Neill, American poet
* Mary O'Neill (fencer), American Olympic fencer
* Mary-Anne O'Neill, Australian politician
See a ...
,
Albert Klapstein,
and
Wayne Cao,
also lent their support.
However, the bill was defeated on second reading with a majority of the P.C. caucus voting against.
Victor Doerksen
Victor Doerksen (born November 25, 1953) is a politician, accountant and former cabinet minister in Alberta, Canada.
Early life
Doerksen was born in Bassano, Alberta, Bassano, Alberta on November 25, 1953. He was employed by the Bank of Montrea ...
, the only Conservative to speak in opposition to the bill, expressed concern that instituting mandatory attendance at the kindergarten level constituted an infringement on parental autonomy.
New Democrat
New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...
Raj Pannu
Rajinder Singh "Raj" Pannu (born January 12, 1934) is a Canadians, Canadian educator and politician, who led the Alberta New Democratic Party from 2000 to 2004.
Pannu was born in Punjab, India, Punjab, India completing an undergraduate degree b ...
, the only member of his caucus present for the vote, also opposed the bill, on the grounds that it would allow private groups to provide kindergarten with the approval of the Minister of Learning.
In 1996, Amery sponsored the ''Wildlife Amendment Act'',
a government bill that created a scientific committee to make recommendations on the designation of endangered and threatened species, expanded fish and wildlife agents' abilities to check for infractions of firearms regulations by hunters, and downloaded several government powers that had previously resided with the
Lieutenant Governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
by
Order in Council
An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' Ki ...
to the Minister of Environmental Protection. Some Liberals, including
Duco Van Binsbergen
Duco Van Binsbergen (December 17, 1936 – April 4, 2009) was a provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1993 to 1997.
Political career
Van Binsbergen was elected to the ...
and
Bruce Collingwood
Bruce John Collingwood (May 16, 1953 – August 28, 2017) was a provincial-level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1993 to 1997.
Political career
Collingwood was elected to the Alb ...
, raised concerns that the bill didn't go far enough, but it was passed into law.
Committee duties
Amery has sat on numerous committees since being elected. In addition to his regular responsibilities as an MLA, he has served as chair of the Environmental Protection Advisory Committee and co-chair of the Secondary Suites Committee as well as a member of the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing, the Standing Committee on Private Bills, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, the Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, the Standing Committee on Government Services, the Standing Policy Committee on Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, the Standing Policy Committee on Energy and Sustainable Development, and the Cabinet Policy Committee on Community Services in addition to serving as a member of the International Governance Office Advisory Committee, the Glenbow-Museum Advisory Committee, the MLA Committee To Review Low-income Programs, and the MLA Implementation Team on the Future Selection of RHA Members. He was also the MLA representative on the City of Calgary's 2005 World Fair bid. Currently, Amery serves as a member of the Standing Committee on the Economy, the Standing Committee on Private Bills, and the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing.
Political views
Amery has broken with his party on several occasions regarding issues that mattered to his constituents. In March 2006 he was critical of the
Ralph Klein
Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...
government for insufficiently funding school maintenance after the roof of a school in his riding collapsed. In 2007 and during the
2008 election campaign, he advocated
rent controls
Rent regulation is a system of laws, administered by a court or a public authority, which aims to ensure the affordability of housing and tenancies on the rental market for dwellings. Generally, a system of rent regulation involves:
*Price cont ...
to deal with the tight housing market in urban Alberta, although the position of the
Ed Stelmach
Edward Michael Stelmach (; born May 11, 1951) is a Canadian politician and served as the 13th premier of Alberta, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and fluently speaks ...
government was that they would be unhelpful.
Passport incident
In 2002, the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
began investigating whether Amery acted as
guarantor
In finance, a surety , surety bond or guaranty involves a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. Usually, a surety bond or surety is a promise by a surety or guarantor to pa ...
for the
passport
A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...
application of a constituent who he had not known for the required two years.
He was charged with doing so in 2004.
The case went to trial in March 2005, when Amery alleged that, by telling him not to use character references from his colleagues, P.C.
whip
A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...
Denis Ducharme
Denis Archie Ducharme (born March 14, 1955, in Bonnyville, Alberta, Canada) is a former Albertan MLA. From April 6 until December 15, 2006, he also served as Minister of Community Development. He did not seek re-election in the 2008 election. ...
undermined "Amery's ability to make full answer and defence". The charges were ultimately stayed.
Federal politics
In December 2017, Amery announced that he would challenge sitting
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 ...
MP
Deepak Obhrai
Deepak Obhrai (July 5, 1950 – August 2, 2019) was a Tanzania-born Canadian politician, representing the riding of Calgary East (until 2015) and Forest Lawn (from 2015) for the Reform Party of Canada and then the Conservative Party of Canada ...
for the nomination in
Calgary Forest Lawn
Calgary Forest Lawn is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2015.
Calgary Forest Lawn was created by the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution and was de ...
.
Personal life
Amery is married to Mary, and the couple has five children:
Mickey
Mickey is a given name and nickname, almost always masculine and often a short form (hypocorism) of Michael (given name), Michael, and occasionally a surname. Notable people and characters with the name include:
People Given name or nickname Men ...
, Lila, Leena, Laura, and Malaak. Mickey was elected as the Member of the Alberta Legislature in the 2019 election in the riding of
Calgary-Cross
Calgary-Cross is a current provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Created in 1993, the district is one of List of Alberta provincial electoral districts, 87 dis ...
.
He has been involved in his community, including the community associations in Calgary-East.
He identifies
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
as his political hero.
Election results
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amery, Moe
1954 births
Businesspeople from Calgary
Canadian real estate agents
Lebanese emigrants to Canada
Living people
Politicians from Calgary
Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs
Canadian politicians of Lebanese descent
21st-century Canadian politicians
Place of birth missing (living people)