Rajnish K. "Raj" Sherman (born 1965) is a Canadian politician from

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and former

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

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 ...

for

Edmonton-Meadowlark Edmonton Meadowlark 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 1971 to 2019. The electoral district loc ...

; which he formerly represented as a Progressive Conservative. Sherman was elected leader of the Liberal Party on September 10, 2011, and led the party through the 2012 provincial election. He announced his immediate resignation on January 26, 2015, and that he will not be running for a third term as MLA in the next provincial election.

Early life

Sherman was born in 1965 in India but grew up in Squamish, British Columbia after moving there in 1975. As a youngster, he delivered newspapers for ''

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published si ...

'' and ''

The Province ''The Province'' is a daily newspaper published in tabloid format in British Columbia by Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, alongside the ''Vancouver Sun'' broadsheet newspaper. Together, they are British Columbia's only ...

''. The third of four sons, Sherman moved to Canada from India at a young age. He moved to Edmonton in the early 1980s to attend 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 ...

. He graduated from faculty of medicine in 1990, specializing in family and emergency medicine. In addition to being a doctor, Sherman was also a clinical lecturer at the University of Alberta and president of the Emergency Physicians of Alberta within the Alberta Medical Association.

Political career

Sherman first sought public office in the March 2008 provincial election in the constituency of

. The seat was left vacant after incumbent Liberal MLA Maurice Tougas retired. Sherman, running as a Progressive Conservative candidate, won the riding comfortably, receiving 2,752 votes over his closest rival, Liberal Debbie Cavaliere. After his election, he was named parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health and Wellness,

Ron Liepert Ronald Liepert (born October 8, 1949) is a Canadian politician who serves as the Member of Parliament for Calgary Signal Hill in the House of Commons of Canada. He previously served in the Cabinet of Alberta as Minister of Finance, Energy, Heal ...

. He also served as a member of the Standing Committee on Health and the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing. He works as an

emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...

doctor on Sundays. In November 2010, Sherman criticized the government for emergency department wait times in Alberta. He was suspended from the Progressive Conservative caucus and sat as an independent MLA. The following spring, he announced his intention to seek the Alberta Liberal Party leadership. At the 2011 leadership convention, he was elected on the first ballot. In the 2012 Alberta election, Sherman was successful in retaining his seat of Edmonton-Meadowlark with 35.5% of the vote, this time as a member of the Liberal Party. He defeated PC candidate

Bob Maskell Robert Maskell (May 27, 1940 – April 14, 2021) was a teacher and provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 2001 until 2004. Early life Maskell earned a Bachelor of Educa ...

by 118 votes (0.8%). In the election, the Liberals fell from Official Opposition to third party status behind the PCs and Wildrose. Despite losing almost 17% of the popular vote in a very hotly contested election, the vote was concentrated in enough ridings to retain 5 of their previous MLA's and keep ahead of the NDP. The Liberals lost

Edmonton-Riverview Edmonton Riverview is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. Created in the 1997 boundary r ...

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 ...

and

Calgary-Varsity Calgary-Varsity is a provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The district was created in 1993 and returns a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. It comprises the communities of Varsity, Dalhousie, Brentwood ...

to the Progressive Conservatives due to tactical votingand the retirement of the incumbent MLAs. Sherman announced his immediate resignation as Liberal leader on January 26, 2015, citing personal reasons and also announced that he will not run for re-election as an MLA but would remain in the legislature until the next election. Sherman was under investigation by Elections Alberta after allegations he breached political contribution limits by donating more than $15,000 to the party and resigned prior to the results of the investigation being released. In 2022, he attempted to enter the United Conservative Party leadership election. He requested an exemption to run in the race for not being a party member for 6 months, however it was rejected by the UCP Leadership Election Committee.

Personal life

Sherman has coached soccer and basketball, served as the director for the Society of Helping Lives in Poverty, and is a past member of the McKernan housing community. He received a gold pin for his service with

STARS A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

and a bronze medal from the Alberta Northwest Lifesaving Society. In his spare time, Sherman enjoys sports, travel and the arts. While in medical school, Sherman married at the age of 21 and had two children. The marriage ended several years later in part, Sherman says, because as a young doctor he "was never home."

Election results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherman, Raj Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Living people Anglo-Indian people Canadian Hindus Independent Alberta MLAs Politicians from Edmonton Alberta Liberal Party MLAs 1965 births 21st-century Canadian politicians Canadian politicians of Indian descent Canadian people of Anglo-Indian descent