Raymond Frank "Ray" Prins (born April 15, 1951) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician and was a 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 sin ...

, representing the constituency of

Lacombe-Ponoka Lacombe-Ponoka is a provincial electoral district in central Alberta, Canada created in 2003. The district is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly. History The electoral district was created in the 2003 boundary redis ...

as a Progressive Conservative.

Early life

Prins was born April 15, 1951 in

Lacombe, Alberta Lacombe ( ) is a city in central Alberta, Canada. It is located approximately north of Red Deer, the nearest major city, and south of Edmonton, the nearest metropolitan area. The city is set in the rolling parkland of central Alberta, between t ...

. After high school, he worked a variety of agriculture and construction jobs, including two years in oilfield construction northeast of

Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories Tuktoyaktuk , or ''Tuktuyaaqtuuq'' (Inuvialuktun: ''it looks like a caribou''), is an Inuvialuit hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, at the northern terminus of the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway.Montgomery, ...

, and a year in refinery maintenance in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. In 1974, Prins bought a farm near

Gull Lake, Alberta Gull Lake is a summer village located on the southern shore of Gull Lake, located approximately southeast of the Town of Rimbey in central Alberta, Canada. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the S ...

where he grew grain and hay, and raised cattle, hogs, elk and bison.

Political career

Prins was elected to a second term representing the constituency of

in the 2008 provincial election, where he received 58 per cent of the vote. The constituency race garnered national media attention with

Alberta Greens The Alberta Greens, also known as the Green Party of Alberta, was a provincial political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. The Alberta Greens were formed in 1986 and received official party status on April 6, 1990. The party was affili ...

candidate Joe Anglin thought by many to be the Alberta Green's best chance at earning its first seat in a provincial legislature. Anglin took 23 per cent of the March 2008 vote. Prins was, up to March 2012, the chair of the Policy Field Committee on Resources and Environment, and the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing. He resigned from this position, soon after it was revealed that the committee had never met, yet the committee members were receiving pay for being on the committee. On March 20, 2012, Prins also announced he would not seek re-election. He was also a member of the Treasury Board and the Cabinet Policy Committee on Resources and the Environment. Prins was first elected in 2004, when he received 53 per cent of the vote in his constituency. Since being elected, Prins has sat on numerous committees. He has chaired the Seniors Advisory Council, MLA Task Force for Seniors, the Review of Local Authorities Election Act and Rural Development Strategy. He has also served as deputy chair of the Public Accounts Committee. Prior to entering provincial politics, Prins was reeve of Lacombe County from 2001 to 2004. He was a founding member of the North Red Deer River Regional Water Services Commission (2004), a process he saw to completion as an MLA. He has also served as chair of the Lacombe County Agricultural Service Board.

Personal life

He is a member of Woodynook Christian Reformed Church in

Blackfalds, Alberta Blackfalds is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located along Highway 2A 13.5 km north of Red Deer. The town's name, Waghorn (for Walter Waghorn, post master), changed in 1903 to Blackfalds, after Blackfalds, a Scottish hamlet. Dem ...

, past chair of the Lacombe Christian School Board and former vice-chair of King’s University College Board of Governors. Prins has volunteered on community developing trips to

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

. He also participated in a project building water systems throughout rural

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

, where he was named an honorary Kuranko tribesman.

Election results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prins, Ray 1951 births Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Living people 21st-century Canadian politicians