Ricardo Miranda (born August 22, 1976) is a Canadian politician and trade unionist who was elected to 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 ...

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 ...

representing 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 ...

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 ...

. On February 2, 2016, Miranda was appointed Alberta's Minister of Culture and Tourism.

Before Politics

In 1988, Miranda left war-torn Nicaragua immigrating to Canada as a refugee when he was just 10-years-old. He graduated from

Father Lacombe High School Father Lacombe High School is a Catholic senior high school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, named after Father Albert Lacombe. It has classes for grades 10 to 12 and is located in the southeast quadrant community of Radisson Heights, Calgary. Academ ...

in Calgary, and went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree from the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

. Miranda engaged for several years in activism for various workers' rights organizations. While employed as a flight attendant for Air Canada, he was elected president of his local union, one of the largest within the

Canadian Union of Public Employees The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE; french: Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique, links=no; french: SCFP, link=, label=none) is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector – although it has in recent years organized workpl ...

. He went on to work for CUPE as a researcher in the Alberta office of CUPE National, where he met and worked with Louis Arab, husband of the incumbent premier and Alberta NDP leader the Hon.

Rachel Notley Rachel Anne Notley (born April 17, 1964) is a Canadian politician who served as the 17th premier of Alberta from 2015 to 2019, and has been the leader of the Opposition since 2019. She sits as the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for E ...

. As a CUPE researcher, Miranda also contributed to public policy as a board member of the

Parkland Institute The Parkland Institute is an Alberta-wide, non-partisan research institute, situated within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. The Institute studies economic, social, cultural, and political issues using the intellectual approach of ...

, an Edmonton-based public policy

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

based in the Faculty of Arts 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 ...

Political career

Miranda's entry into politics came after encouragement by Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley, who suggested he may run for the Alberta NDP party. Previously, Miranda had served as a member of various committees, including the Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund and the Select Special Ethics and Accountability Committee. He also served as chair of the Standing Committee on Alberta's Economic Future. He was elected as an MLA in the

, becoming one of the first three openly

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

politicians elected to the provincial legislature, alongside caucus colleagues Michael Connolly and

Estefania Cortes-Vargas Estefan Cortes-Vargas (born Estefania Cortes-Vargas, 1991) is a Colombian-born Canadian politician and non-profit administrator who was elected in the 2015 Alberta general election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the elector ...

. In February 2016, Miranda was appointed as Alberta's Minister of Culture and Tourism in a provincial government headed by Notley. He was defeated in the 2019 provincial election.

Personal life

Miranda is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. In addition to belonging to a sexual minority group, Miranda has variously spoken publicly about the difficulties of his early life fleeing war and persecution, and has been the voice of Judaism in the legislature, rising to inform on the occasion of various Jewish holidays. Miranda became Alberta's first cabinet minister to be married in a

same-sex wedding Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

. In a marriage ceremony held on December 28, 2018 in Calgary's

Glenbow Museum The Glenbow Museum is an art and history regional museum in the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The museum focuses on Western Canadian history and culture, including Indigenous perspectives. The Glenbow was established as a private non-profi ...

, Miranda married boyfriend and partner Christopher Brown. He had met Brown early in 2018. The marriage ceremony of Miranda and Brown was officiated by Alberta Premier

."Alberta premier officiates cabinet minister's historic same-sex wedding"

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

, December 30, 2018.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miranda, Ricardo 1976 births Living people Alberta New Democratic Party MLAs Canadian LGBT people in provincial and territorial legislatures Gay politicians Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Politicians from Calgary University of Calgary alumni People from Managua Nicaraguan emigrants to Canada Nicaraguan Jews 21st-century Canadian politicians Jewish Canadian politicians