Stephanie Veronica McLean is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who was 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 ...

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 ...

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-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 ...

. She is a graduate of 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 ...

's law school and was sworn in as the Minister of Status of Women and Minister of Service Alberta on February 2, 2016.

Political career

McLean made history when she became the first Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and first Minister in Alberta's history to give birth while in office. McLean gave birth to a baby boy, Patrick, on February 12, 2016. McLean's pregnancy sparked questions around the logistics and rules of the Alberta legislature around pregnancy, maternity leave, and support for new parents in the legislature. Her pregnancy spurred the creation of an all-party committee with a mandate to review and make recommendations on maternity leave and making the Legislature more responsive to members' family obligations. When asked why she thought it took until 2015 for the Alberta Legislature to have a pregnant MLA, McLean replied that for the first time in Alberta's history an unprecedented number of women had been elected; "It’s just a matter of it being a typical old boys’ club. When you look down from the galleries at the House, our half of the House has substantially more women than in the past. It took Alberta some time to change and we had a substantial change in government."

Electoral history

2015 general election

2014 Calgary-Elbow by-election

References

1987 births Alberta New Democratic Party MLAs Women government ministers of Canada Living people Lawyers in Alberta Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Politicians from Calgary Women MLAs in Alberta University of Calgary Faculty of Law alumni University of Calgary alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians {{Alberta-politician-stub