Theodore J. "Ted" Falk (born May 23, 1960) 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, who currently represents the electoral district of

Provencher Provencher is a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1871. It is a largely rural district in the province's southeast corner. Its largest community is the city of St ...

in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

. A member of the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

, he was first elected in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

on November 25, 2013.

Early life and career

Prior to his election, Falk was the owner of a construction and gravel-crushing company and also served as president of the volunteer board of the Steinbach Credit Union (SCU). Falk was first elected in as Member of Parliament in the 2013

by-election, succeeding former cabinet minister

Vic Toews Victor Toews (; born September 10, 1952) is a Paraguayan-Canadian politician and jurist. Toews is a judge of the Court of King's Bench of Manitoba. He represented Provencher in the House of Commons of Canada from 2000 until his resignation on Ju ...

, who had retired from politics three months earlier after almost 13 years as the area's MP. Falk was re-elected in the 2015, 2019, and 2021 federal elections. He is considered both a fiscal and social conservative, often taking positions, such as his

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

stance, in contrast to his party's official position. In 2016, prior to Steinbach's first Steinbach Pride event Falk claimed a conflict in his schedule with the Frog Follies festival in

St-Pierre-Jolys St-Pierre-Jolys (formerly ''Rivière-aux-Rats''/Rat River, ''St-Pierre''/St. Pierre) is a village in the Canadian province of Manitoba, located southeast of Winnipeg on Highway 59 near the Rat River. It is surrounded by the Rural Municipality o ...

, but when Follies organizers publicly asked him to attend Steinbach Pride instead, Falk said he would not attend because of “values of faith, family and community.” In 2021, during the

Covid 19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Falk stated he opposes mandatory

vaccines A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity The adaptive immune system, also known as the acquired immune system, is a subsystem of the immune system that is composed of specialized, systemic cells and pro ...

and vaccine requirements to enter businesses. He made erroneous statements about Covid vaccines, falsely claiming that vaccines are more dangerous than the Delta variant. He retracted these statements and emphasized the safety and importance of vaccines for Canadians. He refused to disclose his vaccine status and has not entered Parliament since the introduction of a vaccine mandate. He has attended House meetings virtually.

Electoral record

References

External links

* 1960 births Living people Conservative Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Manitoba People from Steinbach, Manitoba Politicians from Winnipeg 21st-century Canadian politicians Canadian Mennonites {{Manitoba-politician-stub