Douglas Todd Loewen (born September 16, 1966) is a Canadian politician and the 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 ...

for

Central Peace-Notley Central Peace-Notley is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district was one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. I ...

. Loewen was first elected in 2015 as a member of the

Wildrose Party The Wildrose Party (legally Wildrose Political Association, formerly the ''Wildrose Alliance Political Association'') was a conservative provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. The party was formed by the merger in early 2008 of the Albe ...

for the electoral district of Grande Prairie-Smoky. He was afterward elected in Central Peace-Notley as a member of the

United Conservative Party The United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) is a conservative political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. It was established in July 2017 as a merger between the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Wildrose Party ...

and briefly sat as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

until being welcomed back by premier

Danielle Smith Marlaina Danielle Smith (born April 1, 1971) is a Canadian politician and journalist who has been serving as the 19th premier of Alberta since October 11, 2022, and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since October 6, 2022. Smith ent ...

. On June 1, 2022, Loewen registered his candidacy in the

2022 United Conservative Party leadership election The 2022 United Conservative Party leadership election was held on October 6, 2022, in Alberta to select a new leader of the United Conservative Party and Premier of Alberta. The leadership election was triggered following the May 18, 2022, le ...

, which was held on October 6, 2022. He finished fifth.

Early life

Todd Loewen moved to the Valleyview area at a young age, in 1967, with his parents and two brothers where he lived on a farm and homestead. In 1989, Loewen purchased his own farm and started a small business.

Political career

Todd Loewen first contested a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the

2008 Alberta general election The 2008 Alberta general election was held on March 3, 2008, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. It was expected to be called early because the governing Progressive Conservatives held a leadership election on December 2, 20 ...

in the Grande Prairie-Smoky electoral district as a member of the

Wildrose Alliance The Wildrose Party (legally Wildrose Political Association, formerly the ''Wildrose Alliance Political Association'') was a conservative provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. The party was formed by the merger in early 2008 of the Alb ...

, finishing third with 13 per cent of the vote behind Progressive Conservative incumbent Mel Knight and

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 ...

John Croken. Loewen, following his defeat, served as the Northern Director for the Wildrose board for two years and as one of the three members of the board on the Wildrose leadership nominating committee in 2009. Loewen again stood as the candidate for the renamed Wildrose Party in the

2012 Alberta general election The 2012 Alberta general election was held on April 23, 2012, to elect members of the 28th Legislative Assembly of Alberta. A Senate nominee election was called for the same day. During the 2011 Progressive Conservative Association leadership e ...

in Grande-Prairie-Smoky finishing second with 41 per cent of the vote behind Progressive Conservative and former Reeve of County of Grande Prairie

Everett McDonald Everett McDonald (born c. 1958) is a Canadian politician who was an elected member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Grande Prairie-Smoky from 2012 to 2015. He formerly served as the Reeve of the Coun ...

who captured 46 per cent of the vote. 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 the ...

Loewen was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Grande Prairie-Smoky capturing 33 per cent of the vote. Loewen defeated

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as cultural ...

candidate Todd Russell (31 per cent) and incumbent Everett McDonald. After the election, Loewen was appointed as the Official Opposition's critic for Environment and Parks, a position he retained when the Wildrose Party merged with the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta in 2017 to form the

(UCP). During the 29th Legislature Loewen came under public scrutiny when he insinuated New Democrat Rod Loyola received illegal election contributions from South America. Loewen was elected in the newly formed

electoral district in the

2019 Alberta general election The 2019 Alberta general election was held on April 16, 2019, to elect 87 members to the 30th Alberta Legislature. In its first general election contest, the Jason Kenney-led United Conservative Party (UCP) won 54.88% of the popular vote and 63 ...

capturing 75 per cent of the vote, defeating former New Democrat Minister of Energy Marg McCuaig-Boyd to sit in the 30th Legislature. In February 2021, Loewen argued for a regional based reopening strategy during the end of the second wave of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta The COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The province of Alberta has the thi ...

. In April 2021, Loewen was one of 18 United Conservative members to sign an open letter to Premier

Jason Kenney Jason Thomas Kenney (born May 30, 1968) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 18th premier of Alberta from 2019 until 2022 and the leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) from 2017 until 2022. He also served as the member of ...

criticizing public health measures aimed to reduce the spread of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. On May 13, 2021 Loewen posted an open letter calling for Premier Jason Kenney to resign, and in the letter Loewen resigned his position as caucus chair, but did not resign from the United Conservative Party. Loewen's letter criticized Kenney's government for weak negotiations with the federal government, ignoring caucus members, delivering contradictory messages, failures in negotiations with doctors over billing, and the controversy regarding coal mining in the Eastern Slopes of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

. On May 13, 2021, Loewen and fellow UCP MLA

Drew Barnes Drew Barnes (born May 21, 1961) is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2012, 2015 and 2019 Alberta general elections to represent the electoral district of Cypress-Medicine Hat in the 28th, 29th and 30th Alberta Legislatures, respectiv ...

were kicked out of the UCP caucus by a caucus-wide vote after both criticized the government response to COVID-19. On June 1, 2022, Loewen registered his candidacy in the

, which is scheduled for October 6, 2022. On October 6, 2022, Loewen received 7.7% of the vote. A total of 6,496 votes were cast for him in the

. The following day, he was readmitted into the UCP caucus.

Electoral history

2008 general election

2012 general election

2015 general election

2019 general election

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loewen, Todd Wildrose Party MLAs Living people 1960s births Farmers from Alberta 21st-century Canadian politicians United Conservative Party MLAs Politicians affected by a party expulsion process