Jonathan Denis
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Jonathan Brian Denis, (born September 22, 1975) 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 lawyer. On May 9, 2012, he was named Solicitor General, Attorney General, and Minister of Justice for the province of
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
. He represented the constituency of
Calgary-Acadia Calgary-Acadia is a current provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Created in 2010, the district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past ...
(formerly Calgary-Egmont) as a Progressive Conservative in 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 ...
from 2008 until 2015. He was first elected in the 2008 provincial election and was appointed to cabinet in January 2010, making him the second youngest person to be named to cabinet in Alberta history. Denis was re-elected to the newly named constituency of Calgary-Acadia on April 23, 2012.


Early life and education

Jonathan Denis is the son of a soldier in the Canadian forces. He graduated in 1993 from Luther College, a private school in Regina, SK. He received a commerce degree from the University of Regina in 1997 and a law degree from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon in 2000. While in law school, Denis was invited as a speaker at an international law conference in Montreal, Quebec. In 2018, Denis completed his ICD.D designation with the Institute of Corporate Directors, a program from Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto.


Career pre-politics (2000-2008)

For approximately two months in 1996, Denis was a staffer for
Lynda Haverstock Lynda Maureen Haverstock ( Ham; born September 16, 1948) is the former leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party, was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, and served as the 19th Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan from 2000 un ...
when she was an Independent MLA in the
Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan is the legislative chamber of the Saskatchewan Legislature in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Bills passed by the assembly are given royal assent by the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, in the na ...
. Haverstock had previously been leader of the
Saskatchewan Liberal Party The Saskatchewan Liberal Party is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The party was the provincial affiliate of the Liberal Party of Canada until 2009. It was previously one of the two largest parties in the provin ...
. Prior to becoming an MLA, Denis was a senior associate, specializing in government relations, at Miller Thomson LLP, a major Canadian law firm. He was also the co-founder and President of 3D Contact Inc., the other founder being Nepean-Carleton MP
Pierre Poilievre Pierre Marcel Poilievre ( ; born June 3, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the leader of the Official Opposition since 2022. Poilievre has served as a member of Parliament (MP) ...
Listed contacts of 3D Contact Inc. are Stephen Harper, Stockwell Day, and Ted Morton. He was also the founder of a successful real estate investment firm named Liberty West Properties Inc. Denis resigned from both positions after being elected.


Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta


2008 Election, private MLA (2008-2010)

Denis sought public office for the Alberta Progressive Conservatives in the 2008 provincial election in the constituency of Calgary-Egmont where he received 43.6% of the vote, beating former Calgary School Board chair Cathie Williams. Denis initially served as a member of the Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, the Public Accounts Committee, the Standing Committee on Health, and the Cabinet Policy Committee on Health. 2 In 2008, Deputy Premier Ron Stevens also appointed Denis to the Alberta/Alaska Bilateral Council. In 2008, Health and Wellness Minister Ron Liepert asked Denis to conduct a widely based consultation for the Alberta Pharmaceutical Strategy. Denis's report came up with ten key recommendations for changes to pharmaceutical policy for the Alberta government., see p. 5 Also in 2008, Sustainable Resources Minister Ted Morton appointed Denis to the Land Use Framework Committee On September 16, 2009, Denis was named the Parliamentary Assistant for Energy. As a lawyer since 2001, Denis introduced the new Alberta Rules of Court as Bill 31, 2009.http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/bills/bill/legislature_27/session_2/20090210_bill-031.pdf This bill provided sweeping reforms to court process and completely new rules of court and procedure for Alberta.


Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs (2010-2011)

Denis was sworn in as Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs as well as Deputy Government House Leader on January 15, 2010,. On April 6, 2011, Denis provided $638,000.00 in provincial housing money to support tenants of the YWCA's Ophelia House in Calgary. Ophelia House supports women experiencing homelessness. In 2011, the
Canadian Taxpayers Federation The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF; french: Fédération canadienne des contribuables, link=no) is a federally incorporated, non-profit organization in Canada. It claimed 30,517 donors and 215,009 supporters in 2018–19. Voting membership, ...
wrote an article praising Denis for reducing spending in his department by 39% while still achieving targets.


Solicitor General & Minister of Public Security (2011-2012), 2012 Election

On October 12, 2011, Denis was sworn in as Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security. He was re-elected in the newly named riding of Calgary-Acadia on April 23, 2012.


Minister of Justice, Attorney General, & Solicitor General (2012-2015), 2015 Election

Denis was named Minister of Justice, Solicitor General, Attorney General, and Provincial Secretary
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
on May 9, 2012. Denis has pursued a "law and order" policy on crime, increasing the amount of RCMP in rural areas and a provincial grant for 300 new police officers in the cities. On September 1, 2012, Denis enacted strict penalties on drunk drivers. Following this drunk driving law, drunk driving charges went down two years in a row, including 17% in 2015. On April 17, 2014, Denis supported removing the previous preamble to the Marriage Act which made the Act gender-neutral, respecting the LGBTQ community and same-sex marriage. On June 13, 2014, Denis provided a grant from the Civil Forfeiture Fund to the Edmonton Pride Centre. The grant was used to support programs for LGBTQ youth. On July 21, 2014, Denis doubled the limit in Alberta small claims court to $50,000.00, which allows "self-represented litigants to avoid more complicated civil proceedings in Court of Queen’s Bench." This move was lauded by many Alberta lawyers as a positive step for access to justice. Denis was re-appointed to his previous positions by new Premier Jim Prentice on September 15, 2014. Prentice subsequently appointed Denis Government House Leader. On September 24, 2014, Denis attended the YWCA's 9th annual "Walk a Mile in her Shoes" to raise funds and awareness toward ending domestic abuse. Denis resigned on April 25, 2015, during the 2015 election campaign, due to "legal proceedings" between himself and his estranged wife, Breanna Palmer. On May 4, 2015, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Craig Jones cleared Denis's name and "revoked" the order that his wife had obtained against him, stating that Palmer's "recollection of the events was inaccurate". Denis continued as a candidate but was defeated in the May 5, 2015 general election, finishing third in a close three-way race. In February 2019, Justice Jones of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench found that Palmer had "lied to the court" with a goal of getting Denis to pay her $1 million, and that there was no evidence Denis had ever abused Palmer. Earlier in the campaign, Denis denied vandalizing his own campaign signs so that they'd read "Jonathan Penis" as a way of getting attention.


Accolades

In 2009, Denis was appointed
Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...
of Alberta. This is a designation given to lawyers who have exhibited "outstanding contributions to the legal profession or in public life". Denis was also named as one of Avenue Magazine's "Top 40 under 40" in 2010, which the magazine describes as "an annual selection of the brightest and most active leaders under the age of 40". In 2011, the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation wrote an article praising Denis for reducing spending in his department by 39% while still achieving targets. The Canadian Taxpayers' Federation has also twice given Denis a "nice" award for having the best expenses in the entire Alberta government, calling his expenses "boring".


Post-political career

After leaving politics, Denis became a lawyer for Guardian Law Group in Calgary. In June 2021, Denis represented Edmonton city councillor and mayoral candidate
Mike Nickel Mike Nickel (born April 27, 1965) is a Canadian politician who served as an Edmonton city councillor from 2004 to 2007, and then again from 2013 to 2021. Early life and education Nickel was born in Edmonton and attended the University of Alber ...
during a hearing regarding Nickel's personal conduct and use of emails obtained as a councillor for campaign purposes. While no longer named in the lawsuit arising from former Alberta chief medical examiner Dr. Anny Sauvageau's allegations of wrongful dismissal, lawyers at Denis' firm Guardian Law Group representing Denis have threatened future legal action against Dr. Sauvageau on the basis of defamation for testimony she is delivering in court.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/former-chief-medical-examiner-s-wrongful-dismissal-trial-halted-amid-defamation-threat-1.6413800 Court of Queen's Bench Justice Doreen Sulyma, presiding over the trial, noted that this letter was "unprecedented" in her experience and the timing of the letter as "disastrous". Sulyma found Denis in
contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...
, finding he did intend to intimidate Sauvageau and obstruct justice. In September 2022 Jonathan Denis apologized for a series of videos where he performed a crude negative caricature of indigenous people referencing casinos and alcoholism; in his apology, Denis claimed he did not remember making the videos, potentially because of his own alcohol use.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-justice-minister-jonathan-denis-videos-1.6599395


Election results


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denis, Jonathan 1976 births Living people Canadian people of German descent Canadian King's Counsel Lawyers in Alberta Lawyers in Saskatchewan Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Politicians from Calgary Politicians from Regina, Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs University of Regina alumni University of Saskatchewan College of Law alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians