Karen Margaret McPherson (born 1966) is a Canadian 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 ...

of Calgary-Mackay-Nose Hill with a plurality of votes under the

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

system. On October 4, 2017, McPherson announced she was leaving the NDP to sit as an Independent. Weeks later, she announced that she was joining the caucus of the Alberta Party, becoming its second MLA. In March 2019 she announced that she would not seek re-election. She was succeeded by United Conservative

Josephine Pon Josephine Pon is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2019 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Beddington in the 30th Alberta Legislature. She is a member of the United Conservative Party. She was a ...

; the Alberta Party candidate took less than 9% of the votes.

Electoral history

2015 general election

Advocacy

Bill 2, An Act to Remove Barriers for Survivors of Sexual and Domestic Violence, was introduced by NDP MLA Kathleen Ganley on March 7, 2017. If passed, Bill 2 would allow survivors of sexual assault and sexual misconduct who wish to sure their attackers to file civil claims at any point, removing the standard two-year deadline for civil actions. In April 2017, during the Second Reading of Bill 2, Karen McPherson spoke publicly about her experience with sexual violence and spoke in support of Bill 2. This was the first time MLA McPherson spoke publicly about her lived experience with sexual violence.

References

1960s births Alberta Party MLAs Alberta New Democratic Party MLAs Living people Politicians from Calgary Politicians from Edmonton Women MLAs in Alberta 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians {{Alberta-politician-stub