BÃ¥rd Hoksrud
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Bård André Hoksrud (born 26 March 1973 in
Porsgrunn is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Porsgrunn (town), city ...
) is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party. Since 2005, he has been a member of the ''
Storting The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The Unicameralism, unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list propo ...
''. He served as Minister of Agriculture and Food from 2018 to 2019, and as State Secretary at the Ministry of Transport and Communications from 2013 to 2015. From 1999 to 2002, he was the chairman of the Youth of the Progress Party. He was elected to the
Parliament of Norway The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...
from
Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...
in 2005. He had previously served in the position of deputy representative during the terms 1997–2001 and 2001–2005. On the local level, Hoksrud was a member of
Bamble Bamble is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Langesund ...
Municipality council from 1991 to 2007. He does not have higher education, but worked as a grocery store manager before entering politics.


Early life and education

He was born 26 March 1973 in Porsgrunn to father,
electrician An electrician is a tradesman, tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the ...
Rolf Oddbjørn Hoksrud (1944-) and mother Karin Gulbrandsen (1947-). Hoksrud finished Vallermyrene Upper Secondary school in 1992. He later managed a series of grocery stores up until 1998.


Political career


Early career

Active in the
Progress Party's Youth The Progress Party's Youth (, , FpU) is the youth wing of the Norwegian political party the Progress Party. It is generally considered to be more aligned towards classical liberalism than the Progress Party. The organization has active chapters i ...
(FPU) since 1989, he was the leader of its Telemark branch as well as central board member from 1996, before becoming its overall leader from 1999 to 2002. Hoksrud, who originally was third in line for the leadership, was elected after
Robert Eriksson Robert Eriksson may refer to: * Robert Eriksson (politician) * Robert Eriksson (tennis) * Robert Eriksson (speedway rider) See also

* Matz Robert Eriksson, drummer of Swedish rock band The Hellacopters * Robert S. Erikson, political scientist ...
and Fredrik Färber declined the post. He was also employed as a political aide to the Progress Party parliamentary caucus, as well as serving as an organizational secretary for the party.


Local politics

Hoksrud started his career at age 18 as an elected politician as a member of
Bamble Bamble is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Langesund ...
municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...
from 1991 to 2011. Locally he was also a board member of Skiensfjordens Kommunale Kraftselskap from 1999 to 2000 and national board member of the
Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities () is an employers' organisation in Norway. It was founded in 1972 as a merger between the Union of Norwegian Cities (''Norges Byforbund'', founded in 1903) and the Norwegian Associati ...
from 2000 to 2005.


Parliament

He served as a deputy representative to the
Parliament of Norway The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...
during the terms 1997–2001 and 2001–2005, and was elected as a full member in the 2005 parliamentary election. During his first term he sat on the
Standing Committee on Transport and Communications The Standing Committee on Transport and Communications () is a standing committee of the Parliament of Norway. It is responsible for policies relating to transport, postal services, telecommunications, electronic communication Telecommunicat ...
, and after he was reelected in the 2009 parliamentary election he became the committees deputy leader. Hoksrud is one of Norway's most active members of parliament. According to the daily newspaper
Aftenposten (; ; stylized as in the masthead) is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation as well as Norway's newspaper of record. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 daily copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen ...
, Hoksrud was, along with fellow Progress Party politicians
Ketil Solvik-Olsen Ketil Solvik-Olsen (born 14 February 1972) is a Norway, Norwegian politician of the Progress Party (Norway), Progress Party. He served as Minister of Transport and Communications in the Norwegian government from 2013 to 2018, and was a member of t ...
and
Torgeir Trældal Torgeir Trældal (born 1965) is a Norwegian politician and member of parliament from representing Nordland for the Progress Party. Trældal is from Narvik and served in the city council as leader of the opposition in that town until his electio ...
, the politicians who submitted most formal questions to the Cabinet ministers during parliamentary sessions. Hoksrud was again re-elected in
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
. When Solberg's Cabinet assumed office following that election, Hoksrud was appointed as a State Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Communications under Ketil Solvik-Olsen. His parliamentary seat was taken by deputy Kristian Norheim. He held the position until 2015, and resumed his duties in Parliament.


Party politics

Following
Ketil Solvik-Olsen Ketil Solvik-Olsen (born 14 February 1972) is a Norway, Norwegian politician of the Progress Party (Norway), Progress Party. He served as Minister of Transport and Communications in the Norwegian government from 2013 to 2018, and was a member of t ...
's announcement that he would step down as deputy leader at the party convention in April 2023; Hoksrud announced his candidacy to succeed him. On 20 March, Hoksrud withdrew his candidacy and endorsed Hans Andreas Limi.


Minister of Agriculture and Food

Hoksrud was appointed minister of agriculture and food on 31 August 2018 in a minor reshuffle following
Ketil Solvik-Olsen Ketil Solvik-Olsen (born 14 February 1972) is a Norway, Norwegian politician of the Progress Party (Norway), Progress Party. He served as Minister of Transport and Communications in the Norwegian government from 2013 to 2018, and was a member of t ...
's resignation. He succeeded
Jon Georg Dale Jon Georg Dale (born 16 June 1984) is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party. He served as Minister of Transport and Communications from 2018 to 2020 and Minister of Agriculture and Food from 2015 to 2018. He was also acting Minister of Ju ...
, who had been appointed as Solvik-Olsen's successor. In October, Hoksrud reiterated in a Storting question time that he experienced that agriculture is leaning forward. He specified that the amount of farms reducing have been halted and that the government saw positivity in the industry. Hoksrud was dismissive to the dry summer that had occurred, and reiterated that the government had taken good measures for agriculture. In November, Hoksrud lead the jury in
Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Akershus county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger ...
to hand out the annual Young Farmer award to 29 year old Olav Høyheim Einan. Hoksrud said: "This year's winner satisfies all the criteria in the competition. He has a strong focus on sustainable production and operation and has made an enormous effort to expand the farm using local resources in an impressive way". Following complaints of poor food in care homes, Hoksrud announced in December that a Food Pleasure Corps would be set up "to help make food and meals in institutions the highlight of the day". For the last prior weeks, he and Minister of the Elderly and Public Health
Ã…se Michaelsen Ã…se Michaelsen (born 4 June 1960 in Mandal) is a Norwegian politician representing the Progress Party. She served as a representative of Vest-Agder in the ''Storting'' and was first elected in 2005. She was also the Minister of Elderly an ...
were invited to six "inspiration day" events in all parts of the country about food pleasure and elderly health. In January 2019, Hoksrud handed out the Business Development Award in Agriculture to Ask gård foredling AS. He further commented that he felt impressed and "it is awesome to participate in handing out such an award". On 22 January, after the
Christian Democrats Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...
joined the government, Hoksrud was succeeded by
Olaug Bollestad Olaug Vervik Bollestad (born 4 November 1961) is a Norwegian nurse and politician for the Christian Democratic Party who is a member of Parliament for Rogaland since 2013. She served as the party leader between 2021 and 2024, having been deputy le ...
.


Views

An outspoken opponent of
Toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...
s in Norway, Hoksrud frequently accused the Red-green coalition government of "highway robbery", when charging drivers in order to finance future road projects. While he supports a massive increase in road- and railway spending and construction, he believes this should be financed through the state budget. He once referred to the Minister of Transport
Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa (born 12 November 1948 in Fister, Norway) is a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party. Kleppa is educated as a teacher at Kristiansand Teacher Training College in 1970. She worked as a teacher from 1967 to 1992. S ...
as a "modern day
highwayman A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to foo ...
, due to her support for toll roads. He has been criticized for allegedly disregarding cases where the Progress Party itself votes in favour of toll roads on the municipal level. Generally opposed to taxes and restrictions on automobiles, Hoksrud accused prime minister
Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (; born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. Since 2025, he has been the Minister of Finance in the Støre Cabinet. He has previously been the prime minister of Norway and secretary general of NATO. ...
of having a "hidden agenda" when the latter proposed a ban on diesel cars during specific days, in order to reduce pollution of and gases, as well as extra taxation for diesel-run cars. This was because the government had advised people to buy diesel-run cars earlier before the health hazards were known. Hoksrud called the plans "hopeless" and polls made indicated that only 40% of drivers would respect the ban.


The "Hoksrud affair"

On 21 September 2011, media outlet TV 2 reported that Hoksrud had visited a brothel in
Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
, the capital of
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
. He subsequently admitted having paid a Latvian prostitute for services. As this is punishable under Norwegian law, the party's then deputy leader,
Per Sandberg Per Sandberg (born 6 February 1960) is a Norwegian politician for the Capitalist Party and formerly the Progress Party who served as the Norwegian Minister of Fisheries from 2015 to 2018. Sandberg was a member of the Norwegian parliament from ...
, said that Hoksrud would resign from his political positions, if the party so wishes. Hoksrud later confirmed this by saying : ''"I naturally wish that the party be at least possible harm for something extraordinarily stupid I did at my spare-time. I am now aware that the police is to open investigation, and therefore I immediately resign from all of my mandates in the party"''. As he was popularly elected, he was unable by law to resign from parliament. He did however resign from the party's powerful Central Committee, where he was replaced by PÃ¥l Morten Borgli. In the end he received a fine of NOK 25.000 ($4800), which he accepted. In the aftermath of the case, Hoksrud experienced an outpouring of support on
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
, and despite being declared politically dead by veteran political analyst Kyrre Nakkim, was unanimously nominated for reelection towards the 2013 elections. He was subsequently reelected for a third term.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoksrud, Baard 1973 births Living people People from Bamble Politicians from Porsgrunn Progress Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Telemark Norwegian state secretaries Ministers of agriculture and food of Norway Members of the Storting 2005–2009 Members of the Storting 2009–2013 Members of the Storting 2013–2017 Members of the Storting 2017–2021 Members of the Storting 2021–2025