Kevin Taft
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Kevin Taft
BA, MA, PhD, MLA |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office March 27, 2004 |
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| Preceded by | Don Massey (interim) |
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Leader of the Alberta Liberal Party
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2004 |
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| Preceded by | Don Massey (interim) |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2001 election |
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| Preceded by | Linda Sloan |
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| Born | September 9, 1955 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan |
| Political party | Alberta Liberal Party |
| Spouse | Jeanette Boman |
| Alma mater | University of Alberta University of Warwick |
| Profession | Consultant |
Kevin Taft (born September 9, 1955 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) is a liberal politician in Alberta, Canada. He is leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and leader of the opposition in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Taft was raised in Edmonton, Alberta.
In 2001, Taft entered politics and was elected to the legislature as an Alberta Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the riding of Edmonton Riverview, defeating Progressive Conservative star candidate and former city councillor Wendy Kinsella. Three years later in the spring of 2004, Ken Nicol resigned as leader of the Alberta Liberal Party, and Taft was elected to replace him. Taft was generally given credit for being more tenacious than the soft-spoken Nicol in his performance in the legislature during the lead-up to the 2004 election, especially on issues such as public auto insurance, public accounts, and government contracts. Despite leading a party saddled with a $900,000 debt, he helped his party more than double its seats in the election from 7 before the election call to 16, regaining seats in Edmonton, and making a breakthrough in the traditionally conservative city of Calgary. Taft also saw his support in Riverview solidify; he received more votes than any other candidate, of any party, in the 2004 election. In the 2008 election, the Liberal Party won only nine seats.
On June 26, 2008, Taft announced that he will be stepping down as leader of the Alberta Liberal Party but intends to remain as an MLA.
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[edit] Education
Taft has a B.A. and Master's Degree in Community Development from the University of Alberta, and a Ph.D. in Business from the University of Warwick in England.
[edit] Experience in China
In the spring of 1989 Taft was travelling in China leading a dinosaur fossil expedition. It was here that he witnessed the pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square and the brutal suppression of students by the Chinese government.
When asked later, Taft said; “There were thousands of them.... It felt like Woodstock, as if someone had taken the chains off these students.... There was a sense of revolution.”
The response came weeks later in early June, when the military was called in and, in a night of bloodshed and chaos, killed — depending on reports — hundreds to thousands of protesters. Taft said, "It was like springtime and then the depths of winter."[1].
[edit] Career
In the past, Taft has been appointed by Alberta’s Progressive Conservative government to a team monitoring and investigating horrific conditions in hospitals and homes for seniors and the disabled.
He later worked as a consultant and policy analyst in the public and private sectors.
[edit] Books
He was propelled into the public eye as the author of Shredding the Public Interest, a book published in 1997 that accused the Ralph Klein government of unnecessarily cutting funding for public services; Klein responded by accusing Taft of being a communist. The book spent 12 weeks on the Financial Post bestseller list, and was chosen as "Alberta Trade Title of the Year" by the Book Publisher's Association of Alberta. In 2000, Taft co-authored a book with Calgarian journalist Gillian Steward, titled Clear Answers: The Economics and Politics of For-Profit Medicine. In 2006 he authored a book titled Democracy Derailed which details his observations and criticisms of the present government in Alberta.
[edit] Speeches
In 2007, Taft delivered many speeches that were noted across the province, of particular note are "The Western Tiger"[2] and the "Alternate Speech from the Throne"[3].
[edit] Electoral record
| Alberta general election, 2001 Edmonton Riverview |
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| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal | Kevin Taft | 7,420 | 49.7 | ||
| Progressive Conservative | Wendy Kinsella | 5,883 | 39.4 | ||
| New Democrat | Doug McLachlan | 1,469 | 9.8 | ||
| Green | Jerry Paschen | 165 | 1.1 | ||
| Alberta general election, 2004 Edmonton Riverview |
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| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal | Kevin Taft | 10,280 | 65.5 | 15.8 | |
| Progressive Conservative | Fred Horne | 3,575 | 22.8 | -16.6 | |
| New Democrat | Donna Martyn | 1,058 | 6.7 | -3.1 | |
| Green | John Lackey | 357 | 2.3 | 1.2 | |
| Alberta Alliance | David Edgar | 313 | 2.0 | ||
| Social Credit | David Power | 116 | 0.7 | ||
| 2008 Election Results | ||||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
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| Liberal | Kevin Taft | 7,466 | 50.60% | |
| Progressive Conservative | Wendy Andrews | 5,170 | 35.04% | |
| NDP | Erica Bullwinkle | 1,283 | 8.70% | |
| Green | Cameron Wakefield | 506 | 3.43% | |
| Wildrose Alliance | Kyle Van Hauwaert | 330 | 2.24% | |
[edit] External links
- Kevin Taft on the Alberta Liberal Party website
- Biography for Mr. Kevin Taft on the website of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
[edit] Notes and references
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