Brent Rathgeber

Brent M. Rathgeber (born July 24, 1964) is a lawyer, author and politician from Alberta, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 2001 to 2004 and was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2008 federal election as a Conservative. He resigned from the Conservative caucus in 2013 and sat as an Independent. He ran as an Independent candidate in the riding of St. Albert—Edmonton in the 2015 federal election, but was defeated by Conservative candidate Michael Cooper.

Brent Rathgeber
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Edmonton—St. Albert
In office October 14, 2008 – August 4, 2015
Preceded by	John G. Williams
Succeeded by	Michael Cooper
Member of the Alberta Legislative Assembly for Edmonton Calder
In office March 12, 2001 – November 22, 2004
Preceded by	Lance White
Succeeded by	David Eggen
Personal details
Born	July 24, 1964 Melville, Saskatchewan, Canada
Political party	Progressive Conservative (2001-2004) Conservative (2008-2013) Independent (2013-present)
Residence	Edmonton, Alberta
Alma mater	University of Saskatchewan
Profession	Lawyer, author

In 2016, Brent returned to the business world as a political consultant. Rathgeber joined Cody Law Office in St. Albert, providing a full range of legal services, advocacy and consulting. Rathgeber also writes a weekly political column for iPolitics.

Early life

Rathgeber was born in Melville, Saskatchewan. After graduating from Melville Comprehensive School in 1982, Brent obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of Saskatchewan.

Career

Alberta MLA (2001–2004)

Rathgeber won election to the provincial electoral district of Edmonton Calder in the 2001 Alberta general election after defeating Liberal incumbent Lance White.[1]

In the 2004 Alberta general election, after only serving one term in office, he was defeated by David Eggen of the New Democratic Party.[2][3]

House of Commons (2008–2015)

Rathgeber stood as the Conservative Party of Canada candidate for the federal electoral district of Edmonton—St. Albert in the 2008 election,[4] and was elected with 61.6 per cent of the vote.[5] He was re-elected in the 2011 federal election.[6][7]

Regarding supply management, Rathgeber said "One can occasionally be critical of the Government without being disloyal. I proudly serve in the Conservative (Government) Caucus but do not leave the viewpoints of my constituents behind every time I board a plane to Ottawa. It is natural for me to question Supply Management, since I represent 140,000 consumers but not a single dairy farmer. Similarly, all of my adult constituents are taxpayers but only a tiny fraction work for the federal government; as a result, I believe it is appropriate that I question public pensions (including my own) and demand respect for taxpayer dollars generally."[8]

Rathgeber has voiced his support for motion 312, which says Canada should re-examine when human life begins.[9]

Rathgeber blogged in 2012 that voters complained to him about the limousine expenses of Tory cabinet ministers when he travelled to Saskatchewan for a funeral.[10]

On 5 June 2013, Rathgeber announced that he had resigned from the Conservative Caucus due to what he believed to be the "Government's lack of commitment to transparency and open government."[10][11]

In November 2014, Brent was awarded the honour of "Member of Parliament who best represents his constituents" by Maclean's magazine. This award is voted on by all Members of Parliament and recognizes his ability to represent constituents more effectively when freed from party positions and discipline.

In the 2015 federal election, he ran as an independent in St. Albert—Edmonton, a reconfigured version of his old riding.[12][13] He finished third, with 19.7 percent of the vote, behind Conservative candidate, Michael Cooper.[14][15]

Post-parliamentary career

Rathgeber currently writes a column for iPolitics.[16]

Bibliography

• Irresponsible Government: The Decline of Parliamentary Democracy in Canada (September 2014) Dundurn Press[17][18]

The book contrasts the current state of Canadian democracy to the founding principles of responsible government established by the Fathers of Confederation in 1867. It examines the consequences of the inability or disincentive of modern elected representatives to perform their constitutionally mandated duty to hold the Prime Minister and his cabinet to account and the resultant disregard with which the executive now views Parliament. A chapter is devoted to Withholding the power: Canada's broken Access to Information laws.

Electoral record

2015 Canadian federal election: St. Albert—Edmonton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Michael Cooper	26,783	45.24	-19.25	–
	Liberal	Beatrice Ghettuba	13,383	22.54	+11.70	–
	Independent	Brent Rathgeber	11,652	19.68	n/a	–
	New Democratic	Darlene Malayko	6,609	11.16	-8.91	–
	Green	Andrea Oldham	821	1.39	-3.22	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			59,208	100.00		$218,855.94
Total rejected ballots			146	0.25	–
Turnout			59,354	70.79	–
Eligible voters			83,841
	Conservative hold		Swing		-15.47
Source: Elections Canada[19][20]

2011 Canadian federal election: Edmonton—St. Albert
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Brent Rathgeber	34,468	63.46	+1.82
	New Democratic	Brian LaBelle	11,644	21.44	+5.67
	Liberal	Kevin Taron	5,796	10.67	-3.92
	Green	Peter Johnston	2,409	4.44	-3.54
Total valid votes/Expense limit			54,317	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			151	0.28	+0.05
Turnout			54,468	56.26	+2.59
Eligible voters			96,815	–	–

2008 Canadian federal election: Edmonton—St. Albert
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Brent Rathgeber	31,436	61.6%	–
	New Democratic	Dave Burkhart	8,045	15.8%	–
	Liberal	Sam Sleiman	7,441	14.6%	–
	Green	Peter Johnston	4,072	8.0%	–
Total valid votes			50,994
Total rejected ballots			118
Turnout			51,112	%

Provincial elections

2004 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Calder
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	David Eggen	4,067	36.01%	16.10%
	Progressive Conservative	Brent Rathgeber	3,730	33.02%	-8.96%
	Liberal	Brad Smith	2,985	26.43%	-11.68%
	Alberta Alliance	Vicki Kramer	513	4.54%	–
Total			11,295	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			48	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			23,153	48.99%	-2.71%
	New Democratic gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		-0.45%
Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Calder Official Results 2004 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

2001 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Calder
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Brent Rathgeber	5,128	41.98%	9.58%
	Liberal	Lance White	4,654	38.10%	-2.21%
	New Democratic	Christine Burdett	2,432	19.91%	-7.37%
Total			12,214	–	–
Rejected, Spoiled and Declined			24	–	–
Eligible electors / Turnout			23,671	51.70%	-1.81%
	Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		-2.01%
Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Calder Official Results 2001 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

References

1. "Tory sends White riding into history". Edmonton Journal. March 13, 2001.
2. "Alberta Votes 2004: Edmonton-Calder". CBC News. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
3. "Teacher's win gives NDP opposition status". Edmonton Journal. November 23, 2004.
4. "Rathgeber looks to succeed John Williams in St. Albert". Edmonton Journal. October 8, 2008.
5. "Federal Election 2008: Edmonton—St. Albert". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
6. "Rathgeber romps to victory". St. Albert Gazette. May 3, 2011. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
7. "Rathgeber re-elected in Edmonton-St. Albert". Toronto Sun. May 3, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
8. Wherry, Aaron. "Brent Rathgeber Maverick Watch". Maclean's. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
9. Wherry, Aaron. "Another vote for motion 312". Macleans. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
10. Rathgeber, Brent. "Brent Rathgeber, MP". Twitter. Brent Rathgeber. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
11. "A political barometer of voter discontent". Waterloo Region Record. June 8, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
12. "Former Alberta Conservative Brent Rathgeber to go up against one-time supporter in 2015 election". Global News. January 8, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
13. "Several Alberta seats could be up for grabs, poll analyst says". CBC News. September 9, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
14. "Conservatives elected in five of eight Edmonton ridings". CBC News. October 19, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
15. "Rathgeber falls short in bid to win as independent". Edmonton Journal. October 19, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
16. "Brent Rathgeber, Author at iPolitics". iPolitics. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
17. Brent Rathgeber (September 10, 2014). Irresponsible Government: The Decline of Parliamentary Democracy in Canada. Dundurn Press. ISBN 9781459728370.
18. "Harper's caucus control described in book by MP, a former Tory". The Globe and Mail. September 7, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
19. "October 19, 2015 Election Results — St. Albert—Edmonton (Validated results)". Elections Canada. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
20. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Official Website
• Brent Rathgeber – Parliament of Canada biography
• iPolitics.ca Website