David Eggen

David Eggen
David Eggen in May 2015
MLA for Edmonton-Calder
Incumbent
Assumed office April 23, 2012
Preceded by	Doug Elniski
In office November 22, 2004 – March 3, 2008
Preceded by	Brent Rathgeber
Succeeded by	Doug Elniski
Personal details
Born	1962 (age 53–54)
Political party	New Democrat
Spouse(s)	Somboon Eggen
Alma mater	University of Alberta
Occupation	teacher
Portfolio	Minister of Education, Minister of Culture

David Manson Eggen (born 1962) is a Canadian politician. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for the riding of Edmonton-Calder from 2004 to 2008, and was reelected to represent the same district in 2012. Eggen declared his intention to stand in the NDP leadership election being held to choose a successor to Brian Mason. He is currently Minister of Education and Minister of Culture.

Educator

Born in 1962, Eggen was educated at the University of Alberta where he received a Bachelor of Education degree in 1984. Eggen then went to Zimbabwe, where he taught for three years. At this point, he returned to Edmonton, where he taught at local schools from 1990 to 2004. He also coached a wide variety of sports for high school and community teams. In 1996 and 1997, he also served as an education consultant to the Wat Dhammamongkol Temple in Bangkok, Thailand. He volunteered as an animator at Fort Edmonton Park. He is a provincial trustee with the Forum for Young Albertans. He is also a member of the Diversity, Equity and Human Rights committee for the Alberta Teachers’ Association and an amateur musician. He lives in Edmonton with his wife, their two daughters.

Political career

Eggen was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta as a New Democrat in the 2004 Alberta general election, narrowly defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative Brent Rathgeber. He was the first NDP representative elected in Edmonton-Calder since 1993, increasing his party's share of the vote from 18% to 36%. His victory was widely attributed to a two-year canvassing campaign in the run-up to the election. He served as the NDP's critic for Agriculture and Food, Environment, K-12 Education, Sustainable Resource Development, and Tourism and Culture.

He was defeated in the 2008 election by Progressive Conservative Doug Elniski. After this defeat Eggen assumed the Alberta executive director's position for Friends of Medicare, an advocacy group that supports public healthcare. Eggen regained his seat in the 2012 provincial election and retained it with a greatly increased margin in the 2015 election.

2004 general election

2004 Alberta general election results			Turnout 49.18%		Swing
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%	Party	Personal
	New Democratic	David Eggen	4,067	36.01%	16.10%
	Progressive Conservative	Brent Rathgeber	3,730	33.02%	-8.97%
	Liberal	Brad Smith	2,985	26.43%	-11.67%
	Alberta Alliance	Vicki Kramer	513	4.54%
Total			11,295
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			92
Eligible electors / Turnout			23,671	%
	NDP pickup from Progressive Conservative				Swing 12.54%

2008 general election

2008 Alberta general election results			Turnout 38.53%		Swing
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%	Party	Personal
	Progressive Conservative	Doug Elniski	4,557	40.86%	6.03%
	New Democratic	David Eggen	4,356	39.05%	3.04%
	Liberal	Jim Kane	1,839	16.49%	-9.94%
	Green	Michael Brown	402	3.60%	*
Total			11,514
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			59
Eligible electors / Turnout			30,033	%
	Progressive Conservative gain from New Democratic		Swing		4.54%

2012 general election

Alberta general election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	*
	NDP	David Eggen	5,729	38.41%
	Progressive Conservative	Bev Esslinger	5,183	34.75%
	Wildrose	Rich Neumann	2,787	18.69%
	Liberal	Alex V Bosse	970	6.50%
	Alberta Party	David Clark	194	1.30%
	Social Credit	Margaret Saunter	52	0.35%
Total			'14,925	100%

2015 general election

Alberta general election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	David Eggen	12,835	70.6%
	Progressive Conservative	Tom Bradley	3,220	17.7%
	Wildrose	Andrew Altimas	1,570	8.6%
	Liberal	Amit Batra	550	3.0%

Cabinet

David Eggen was sworn into Cabinet on May 24, 2015 as part of the NDP government led by Rachel Notley. There had been speculation since the election that Eggen would receive a large portfolio in Cabinet. He was appointed as Minister of Education and Minister of Culture and Tourism.

In fall 2015, Eggen introduced Bill 8, a proposal to reform the collective bargaining structure for public school teachers in Alberta. Bill 8 proposes to introduce a two-table bargaining system, similar to the structure in Ontario, where the provincial government would handle big items like salary and local boards would negotiate local issues. The existing system sees all issues bargained locally.

There was criticism that school boards were not adequately consulted, but documents provided by Eggen's office to the media detailed consultations that had taken place in September and October 2015.