Blaine Calkins
Blaine F. Calkins | |
|---|---|
| Chairman of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics | |
| Assumed office February 4, 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Pierre-Luc Dusseault |
| Member of Parliament for Red Deer—Lacombe Wetaskiwin (2006-2015) | |
| Assumed office January 23, 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Dale Johnston |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 25, 1968 Lacombe, Alberta |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Barb Calkins |
| Residence | Lacombe, Alberta |
| Profession | computer technician, park ranger, college instructor |
Blaine F. Calkins MP (born December 25, 1968) is a Conservative Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada. He represents the riding of Red Deer—Lacombe in Alberta.
Calkins was born and raised in the Lacombe, Alberta area. He graduated from the University of Alberta in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science with specialization in zoology.[1] He later became a tenured faculty member at Red Deer College. He began his career in politics as a member of the Lacombe Town Council, and as such has been involved with the board of directors of the Lacombe Municipal Ambulance Society, the board of directors for Family and Community Support Services, The Municipal Planning Commission, David Thompson Tourist Council and the Disaster Services Committee.
Blaine Calkins has been involved in the Reform/Canadian Alliance/Conservative Party since becoming a member in 1996. He served on the Candidate Nomination Committee for the Canadian Alliance Wetaskiwin riding in 1999, and joined the board of directors in 2000. Since then, he has held various board positions, including president, vice president and director of communications.
Electoral record[edit]
| 2015 Canadian federal election: Red Deer-Lacombe | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | Blaine Calkins | 43,599 | 70.7 | -6.73 | – | |||
| Liberal | Jeff Rock | 9,235 | 15.0 | +11.44 | – | |||
| New Democratic | Doug Hart | 7,055 | 11.4 | -2.89 | – | |||
| Green | Les Kuzyk | 1,773 | 2.9 | -1.82 | – | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 61,662 | 100.0 | $221,802.13 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 176 | – | – | |||||
| Turnout | 61,838 | 71.3% | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 86,609 | |||||||
| Conservative hold | Swing | -9.08 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[2][3] | ||||||||
| 2011 Canadian federal election: Wetaskiwin | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | Blaine Calkins | 37,756 | 81.44 | +4.31 | $23,700 | |||
| New Democratic | Tim Robson | 5,281 | 11.39 | +2.77 | $1,718 | |||
| Green | Robert Johnston | 1,978 | 4.27 | -3.78 | – | |||
| Liberal | Christopher Anderson | 1,348 | 2.91 | -2.69 | $5,920 | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 46,363 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 122 | 0.26 | +0.01 | |||||
| Turnout | 46,485 | 58.90 | +5.96 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 78,925 | – | – | |||||
| 2008 Canadian federal election: Wetaskiwin | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | Blaine Calkins | 32,528 | 77.13 | +1.98 | $32,626 | |||
| New Democratic | Tim Robson | 3,636 | 8.62 | -0.70 | $6,371 | |||
| Green | Les Parsons | 3,395 | 8.05 | +1.72 | $388 | |||
| Liberal | Rita Katherine Dillon | 2,362 | 5.60 | -3.58 | $8,762 | |||
| Canadian Action | Shawn Mann | 249 | 0.59 | – | ||||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 42,170 | 100.00 | $90,704 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 105 | – | ||||||
| Turnout | 42,275 | 52.94 | ||||||
| 2006 Canadian federal election: Wetaskiwin | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | Blaine Calkins | 35,776 | 75.15 | +1.6 | $38,612 | |||
| New Democratic | Jim Graves | 4,441 | 9.32 | +2.1 | ||||
| Liberal | Peter Crossley | 4,371 | 9.18 | -2.7 | $9,976 | |||
| Green | Tom Lampman | 3,016 | 6.33 | +0.1 | $500 | |||
| Total valid votes | 47,604 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 105 | 0.22 | ||||||
| Turnout | 47,709 | 62.86 | ||||||
Political views[edit]
Carbon tax[edit]
According to a December 14, 2018 recording by a Radio-Canada reporter of a talk given by Calkins to students in grades 7 and 8 in Red Deer, Calkins responded to a question about the carbon tax by saying that he was a biologist and that CO
2 was plant food not pollution. He told students that he understood there was an impact on the environment from burning fossil fuels but he questioned whether burning fossil fuels "caused extreme weather events".[4] Calkins told them, "There's just more people now than there was before. So, when we have a major weather event, more people get affected, because the chances of it affecting people are that much higher."
In a follow-up article on December 18, Conseil Scolaire Centre-Nord's (CSCN) superintendent, Robert Lessard, responded by saying that these comments were Calkins' own personal opinions, whereas in CSCN, they teach facts about the "biological cycle of carbon", and "ecological impacts [of environment on the planet] that need to be taken care of."[4]
Shawn Marshall, who is a University of Calgary Geography professor as well as a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Climate Change, said that Calkins' "half truths" without context, are typical examples of "climate misinformation" used by politicians who oppose the carbon tax, "to paralyze us a little bit". His concern was that they were introduced to junior youth. Marshall said that Calkins failed to add that humans are generating more CO
2 than plants can take up, and that while we do have a larger population vulnerable to extreme weather events, "there's also this huge overprint of climate change on these extreme weather events."[4]
References[edit]
- ^ Official Web Page Biography
- ^ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Red Deer—Lacombe, 30 September 2015
- ^ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c "Climate change professor accuses Alberta MP of spreading 'climate misinformation'". CBC News. December 18, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
External links[edit]
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