Brent Rathgeber

Brent Rathgeber
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Edmonton—St. Albert
In office October 14, 2008 – October 19, 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	(1964-07-24) July 24, 1964 Melville, Saskatchewan
Political party	Progressive Conservative (2001-2004) Conservative (2008-2013) Independent (2013-present)
Residence	Edmonton, Alberta
Alma mater	University of Saskatchewan
Profession	Lawyer, author

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.

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

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.

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

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, and was elected with 61.6 per cent of the vote. He was re-elected in the 2011 federal election.

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."

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

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.

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."

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. He finished third, with 19.7 percent of the vote, behind Conservative candidate, Michael Cooper.

Bibliography

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

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

Canadian federal election, 2011
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	–	–

Canadian federal election, 2008
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	%

External links

• Official Website
• Brent Rathgeber – Parliament of Canada biography