Ric McIver

Richard William McIver ECA MLA (born August 28, 1958) is a Canadian politician who has represented Calgary-Hays in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta since 2012. A member of the United Conservative Party (UCP), McIver is the current minister of municipal affairs.

The Honourable Ric McIver ECA MLA
McIver in 2012
Leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
Interim
In office May 11, 2015 – March 18, 2017
Preceded by	Jim Prentice
Succeeded by	Jason Kenney
Alberta Executive Council Minister of Municipal Affairs Incumbent Assumed office June 9, 2023 Premier Danielle Smith Preceded by Rebecca Schulz Minister of Municipal Affairs In office July 8, 2021 – October 21, 2022 Premier Jason Kenney, Danielle Smith Preceded by Tracy Allard Succeeded by Rebecca Schulz In office May 8, 2012 – December 6, 2013 Premier Alison Redford Preceded by Ray Danyluk Succeeded by Wayne Drysdale Minister of Transportation In office April 30, 2019 – July 8, 2021 Premier Jason Kenney Preceded by Brian Mason Succeeded by Rajan Sawhney In office May 8, 2012 – May 6, 2014 Premier Alison Redford Dave Hancock Preceded by Ray Danyluk Succeeded by Wayne Drysdale Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour In office September 15, 2014 – May 24, 2015 Premier Alison Redford Dave Hancock Preceded by Thomas Lukaszuk Succeeded by Lori Sigurdson Minister of Infrastructure In office December 13, 2013 – May 6, 2014 Premier Alison Redford Dave Hancock Preceded by Wayne Drysdale Succeeded by Wayne Drysdale
Parliamentary constituencies Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Hays Incumbent Assumed office April 23, 2012 Preceded by Art Johnston Member of the Calgary City Council for Ward 12 In office October 15, 2001 – October 18, 2010 Preceded by Sue Higgins Succeeded by Shane Keating
Personal details
Born	Richard William McIver (1958-08-28) August 28, 1958 Woodstock, Ontario, Canada
Political party	United Conservative
Spouse	Christine McIver
Children	4
Residence(s)	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Occupation	Politician

He entered politics in 2001 when he was elected to the Calgary City Council, serving until 2010. In 2012, he joined the Progressive Conservatives (PCs) and was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). McIver was a cabinet minister from 2013 until the PCs were defeated in the 2015 provincial election. He served as interim PC leader from 2015 to 2017, and returned to cabinet when the new UCP formed government in 2019.

Political career

Municipal politics

McIver first ran for the position of Ward 12 Alderman in 1998 against long time incumbent Sue Higgins. McIver came second but lost by a huge margin with Higgins receiving 15,000 votes and McIver with just under 3000 votes. During that term McIver ran in a by-election for Ward 14 again placing second of twelve candidates losing to Diane Colley-Urquhart by 288 votes. After Sue Higgins announced she would not run again in Ward 12, McIver ran there again, this time successfully in 2001. He began his first term as Ward 12 Alderman in October 2001. He was acclaimed to a second term in 2004. In the 2007 election, he again faced opposition at the ballot box but was re-elected with a 91% majority.

McIver held his post on Calgary City Council from his election in October 2001 until his run for mayor in October 2010. On April 21, 2010, he announced his intentions to run for mayor in the October 2010 municipal election.

He came in second in the mayoral election, garnering over 112,000 votes.

During his time on city council, McIver served on the following civic boards and committees:

• Calgary Housing Company, Chair for three years
• Standing Policy Committee on Community and Protective Services, Chair
• Standing Policy Committee on Finance and Corporate Services
• Land and Asset Strategy Committee
• Family and Community Support Services, Chair
• Provincial Justice Policy Advisory Committee
• Audit Committee
• Emergency Management Committee, Chair
• Aldermanic Office Coordinating Committee
• Calgary Police Commission
• Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, Vice President

Provincial politics

In December 2011, McIver ran at the provincial level challenging MLA Art Johnston for the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (PC) nomination in the Calgary-Hays constituency, a riding including many neighbourhoods of his former ward 12. McIver defeated the incumbent by a margin of 285 votes, taking the election 406–121. On April 23, 2012, in the provincial election, McIver was elected into the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, receiving 8,614 votes out of 15,642 (55.07%) to become just the second representative for the Calgary-Hays district since its creation. McIver was sworn in on May 8, 2012.

In addition to his duties as MLA, McIver subsequently held the following roles in government:

• Alberta's Minister of Transportation. (McIver was the first Minister of Transportation for Alberta to be selected from one of its major cities)
• Government of Alberta's Treasury Board Committee.
• Government's Operations and Policy Cabinet Committee.
• Minister of Infrastructure. (assigned after a cabinet shuffle in December 2013)

Progressive Conservative leadership run

McIver resigned from cabinet in May 2014 in order to stand in the PC leadership election, following the resignation of Premier Alison Redford. During the leadership campaign, he attended the March for Jesus. He later made it clear he did not share in the group's anti-gay beliefs after media attention to the event. McIver placed second with 11.7% of the vote, losing to Jim Prentice. On September 15, 2014, McIver was appointed Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour in Prentice's cabinet.

Progressive Conservative interim leader

On May 11, 2015, following the party's defeat in the 2015 provincial election the previous week and the resulting resignation of party leader Jim Prentice, McIver was chosen by caucus to be interim leader of the PC Party. At the time, he did not rule out running for permanent leader at the leadership election to be held in 2017.

On April 18, 2016, McIver was thrown out of the Alberta legislature by Speaker Bob Wanner for repeatedly refusing to sit down despite the speaker's requests after learning that sheets explaining the speaker's ruling for an NDP amendment on a motion tabled by McIver had been distributed before the amendment was debated on the floor.

McIver announced on November 8, 2016, that he would not be running for the permanent leadership and will remain interim leader until the March convention.

United Conservative Party

In 2017, McIver joined the UCP, along with most of the PC caucus, when the party merged with Wildrose.

At the party's founding convention in May 2018, McIver passionately argued against a proposed policy that would allow schools to inform parents if their child joins a gay-straight alliance. Addressing party delegates, he stated that “You may disagree with some people in the room with people being gay, but they are gay. They need to be safe. We cannot out kids that are in a club (designed) to protect themselves.” McIver further argued "Don't be called the Lake of Fire Party. I am begging you." Despite these pleas, the policy passed with 57% support.

Electoral record

2023 Alberta general election: Calgary-Hays
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Conservative	Ric McIver	11,807	55.61	-7.59
	New Democratic	Andrew Stewart	8,987	42.33	+16.91
	Green	Evelyn Tanaka	321	1.51	–
	Solidarity Movement	Garry Leonhardt	118	0.56	–
Total			21,233	99.38	–
Rejected and declined			133	0.62
Turnout			21,366	60.45
Eligible voters			35,345
	United Conservative hold		Swing		-12.25
Source(s) Source: Elections Alberta

2019 Alberta general election: Calgary-Hays
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	United Conservative	Ric McIver	14,186	63.19%	-1.23%	$56,063
	New Democratic	Tory Tomblin	5,706	25.42%	-4.05%	$48,441
	Alberta Party	Chris Nowell	2,052	9.14%	–	$4,184
	Liberal	Frances Woytkiw	293	1.31%	-2.84%	$500
	Alberta Independence	Kenneth Morrice	211	0.94%	–	$1,209
Total			22,448	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			129	53	6
Eligible electors / turnout			34,230	65.97%	12.70%
	United Conservative hold		Swing
Source(s) Source: Elections Alberta Note: Expenses is the sum of "Election Expenses", "Other Expenses" and "Transfers Issued". The Elections Act limits "Election Expenses" to $50,000.

2015 Alberta general election: Calgary-Hays
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Ric McIver	6,671	38.26%	-16.83%
	New Democratic	Carla Drader	5,138	29.47%	26.52%
	Wildrose	Bob Mailloux	4,562	26.16%	-10.07%
	Liberal	Shawn Emran	722	4.14%	-1.60%
	Green	Graham Mackenzie	250	1.43%	–
	Social Credit	Zachary Doyle	93	0.53%	–
Total			17,436	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			28	29	6
Eligible electors / turnout			32,793	53.27%	-1.64%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-5.03%
Source(s) Source: "16 - Calgary-Hays, 2015 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Chief Electoral Officer (2016). 2015 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer (PDF) (Report). Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta.

2012 Alberta general election: Calgary-Hays
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Ric McIver	8,621	55.09	+0.86
	Wildrose	Wayne Anderson	5,670	36.23	+25.60
	Liberal	Brian MacPhee	898	5.74	-22.17
	New Democratic	Regina Vergara	461	2.95	+0.10
Total			15,650
Rejected, spoiled and declined
Eligible electors / Turnout				%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-12.37

External links

• Ric McIver