From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hon. Edward Michael Stelmach
Official Photograph
13th Premier of Alberta
Incumbent
Assumed office  December 14, 2006 [1]
Preceded by	Ralph Klein
Succeeded by	incumbent
Born	May 11, 1951 (age 55) Lamont, Alberta
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Spouse	Marie Stelmach
Religion	Ukrainian Greek Catholic

Edward Michael Stelmach, MLA, (born May 11, 1951 in Lamont, Alberta) is the current Premier of Alberta. He was elected Leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives on December 3, 2006. He sits in the Alberta legislature as the Progressive Conservative Member of the Legislative Assembly for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville (previously Vegreville-Viking). Stelmach served in Cabinet as Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations until March 2006 when he resigned in order to clear the way for his candidacy in the leadership election to select a successor to Alberta Premier Ralph Klein.

Contents 1 Background 2 Leadership 3 Cabinet 4 Sources

Stelmach was first elected to the legislature in the 1993 provincial election. He entered Cabinet in 1997 serving as Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development until 1999. Subsequently, he was Minister of Infrastructure and Minister of Transportation before becoming Intergovernmental Relations Minister in 2004.

Before entering Cabinet, Stelmach served as Deputy Whip and then Chief Government Whip and had served as chairman of the Alberta Agricultural Research Institute and a member of the Standing Policy Committees on Community Services and Health Restructuring. He has also served on Treasury Board, the Agenda and Priorities Committee and the Standing Policy Committees on Agriculture and Rural Development.

Prior to entering provincial politics, Stelmach served variously as Lamont County Reeve, a school trustee and chair of the Vegreville Health Unit board.

Stelmach attended the University of Alberta, then worked in the retail business for 11 years before returning to the family farm.[2]

Stelmach's grandfather, Nicholas, arrived in Alberta from the western Ukrainian district of Radekhiv with his wife, Theodora Kuchera, and settled on the homestead south of Andrew, Alberta, in 1898. Ed Stelmach grew up on the farm as the youngest of five children. Stelmach has raised his own four children on the farm his grandfather established[3].

Stelmach was the first minister to resign from cabinet in accordance with Premier Klein's order that all prospective leadership candidates resign from cabinet by June 2006 [4].

In the first round of voting on November 25, 2006, Stelmach came in third place, winning 15.3 per cent of the vote to Jim Dinning's 30.2 per cent and Ted Morton's 26.2 per cent. As the top three finishers, Stelmach, Dinning and Morton advanced to a second ballot on December 2. Of the five candidates who were dropped from the second ballot, three endorsed Stelmach, one endorsed Dinning and one offered no endorsements. Several newspapers also endorsed Stelmach as a compromise candidate between the relatively progressive Dinning and the socially conservative, democratic reformer Morton.

The second round was done by preferential ballot, with voters indicating both their first and second choices. When the first choices were tallied, Stelmach had a very narrow 0.3 per cent lead over Dinning, but with Morton eliminated, Stelmach overwhelmingly won the second choice preferences of Morton's voters.

On December 13, 2006, Stelmach announced that cabinet would be reduced from 24 ministries to 18. On December 15, 2006, he named his new cabinet, of which nine members of the legislature were new to their positions, and nine were former cabinet ministers.

Stelmach's Cabinet team (in order of precedence):

• Ed Stelmach (Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville) Premier, President of Executive Council, Chair of Agenda and Priorities, Vice-Chair of Treasury Board
• Lloyd Snelgrove (Vermilion-Lloydminster) President of the Treasury Board, Minister of Service Alberta, (Minister Responsible for Personnel Administration Office)
• Doug Horner (Spruce Grove-Sturgeon-St. Albert) Minister of Advanced Education and Technology
• Iris Evans (Sherwood Park) Minister of Employment, Immigration and Industry
• Mel Knight (Grande Prairie-Smoky) Minister of Energy
• David Hancock (Edmonton-Whitemud) Minister of Health and Wellness, Government House Leader
• Ray Danyluk (Lac La Biche-St. Paul) Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
• Ron Liepert (Calgary-West) Minister of Education
• Janis Tarchuk (Banff-Cochrane) Minister of Children's Services
• Rob Renner (Medicine Hat) Minister of Environment, Deputy Government House Leader
• George Groeneveld (Highwood) Minister of Agriculture and Food
• Lyle Oberg (Strathmore-Brooks) Minister of Finance
• Luke Ouellette (Innisfail-Sylvan Lake) Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation
• Ron Stevens (Calgary-Glenmore ) Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Deputy Government House Leader
• Greg Melchin (Calgary-North West) Minister of Seniors and Community Supports
• Guy Boutilier (Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo) Minister of International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations
• Ted Morton (Foothills-Rocky View) Minister of Sustainable Resource Development
• Fred Lindsay (Stony Plain) Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security
• Hector Goudreau (Dunvegan-Central Peace) Minister of Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture

Stelmach's choice of cabinet appointments have been widely criticized as favouring rural white males over women, visible minorities, and residents of cities.[5] For example, only one member of cabinet is from the City of Edmonton even though the city has nearly 1/3 of the population of Alberta (although only three of its 18 MLAs are Progressive Conservatives). Perhaps even more controversial is the fact that only three members of the cabinet are from Calgary, a city that represents 1/3 of the population of Alberta and has Progressive Conservatives representing 20 of its 23 ridings. Ted Morton, a rival for the leadership was also appointed to cabinet. He lives in Calgary and represents a riding adjacent to the city boundaries (Foothills-Rockyview).

• Alberta's Office of the Premier
• Official website
• Official biography
• Alta. cabinet minister Stelmach quits position Canadian Press, March 21, 2006
• Son of Ukrainian homesteaders becomes Alberta's agriculture minister Ukrainian Weekly, April 27, 1997

13th Ministry - Government of Ed Stelmach
Cabinet Post
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Ralph Klein	Premier of Alberta (2006–present)	Incumbent

Preceded by New District	MLA Vegreville-Viking 1993-2004	Succeeded by District Abolished
Preceded by New District	MLA Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville 2004-present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Ralph Klein	Premier of Alberta December 14, 2006 – present	Incumbent

2006 Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership candidates
Winner: Ed Stelmach Defeated on the second ballot: Dinning | Morton Defeated on the first ballot: Doerksen | Hancock | Norris | McPherson | Oberg

v • d • e Politics of Alberta
Lieutenant-Governor	Norman Kwong • Former lieutenant-governors
Premier	Ed Stelmach • Former premiers
Opposition Leader	Kevin Taft • Former Opposition Leaders
Speaker of the Assembly	Ken Kowalski
Legislature	Current assembly • Former legislatures • Executive Council (Cabinet)
Political parties	Progressive Conservatives • Liberals • New Democrats • Alliance Alberta Party • Communists • Greens • Separation • Social Credit
Elections	2004 general election • Past elections • Electoral districts • Current electoral divisions
Current issues	Equalization payments • Prosperity Bonus • Same-sex marriage • Separatism
Other Canadian politics	Federal • BC • AB • SK • MB • ON • QC • NB • NS • PEI • NL • YU • NT • NU