Ricardo Miranda

The Honourable
Ricardo Miranda
MLA
Miranda in May 2015
Alberta Minister of Culture and Tourism
Assumed office
February 2, 2016
Preceded by David Eggen
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Cross
Assumed office
May 5, 2015
Preceded by Yvonne Fritz
Personal details
Born (1976-08-22) August 22, 1976
Managua, Nicaragua
Political party Alberta New Democratic Party
Residence Calgary, Alberta
Alma mater University of Calgary
Occupation Researcher

Ricardo Miranda (born August 22, 1976) is a Canadian politician and trade unionist who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 2015 Alberta general election representing the electoral district of Calgary-Cross.[1]

On February 2, 2016, Miranda was appointed the Minister of Culture and Tourism.[2]

Previously he had served as a member of various committees, including the Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund and the Select Special Ethics and Accountability Committee. He also served as chair of the Standing Committee on Alberta’s Economic Future.

He was one of the first three openly LGBT politicians elected to the provincial legislature, alongside caucus colleagues Michael Connolly and Estefania Cortes-Vargas.[3] In addition to belonging to a sexual minority group, Miranda has joked about being "thrice cursed or thrice blessed, depending on how you look at it," for his Jewish religion and Nicaraguan ethnicity. Miranda has variously spoken publicly about the difficulties of his early life fleeing war and persecution, and has been the voice of Judaism in the legislature, rising to inform on the occasion of various Jewish holidays.

Miranda's entry into politics followed several years of activism for various workers'-rights organizations. While employed as a flight attendant for Air Canada, he was elected president of his local union, one of the largest within the Canadian Union of Public Employees. He went on to work for CUPE as a researcher in the Alberta office of CUPE National, where he met and worked with Louis Arab, husband of the incumbent premier and Alberta NDP leader the Hon. Rachel Notley, who encouraged Miranda to run for the NDP.[4] As a CUPE researcher, Miranda also contributed to public policy as a board member of the Parkland Institute, an Edmonton-based public policy think tank based in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta.[5]

Miranda graduated from Father Lacombe High School in Calgary, and went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Calgary.

Electoral history

Alberta general election, 2015: Calgary-Cross
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticRicardo Miranda4,60236.13+31.10
Progressive ConservativeRick Hanson4,50135.34-9.31
WildroseMoiz Mahmood2,06016.17-21.81
LiberalManjot Singh Gill1,1949.38-0.79
GreenPeter Meic2361.85+0.32
IndependentKatherine Le Rougetel[6]1431.12
Total valid votes 12,736
Rejected, spoiled and declined 98
Turnout 12,83440.64
Eligible voters 31,535
Source: Elections Alberta[7]

References

  1. ↑ "NDP's Miranda wins by 100 votes over former police chief". Calgary Herald, May 6, 2015.
  2. ↑ http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Graham+Thomson+cabinet+true+reflection+Alberta/11693156/story.html
  3. ↑ "Alberta's NDP Government A Diverse Bunch". Canadian Press via Huffington Post, May 6, 2015.
  4. ↑ "CUPE Researcher elected in Alberta". Canadian Union of Public Employees. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  5. ↑ http://parklandinstitute.ca/about/board/
  6. ↑ Le Rougetel was a candidate of the unregistered Communist League. See Ryan Rumbolt, "Communist League candidate Katherine LeRougetel enters mayoral race", Calgary Herald, 5 March 2017, accessed 8 March 2017.
  7. ↑ "2015 Provincial General Election Results". Elections Alberta. Archived from the original on 2017-07-30. Retrieved 2017-07-30.


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