Ricardo Miranda | |
|---|---|
 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 | August 22, 1976 Managua, Nicaragua |
| Political party | Alberta New Democratic Party |
| Residence(s) | 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.
Beginnings
Miranda graduated from Father Lacombe High School in Calgary, and went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Calgary.
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.[3] 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.[4]
Electoral history
| 2015 Alberta general election: Calgary-Cross | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| New Democratic | Ricardo Miranda | 4,602 | 36.13% | 31.10% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Rick Hanson | 4,501 | 35.34% | -9.31% | ||||
| Wildrose | Moiz Mahmood | 2,060 | 16.17% | -21.81% | ||||
| Liberal | Manjot Singh Gill | 1,194 | 9.38% | -0.79% | ||||
| Green | Peter Meic | 236 | 1.85% | 0.32% | ||||
| Independent | Katherine Le Rougetel † | 143 | 1.12% | – | ||||
| Total | 12,736 | – | – | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 98 | – | – | |||||
| Eligible electors / turnout | 31,535 | 40.70% | -3.07% | |||||
| New Democratic gain from Progressive Conservative | Swing | -2.94% | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: "06 - Calgary-Cross, 2015 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. †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. | ||||||||
Personal life
Miranda was one of the first three openly LGBT politicians elected to the provincial legislature, alongside caucus colleagues Michael Connolly and Estefania Cortes-Vargas.[5] In addition to belonging to a sexual minority group, Miranda 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.
In December 2018, Ricardo Miranda became the province's first cabinet minister to be married in a same-sex wedding. In a marriage ceremony officiated by Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Miranda married boyfriend and partner Christopher Brown in Calgary.
References
- ^ "NDP's Miranda wins by 100 votes over former police chief". Calgary Herald, May 6, 2015.
- ^ http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Graham+Thomson+cabinet+true+reflection+Alberta/11693156/story.html
- ^ "CUPE Researcher elected in Alberta". Canadian Union of Public Employees. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
- ^ http://parklandinstitute.ca/about/board/
- ^ "Alberta's NDP Government A Diverse Bunch". Canadian Press via Huffington Post, May 6, 2015.
