Merv Tweed
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mervin C. Tweed, MP (born August 6, 1955 in Medora, Manitoba) is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He currently sits as the Member of Parliament for Brandon—Souris. Prior to that he was a member of the Manitoba Legislature from 1995 to 2004, representing the constituency of Turtle Mountain.
Tweed was born in Medora, Manitoba, and was educated at Brandon University. He operated an automobile business for seventeen years, and was for a time an executive member of the Killarney and Area Recreation Committee.
Tweed began his political career in municipal politics, serving as a councillor in the rural municipality of Brenda for five years, and as deputy reeve for three. In 1995, he was elected to the Manitoba legislature as a Progressive Conservative in Turtle Mountain, a safe seat for the party. He served as a parliamentary assistant to a variety of ministers in the government of Premier Gary Filmon before being appointed Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism with responsibility for the Development Corporation Act on February 5, 1999.
Tweed was easily re-elected in the provincial election of October 1999, although the Progressive Conservatives were defeated at the provincial level by the New Democratic Party until Gary Doer. Tweed resigned his cabinet portfolio with the rest of the Filmon ministry.
Despite the NDP's landmark election win of 2003, Tweed was again re-elected in Turtle Mountain without difficulty, receiving 3956 votes against 1893 for New Democrat Lonnie Patterson.
When federal Conservative MP Rick Borotsik (Brandon-Souris), announced his retirement in 2004, Tweed resigned his provincial seat and won the Conservative nomination for the riding. He received 18209 votes in the general election, against 8522 for Liberal Murray Downing.
Following the election, Tweed was named opposition critic for Western Economic Diversification by Conservative leader Stephen Harper. He easily retained his seat in the 2006 election.
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| Preceded by Bob Rose |
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Turtle Mountain 1995-2004 |
Succeeded by Cliff Cullen |
| Preceded by Rick Borotsik |
Member of Parliament for Brandon—Souris 2004-present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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Manitoba Caucus serving in the 39th Canadian Parliament. |
| Senators | Sharon Carstairs (Lib), Maria Chaput (Lib), Janis Gudrun Johnson (Con), Mira Spivak (Ind), Terrance Richard Stratton (Con), Rod Zimmer (Lib) |
| Members of Parliament | Rod Bruinooge (Con), James Bezan (Con), Bill Blaikie (NDP), Tina Keeper (Lib), Steven Fletcher (Con), Inky Mark (Con), Pat Martin (NDP), Anita Neville (Lib), Brian Pallister (Con), Raymond Simard (Lib), Joy Smith (Con), Vic Toews (Con), Merv Tweed (Con), Judy Wasylycia-Leis (NDP) |
