Moe Amery
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| Moe Amery | |
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MLA for Calgary East
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office June 15, 1993 |
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| Preceded by | New district |
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| Born | September 20, 1954 Lebanon |
| Political party | Progressive Conservative |
| Residence | Calgary |
| Occupation | Realtor |
Moe Amery (born Moe Amiri September 20, 1954 in Lebanon) is a Canadian politician and current member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. He has represented Calgary East since 1993, and has sat as a Progressive Conservative throughout.
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[edit] Early life
Amery was born Moe Amiri (he changed his name sometime between 1989 and 1993)[1] in Lebanon on September 20, 1954, and came to Canada in 1974.[2] He studied at the University of Alberta from 1975 until 1977, after which he relocated to Calgary to become a realtor.[2]
[edit] Political career
[edit] Electoral record
Amery's first two bids for elected office were unsuccessful; he sought provincial election in Calgary Forest Lawn in the 1986 and 1989 elections, but was defeated both times, finishing second to New Democrat Barry Pashak each time.[3] He was more successful in 1993, when he more than doubled Pashak's vote count in the newly-formed Calgary East.[3] He was handily re-elected in each of the 1997, 2001, 2004, and 2008 elections.[3]
[edit] Legislative initiatives
In 1994, Amery introduced two different bills called the Maintenance Enforcement Amendment Act.[4] The first, a private member's bill, would have made it impossible for individuals in arrears on child support payments to register their vehicles or renew their drivers' licenses. The second, a government bill, included the objectives of the first, but also took other measures, including ending a provision by which money held in a joint bank account could not be drawn upon to satisfy child support payments owed by one of the account-holders.[5] The government bill passed with the support of the Progressive Conservatives and some Liberals, including Sine Chadi and Michael Henry.[5][6] Other Liberals - including Gary Dickson, Debby Carlson, Bettie Hewes, Mike Percy, Percy Wickman, Ken Nicol, Nicholas Taylor, and Colleen Soetaert - opposed the bill on the grounds that it didn't go far enough in taking measures to recover payments, promoted animosity in an already adversarial process, and was written with insufficient consultation with the recently-privatized registries centres.[5][7][6] After the government bill passed, the private member's bill was ruled redundant by Speaker Stanley Schumacher.[8]
Amery has introduced a number of private member's bills designed to extend primary education to include kindergarten, requiring school boards to provide it and making attendance compulsory. The first two of these - both called the School Amendment Act, sponsored in 1995 and 1997 - failed to reach second reading before the legislature adjourned.[9][10] Amery's third attempt, the School (Early Childhood Services) Amendment Act, was defeated on second reading.[11] Liberals were unanimous in their support of the bill, pointing to similar bills that had previously been sponsored by Liberal MLAs Grant Mitchell and Michael Henry.[12][13][14][15] Several of Amery's Progressive Conservative Colleagues, including Mary O'Neill,[12][13] Albert Klapstein,[14] and Wayne Cao,[14] also lent their support.[15] However, the bill was defeated on second reading with a majority of the P.C. caucus voting against.[15] Victor Doerksen, the only Conservative to speak in opposition to the bill, expressed concern that instituting mandatory attendance at the kindergarten level constituted an infringement on parental autonomy.[13] New Democrat Raj Pannu, the only member of his caucus present for the vote, also opposed the bill, on the grounds that it would allow private groups to provide kindergarten with the approval of the Minister of Learning.[13][15]
In 1996, Amery sponsored the Wildlife Amendment Act,[16] a government bill that created a scientific committee to make recommendations on the designation of endangered and threatened species, expanded fish and wildlife agents' abilities to check for infractions of firearms regulations by hunters, and downloaded several government powers that had previously resided with the Lieutenant Governor by order in council to the Minister of Environmental Protection.[17] Some Liberals, including Duco Van Binsbergen and Bruce Collingwood, raised concerns that the bill didn't go far enough,[18][19] but it was passed into law.[16]
[edit] Political views
Amery has broken with his party on several occasions. In March of 2006 he criticized the Ralph Klein government for insufficiently funding school maintenance after the roof of a school in his riding collapsed.[20] In 2007 and during the 2008 election campaign, he advocated rent controls to deal with the tight housing market in urban Alberta, although the position of the Ed Stelmach government was that they would be unhelpful.[21]
[edit] Passport incident
In 2002, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police began investigating whether Amery acted as guarantor for the passport application of a constituent who he had not known for the required two years.[22] He was charged with doing so in 2004.[22] The case went to trial in March of 2005, when Amery alleged that, by telling him not to use character references from his colleagues, P.C. whip Denis Ducharme undermined "Amery's ability to make full answer and defence".[23] The charges were ultimately stayed.[21]
[edit] Personal life
Amery is married to Mary, and the couple have five children: Mickey, Lila, Leena, Laura, and Malaak.[2] He identifies Winston Churchill as his political hero.[24]
[edit] Election results
| 2008 Alberta general election results (Calgary East) | Turnout 32.3% | |||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
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| Progressive Conservative | Moe Amery | 4,584 | 53.9% | |
| Liberal | Bill Harvey | 2,431 | 28.6% | |
| Wildrose Alliance | Mike McCraken | 681 | 8.0% | |
| NDP | Christopher Dovey | 427 | 5.0% | |
| Green | Ross Cameron | 331 | 3.9% | |
| Communist | Bonnie-Jean Collins | 55 | 0.6% | |
| 2004 Alberta general election results (Calgary East) | Turnout 36.9% | |||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
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| Progressive Conservative | Moe Amery | 4,492 | 53.9% | |
| Liberal | Bill Harvey | 2,359 | 28.3% | |
| Alberta Alliance | Brad Berard | 605 | 7.3% | |
| NDP | Paul Vargis | 461 | 5.5% | |
| Green | Rich Michelenko | 367 | 4.4% | |
| Communist | Bonnie-Jean Collins | 56 | 0.7% | |
| 2001 Alberta general election results (Calgary East) | Turnout 41.9% | |||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
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| Progressive Conservative | Moe Amery | 6,038 | 70.8% | |
| Liberal | Brendan Dunphy | 2,010 | 23.6% | |
| NDP | Giorgio Cattabeni | 328 | 3.9% | |
| Social Credit | Alan Schoonover | 109 | 1.3% | |
| Communist | Jason Devine | 41 | 0.5% | |
| 1997 Alberta general election results (Calgary East) | Turnout 38.0% | |||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
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| Progressive Conservative | Moe Amery | 4,857 | 60.2% | |
| Liberal | Kelly McDonnell | 1,990 | 24.7% | |
| NDP | Marg Elliot | 609 | 7.6% | |
| Social Credit | Raymond Hurst | 613 | 1.3% | |
| 1993 Alberta general election results (Calgary East) | Turnout 49.1% | |||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
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| Progressive Conservative | Moe Amery | 5,503 | 54.5% | |
| NDP | Barry Pashak | 2,306 | 22.8% | |
| Liberal | Dale Muti | 1,689 | 16.7% | |
| Social Credit | Lera Shirley | 366 | 3.6% | |
| Independent | Alain Horchower | 237 | 2.4% | |
| 1989 Alberta general election results (Calgary Forest Lawn) | Turnout 37.9% | |||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
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| NDP | Barry Pashak | 3,994 | 44.1% | |
| Progressive Conservative | Moe Amiri | 3,177 | 35.1% | |
| Liberal | Gene Czaprowski | 1,584 | 17.5% | |
| Independent | Jim Othen | 294 | 3.2% | |
| 1986 Alberta general election results (Calgary Forest Lawn) | Turnout 30.8% | |||
| Affiliation | Candidate | Votes | % |
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| NDP | Barry Pashak | 2,512 | 36.0% | |
| Progressive Conservative | Moe Amiri | 2,410 | 34.6% | |
| Liberal | Gene Czaprowski | 1,111 | 15.9% | |
| Independent | Mikey Graham | 271 | 3.9% | |
| Representative | Douglas Williams | 237 | 3.4% | |
| Independent | Gerald Lee | 224 | 3.2% | |
| Independent | Dorothy Bohdan | 109 | 1.6% | |
| Independent | Jim Othen | 67 | 1.0% | |
| Communist | Bruce Potter | 28 | 0.4% | |
[edit] References
- ^ Politics1 Canada:Moe Amery. Retrieved on 2008-03-13.
- ^ a b c Amery's Legislative Assembly of Alberta biography at archive.org (viewable, downloadable film)
- ^ a b c Alberta's past election results. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
- ^ Bill Status Report for the 23rd Legislature - 2nd Session (1994). Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
- ^ a b c Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly of Alberta, April 19, 1994
- ^ a b Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly of Alberta, May 11, 1994
- ^ Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly of Alberta, May 4, 1994
- ^ Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly of Alberta, October 26, 1994
- ^ Bill Status Report for the 23rd Legislature - 3rd Session (1995). Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
- ^ Bill Status Report for the 24th Legislature - 1st Session (1997). Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
- ^ Bill Status Report for the 24th Legislature - 3rd Session (1999). Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
- ^ a b Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly of Alberta, April 13, 1999
- ^ a b c d Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly of Alberta, April 20, 1999
- ^ a b c Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly of Alberta, April 21, 1999
- ^ a b c d Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly of Alberta, April 27, 1999
- ^ a b Bill Status Report for the 23rd Legislature - 3rd Session (1996). Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
- ^ Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly of Alberta, May 14, 1996
- ^ Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly of Alberta, May 14, 1996
- ^ Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly of Alberta, May 22, 1996
- ^ Fekete, Jason. "Klein faces murky future: Premier's party ready to vote on his record", Calgary Herald, March 27, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-13.
- ^ a b Myers, Sean. "Amery hails PC mandate", Calgary Herald, March 4, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-13.
- ^ a b "Alberta MLA denies committing passport offence", Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, August 5, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-03-13.
- ^ "Alberta politician alleges political meddling in court case", Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, March 31, 2005. Retrieved on 2008-03-13.
- ^ "Calgary candidate profiles, Alberta election 2008", Calgary Sun. Retrieved on 2008-04-16.
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