Ron Cannan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ronald D. Cannan | |
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Member of Parliament
for Kelowna—Lake Country |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2006 |
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| Preceded by | Werner Schmidt |
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| Born | May 8, 1961 Edmonton, Alberta |
| Political party | Conservative |
Ronald (Ron) D. Cannan (born May 8, 1961 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a Canadian Member of Parliament and member of the Conservative Party of Canada. An advertising consultant by profession, Cannan was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 2006 federal election and represents the riding of Kelowna—Lake Country. Previously, he sat on Kelowna City Council from 1996 to 2005.
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[edit] Family background
Ron and his wife Cindy (whom he married in 1984 in Edmonton, Alberta) have three daughters: Amanda, Ashley, and Amy. They moved to Kelowna in 1990 and currently reside in the Glenmore area.
[edit] Career background
Prior to entering politics, Cannan was heavily involved in marketing and advertising sales. Previous experience includes work as an advertising consultant for the Kelowna Daily Courier newspaper, for Corus Entertainment (TV Advertising Sales), a marketing representative for Costco Wholesale, a sales supervisor for Coca-Cola, and a business manager for two Okanagan automobile dealerships.
[edit] Municipal politics (1996-2005)
Cannan was first elected to Kelowna City Council in the November 1996 civic election for a three-year term. He was successfully re-elected in the next two consecutive elections, and served a total of nine years on Kelowna City Council. During this time, he also served as a director for the Central Okanagan Regional District.
[edit] Federal politics (2005-2006)
Cannan was approached by the Conservative Party of Canada to run for Member of Parliament (MP) of Kelowna—Lake Country following the retirement of four term incumbent Werner Schmidt. After winning the nomination in May 2005, Cannan was subsequently elected MP on January 23, 2006, in the 2006 federal election by capturing nearly fifty-percent of the vote.
[edit] Election results
[edit] Kelowna—Lake Country
| Canadian federal election, 2006 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |
| Conservative | Ron Cannan | 28,174 | 49.2% | |||
| Liberal | Vern Nielsen | 14,807 | 25.8% | |||
| New Democratic Party | Kevin Hagglund | 9538 | 16.6% | |||
| Green | Angela Reid | 4562 | 8.0% | |||
| Canadian Action | David Thomson | 223 | 0.39% | |||
| Total valid votes | 57,204 | 100% | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 116 | 0.2% | ||||
| Turnout | 57,420 | 64.12% | ||||
[edit] YouTube Appearance
Footage from a March 31st, 2007 "Open House" surfaced on the popular website YouTube depicting non-members of the Conservative Party being asked to leave by local members of the Conservative Party. Later in the video, two gentlemen, one being the MC, ask the camera-person to turn of their camera. After refusing to turn off the camara, a Conservative member then pushed the camera down and blocked any efforts of recording the event.
Mr. Cannan never took part in asking any of the persons to leave nor did he ask the camera-person to turn off their camera, however these actions were done by prominent Conservatives, one being his MC of the event, and he made no effort to stop it. Some believe the actions of the Conservatives at the "Open House" represent a lack of accountability.
Ron Cannan Responds to YouTube Video: Letters to the editor Kelowna Daily Courier
People Will Draw Their Own Conclusions But Should Have the Facts
I read with interest Mr. Al Waters column of April 4th, 2007, “Cannan makes first gaff not standing up to his handlers”. Unfortunately Mr. Waters bases a large part of his column, and thus his opinion, on wrong information which I would like to correct.
First, Al gets a little carried away with the notion of political staffers as handlers. The individuals who intervene on the YouTube video are not my political staffers. They are volunteers from my Electoral District Association, regular people who take on the often thankless task of getting me elected. The Electoral District Association both hosted and paid for the event.
Secondly, far from being shut down, the protesters on the video are encouraged to speak with me directly as the function is an Open House, not a forum for them to hijack the meeting to make public statements. I am certain the opportunity for political debate will present itself and I look forward to it in a forum designed for that purpose.
Thirdly, Mr. Ross, the “enterprising young Liberal” has undertaken a concerted effort before to discredit me publicly without being able to substantiate his claims. (see the Kelowna Daily Courier, July 25th, Kelowna Daily Courier, July 27th 2006)
In this instance, Scott Ross’s video, far from being neutral, is meant to infer that the Open House was open only to Conservatives. On the contrary the doors were open to anyone who wished to attend and I made myself available to anyone in the room who wanted to speak with me about their concerns. The gentleman seen on the video has in fact communicated with me several times on the issue of income trusts.
As I learned all too clearly this past week, the advent of YouTube indeed makes things very challenging for politicians, particularly when used by those who have an opposing agenda to the candidates. No doubt facts will be scarce and the onus will be on viewers to uncover the whole story before drawing conclusions.
As a professional journalist, Mr. Waters would do Kelowna’s citizens an important service if he would ensure he had all the facts before formulating an opinion. Unfortunately, in this case, he has not done his due diligence and therefore must take some of the responsibility for the public being “turned off by politics”.
Sincerely,
Ron Cannan, MP Kelowna-Lake Country
[edit] Community involvement
In addition to his work on city council, Cannan was involved in the community. He served on the Okanagan Mainline Municipal Association executive for five years (including two years as president), and served two years as director on the Union of BC Municipalities Executive (UBCM). Cannan also sat on the Okanagan University College Access to Training Advisory Board, the Glenmore Elementary School Parents Advisory Council, the Kelowna Christian School Fundraising committee, the Central Okanagan Cycling Coalition, the South Glenmore Residents Association, and he was co-founder of Okanagan Volunteer Festival.
Both Ron and Cindy are active members of Willow Park Church in Kelowna where Ron is a drummer in the church band.
[edit] External links
| Parliament of Canada | ||
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| Preceded by Werner Schmidt |
Member of Parliament for Kelowna—Lake Country 2006–present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
