Wikipedia

Cam Calder

Campbell Gordon Calder[1] (born 1952), known as Cam Calder, is a New Zealand doctor and former politician. He was a National Party Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives from 2009 to 2014.

Cam Calder
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for National Party list
In office
16 June 2009 – 20 September 2014
Preceded byRichard Worth[n 1]
Personal details
Born
Campbell Gordon Calder

1952 (age 71–72)
Political partyNational
OccupationDoctor, dentist and sports administrator

Early life and career

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Calder was brought up in New Plymouth by his mother; his father had died when he was six. He has two brothers and a sister. He was educated at Westown School, New Plymouth Boys’ High School, and the University of Otago, where he studied dental surgery.[2] He undertook postgraduate study in dentistry at the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons and—while running his own dental practice at the same time—retrained in medicine at Magdalene College, Cambridge University.[2][3] During his medical study, Calder lost the sight in one eye through an accident.[4] He was an emergency medicine doctor in England and, after returning home in the early 1990s, New Zealand.[4][5] Immediately before his election to parliament in 2009, he was working as clinical research director for a medical and sporting equipment company.[4]

Calder lived in France for a period beginning in 2001.[3] He served as president of the French New Zealand Business Council and has also served on the international governing body for pétanque. He takes credit for being one of the people who "imported" pétanque into New Zealand.[4][6] He represented New Zealand at the 1995 Pétanque World Championships in Brussels, Belgium; the team finished 36th.[7][8]

He is married to Jenny and has two children.[4]

Member of Parliament

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New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2009–2011 49th List 58 National
2011–2014 50th List 50 National

Calder became involved in politics in 2003, when he joined the National Party.[3] He held various internal offices, including as chair of the North Shore electorate committee.[9] He was involved in policy development for the party, proposing, unsuccessfully, at party conferences that the party develop a new growth measure to replace gross domestic product and taxation policy that included 100% write-offs for research and development.[9][10]

In the 2008 general election Calder contested the Manurewa electorate and was ranked 58 on the party list. He lost his electorate and would have been elected as a list MP on the provisional results of the election, but the number of seats allocated to National dropped by one in the final count, preventing Calder from entering Parliament at that time.[6][11] After the resignation of list MP Richard Worth in June 2009, Calder was elected in his place.[12][13] Calder re-contested Manurewa in 2011 and lost, but was returned for a full term as a list MP.[14]

Calder was a member of the law and order committee and the local government and environment committee during his first term. From December 2011 until February 2013, he was a member of the health committee and deputy chair of the justice and electoral committee. Thereafter until his retirement in 2014 he was a member of the transport and industrial relations committee and chair of the education and science committee.[15] In 2012, Calder's private member's bill banning high-powered laser pointers in a public place was introduced into parliament; it became law in July 2014 with cross-party support.[16][17][18]

Calder announced in October 2013 that he was going to retire from parliament at the 2014 general election.[19] He was replaced as Manurewa candidate by Simeon Brown.[20] After leaving Parliament, Calder acted as an observer in the 2015 Sri Lankan presidential election.[21]

Political views

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Calder said he would vote "no" (that a smack as part of good parental correction should not be a criminal offence in New Zealand) in the 2009 New Zealand child discipline referendum.[22] He supported increasing the purchase age for alcohol to 20 years.[23][24] He voted in favour of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013.[25] In 2021 he wrote an op-ed for The New Zealand Herald denouncing what he described as "the current, fashionable tropes of critical race theory, cultural Marxism and the denigration of colonisation" in the new New Zealand history curriculum.[26]

Notes

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  1. ^ Normally, list MPs do not have individual predecessors or successors, but Worth resigned during a sitting parliament and therefore was succeeded by Calder.

References

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  1. ^ "New Zealand Hansard - Members Sworn Volume:651;Page:2". New Zealand Parliament. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Calder, Cam: Maiden Statements". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Scoop's Meet The MPs Project: Cam Calder". Scoop News. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e Trevett, Claire (16 June 2009). "Doctor MP nurses special interest in men's health and 'man-ograms'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  5. ^ Cheng, Derek (20 May 2011). "MPs love property and petanque". NZ Herald. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  6. ^ a b "National Party Welcomes New Member". 12 June 2009.
  7. ^ "Representative Honours » PNZ". Pétanque New Zealand. Archived from the original on 3 May 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  8. ^ "Petanque: (Almost) beating them at their own game". NZ Herald. 27 March 2003. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  9. ^ a b O'Sullivan, Fran (4 August 2007). "Fran O'Sullivan: Nats plot conservative course". NZ Herald. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Quality of life: a challenge to National's policymakers". Colin James. 2 May 2006. Archived from the original on 6 December 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  11. ^ "Graham becomes Greens' ninth MP, as Nats lose out". RNZ. 22 November 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  12. ^ "Dr Cam Calder". New Zealand Parliament. 15 August 2014. Archived from the original on 23 June 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  13. ^ "John Key statement on Richard Worth". The New Zealand Herald. 12 June 2009.
  14. ^ "Official Count Results -- Successful Candidates". New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  15. ^ "Calder, Cam". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  16. ^ "Labour calls for hand-held laser ban". NZ Herald. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  17. ^ Cheng, Derek (23 July 2014). "Law comes down heavily on hand-held laser pointers". NZ Herald. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  18. ^ "Summary Offences (Possession of Hand-held Lasers) Amendment Bill 2013: Bills Digest No 2100". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  19. ^ Vance, Andrea (25 October 2013). "National MPs to retire". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  20. ^ "National selects Simeon Brown as Manurewa candidate". Scoop News. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  21. ^ "Sri Lanka Presidential Election 2015 Observer Arrival Statement". Commonwealth. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  22. ^ Trevett, Claire (31 July 2009). "Referendum waste of time, say MPs". NZ Herald. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  23. ^ Davison, Isaac (8 May 2012). "New MPs dilute alcohol bill backing". NZ Herald. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  24. ^ "Alcohol Reform Bill". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  25. ^ "Gay marriage: How MPs voted". NZ Herald. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  26. ^ Calder, Cam (4 May 2021). "History curriculum 'woefully lacks detail'". NZ Herald. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
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