Ricardo Miranda ECA (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]
The Honourable Ricardo Miranda | |
|---|---|
 Miranda in May 2015 | |
| Alberta Minister of Culture and Tourism | |
| In office February 2, 2016 – April 30, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | David Eggen |
| Succeeded by | Leela Aheer |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Cross | |
| In office May 5, 2015 – April 16, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Yvonne Fritz |
| Succeeded by | Mickey Amery |
| 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 |
On February 2, 2016, Miranda was appointed Alberta's Minister of Culture and Tourism.
Before politics
editMiranda was born in Managua, Nicaragua, and is Jewish.[2] In 1988, Miranda left war-torn Nicaragua immigrating to Canada as a refugee when he was just 10-years-old.[3] He graduated from Father Lacombe High School in Calgary, and went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Calgary.
Miranda engaged for several years in 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. 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]
Political career
editMiranda's entry into politics came after encouragement by Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley, who suggested he may run for the Alberta NDP party.[5] Previously, Miranda 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.
He was elected as an MLA in the 2015 Alberta general election, becoming one of the first three openly LGBT politicians elected to the provincial legislature, alongside caucus colleagues Michael Connolly and Estefania Cortes-Vargas.[6] In February 2016, Miranda was appointed as Alberta's Minister of Culture and Tourism in a provincial government headed by Notley.
He was defeated in the 2019 provincial election.[7]
Personal life
editMiranda is openly gay. In addition to belonging to a sexual minority group, 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.
Miranda became Alberta's first cabinet minister to be married in a same-sex wedding. In a marriage ceremony held on December 28, 2018 in Calgary's Glenbow Museum, Miranda married boyfriend and partner Christopher Brown. He had met Brown early in 2018. The marriage ceremony of Miranda and Brown was officiated by Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.[8]
Electoral history
edit| 2019 Alberta general election: Calgary-Cross | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| United Conservative | Mickey Amery | 8,907 | 54.26 | +2.75† | $39,209 | |||
| New Democratic | Ricardo Miranda | 6,135 | 37.38 | +1.25 | $54,925 | |||
| Alberta Party | Braham Luddu | 962 | 5.86 | – | $6,936 | |||
| Liberal | Naser Kukhun | 410 | 2.50 | -6.88 | $4,299 | |||
| Total | 16,414 | 99.27 | – | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 121 | 0.73 | – | |||||
| Turnout | 16,535 | 53.61 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 30,844 | |||||||
| United Conservative notional hold | Swing | -2.25 | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Elections Alberta[9][10][11] Note: Expenses is the sum of "Election Expenses", "Other Expenses" and "Transfers Issued". The Elections Act limits "Election Expenses" to $50,000. †Comparison for UCP is to the combined Wildrose & PC redistributed vote in 2015 | ||||||||
| 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. | ||||||||
References
edit- ^ "NDP's Miranda wins by 100 votes over former police chief". Calgary Herald, May 6, 2015.
- ^ "Ricardo Miranda: From refugee to cabinet minister," Canadian Jewish News.
- ^ "Save the date: Ricardo Miranda, Alberta’s first openly gay cabinet minister, is getting married". Toronto Star, December 5, 2018.
- ^ "Board Members".
- ^ "CUPE Researcher elected in Alberta". Canadian Union of Public Employees. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
- ^ "Alberta's NDP Government A Diverse Bunch". Canadian Press via Huffington Post, May 6, 2015.
- ^ "Son of longtime MLA Moe Amery ready to take over Calgary-Cross". Calgary Herald, April 18, 2019.
- ^ "Alberta premier officiates cabinet minister's historic same-sex wedding". CBC News, December 30, 2018.
- ^ "05 - Calgary-Cross, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
- ^ Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume II (PDF) (Report). Vol. 2. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 19–22. ISBN 978-1-988620-12-1. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
- ^ Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume III Election Finances (PDF) (Report). Vol. 3. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 68–82. ISBN 978-1-988620-13-8. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.