The Honourable
Heather Forsyth
ECA
Forsyth in 2012
Leader of the Opposition of Alberta
In office
December 22, 2014 – May 5, 2015
Preceded byDanielle Smith
Succeeded byBrian Jean
Leader of the Wildrose Party
In office
December 22, 2014 – March 28, 2015
Preceded byDanielle Smith
Succeeded byBrian Jean
Minister of Children's Services
In office
November 25, 2004 – December 15, 2006
PremierRalph Klein
Preceded byIris Evans
Succeeded byJanis Tarchuk
Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security
In office
March 16, 2001 – November 25, 2004
PremierRalph Klein
Preceded bySteve West (1992)
Succeeded byHarvey Cenaiko
Member of the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
for Calgary-Fish Creek
In office
June 15, 1993 – May 5, 2015
Preceded byWilliam Edward Payne
Succeeded byRichard Gotfried
Personal details
Born
Heather Mae Forsyth[1]

(1950-08-01) August 1, 1950 (age 73)
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Political partyConservative
Other political
affiliations		Wildrose (2010-2015)
Progressive Conservative (1993-2010)
Residence(s)Calgary, Alberta, Canada
OccupationPolitician

Heather Mae Forsyth ECA (born August 1, 1950) is a former Canadian politician. She was named interim leader of the Wildrose Party on December 22, 2014, following the defection of the previous leader, Danielle Smith, and eight other MLAs.[2] Forsyth is a former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Calgary-Fish Creek as a Wildrose Alliance representative.[3] She was a Progressive Conservative until she crossed the floor on January 4, 2010.[4] In the 2012 Alberta general election, Forsyth was reelected along with 16 other Wildrose MLAs to form the Official Opposition.[5] Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith then appointed Forsyth as Health Critic.[3] Forsyth retired from Alberta politics in 2015 after her stint as interim leader of the Wildrose Party.[6]

Political work

Heather Forsyth was first elected on June 15, 1993, and served for a total of 21 years, 10 months and 21 days.[3] She spent the entire length of her political career representing the Calgary-Fish Creek constituency.[3] Forsyth was a member of the Progressive Conservative party from June 15, 1993, until January 4, 2010, until she crossed the floor to the Wildrose Party, which she remained a part of until her retirement in 2015.[3] While in office, she served as member, chair and deputy chair of numerous standing committees, 56 in total.[3] Forsyth also held positions such as Critic for Service Alberta, Health, Critic for Culture and Community Services, Critic for Employment and Immigration, Critic for Health and Wellness as well as Critic for Seniors.[3] Forsyth also held the position of Solicitor General from March 19, 2001, until November 24, 2004, and was Minister of Children's Services from November 25, 2004, until December 14, 2006.[3]

In 1997, Forsyth led the Task Force on Children Involved in Prostitution and helped submit a report that recommended changes to the Child Welfare Act entitled, Children Involved In Prostitution: Report by The Task Force on Children Involved in Prostitution.[7][8] In 2000, Forsyth was chair of the Alberta Advisory Committee on Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation and was involved with the report entitled A Framework for Action: A Coordinated and Integrated Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplant System for Alberta.[9] In 2007, Forsyth led the Crime Reduction and Safe Communities Task Force as chair and submitted the report entitled Keeping Communities Safe: Report and Recommendations.[10]

Forsyth was successful in winning 6 elections over her political career.[3] Typically, Forsyth was elected with substantial leads over her opponents but notably, one of her narrowest victories occurred in the 2012 Alberta general election, where she edged out her main competitor from the Progressive Conservative Party, Wendelin Fraser, by a count of 38 votes.[5] Forsyth is perhaps best known for being named Interim Leader of the Wildrose Party, which occurred after the departure of former Wildrose leader, Danielle Smith and nine other former Wildrose MLAs to the Progressive Conservative party.[2] At the time, Forsyth knew that she would not be seeking reelection due to family reasons, but said that she would be willing to offer her leadership until the next election that would eventually take place on May 5, 2015.[2]

Charity work

Heather Forsyth is also known for her charity golf tournament: The Peanut Butter Classic. The tournament is an annual women's charity golf tournament.[11] Forsyth founded the charity, which collects and donates jars of peanut butter for the Calgary Food Bank in 2003.[12] Since its foundation, the Peanut Butter Classic has also raised over 1.7 million dollars for charities in the Calgary area including Alcove, an addictions recovery centre for women that offers accommodations for women and children to keep them together.[12] The charity is entirely oranzized and operated by volunteers.[11] Calgary firefighters have been involved in volunteering at the event since its earliest days.[12] The tournament gives 98% of its proceeds to charity.[12]

Election results

1993 Alberta general election: Calgary-Fish Creek
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Heather Forsyth 7,855 54.65% 6.68%
Liberal Marie Cameron 5,346 37.19% -0.63%
New Democratic Kerin Spaargaren 558 3.88% -10.32%
Independent Roy Carey 544 3.78% –
Natural Law Darlene Holt 70 0.49% –
Total 14,373 – –
Rejected, spoiled and declined 18 – –
Eligible electors / turnout 22,447 64.11% 16.69%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 3.66%
Source(s)
Source: "Calgary-Fish Creek Official Results 1993 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
1997 Alberta general election: Calgary-Fish Creek
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Heather Forsyth 8,274 66.62% 11.97%
Liberal Marie Cameron 3,020 24.32% -12.88%
Social Credit Jeff Willerton 778 6.26% –
New Democratic Muriel Turner-Wilkinson 348 2.80% -1.08%
Total 12,420 – –
Rejected, spoiled and declined 27 5 0
Eligible electors / turnout 22,697 54.84% -9.27%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 12.42%
Source(s)
Source: "Calgary-Fish Creek Official Results 1997 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (1997). Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, November, 1996 general enumeration and Tuesday, March 11, 1997 general election Twenty-fourth Legislative Assembly. Edmonton: Alberta Legislative Assembly, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer.
2001 Alberta general election: Calgary-Fish Creek
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Heather Forsyth 9,716 74.54% 7.93%
Liberal Marc Doll 2,853 21.89% -2.43%
New Democratic Ryan Todd 465 3.57% 0.77%
Total 13,034 – –
Rejected, spoiled and declined 24 23 3
Eligible electors / turnout 22,554 57.91% 3.07%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 5.18%
Source(s)
Source: "Calgary-Fish Creek Official Results 2001 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2001). The report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the 2000 provincial confirmation process and Monday, March 12, 2001, Provincial General Election of the twenty-fifth Legislative Assembly. Edmonton: Alberta Legislative Assembly, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer.
2004 Alberta general election: Calgary-Fish Creek
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Heather Forsyth 6,829 57.83% -16.71%
Liberal Tore Badenduck 2,845 24.09% 2.20%
New Democratic Eric Leavitt 793 6.72% 3.15%
Alberta Alliance Mike Kuipers 781 6.61% –
Green Chris Sealy 561 4.75% –
Total 11,809 – –
Rejected, spoiled and declined 37 12 3
Eligible electors / turnout 26,174 45.27% -12.64%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -9.46%
Source(s)
Source: "00 - Calgary-Fish Creek, 2004 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2005). Report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the General Enumeration and General Election of the Twenty-sixth Legislative Assembly (Report). Edmonton: Alberta Legislative Assembly, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer.
2008 Alberta general election: Calgary-Fish Creek
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Heather Forsyth 6,884 52.30% -5.53%
Liberal Laura Shutiak 4,038 30.68% 6.59%
Wildrose Alliance Jamie Buchan 1,261 9.58% 2.97%
Green Kerry T. Fraser 556 4.22% -0.53%
New Democratic Eric Leavitt 423 3.21% -3.50%
Total 13,162 – –
Rejected, spoiled and declined 26 13 2
Eligible electors / turnout 28,203 46.77% 1.50%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -6.06%
Source(s)
Source: "09 - Calgary-Fish Creek, 2008 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Chief Electoral Officer (2008). The Report on the March 3, 2008 Provincial General Election of the Twenty-Seventh Legislative Assembly (Report). Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 202–205. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
2012 Alberta general election: Calgary-Fish Creek
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Wildrose Alliance Heather Forsyth 7,672 43.94% 34.36%
Progressive Conservative Wendelin Fraser 7,634 43.72% -8.58%
Liberal Nazir Rahemtulla 1,260 7.22% -23.46%
New Democratic Eric Leavitt 894 5.12% 1.91%
Total 17,460 – –
Rejected, spoiled and declined 47 73 2
Eligible electors / turnout 28,668 61.08% 14.31%
Wildrose Alliance gain from Progressive Conservative Swing -10.70%
Source(s)
Source: "10 - Calgary-Fish Creek, 2012 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Chief Electoral Officer (2012). The Report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the 2011 Provincial Enumeration and Monday, April 23, 2012 Provincial General Election of the Twenty-eighth Legislative Assembly (PDF) (Report). Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.

References

  1. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2014-09-15.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ a b c "Heather Forsyth named Alberta Wildrose interim leader". Maclean's. The Canadian Press. December 22, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Member Profiles". Legislative Assembly Of Alberta. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  4. ^ "Wildrose Party announces Heather Forsyth as new interim leader". The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Gale Group. December 22, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Election Results". Elections Alberta. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  6. ^ Bellefontaine, Michelle (May 5, 2018). "Barriers to women in politics 'socialist crap,' Heather Forsyth tells UCP meeting". CBC News. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  7. ^ "ISYS 9 Search Results for heather forsyth". www.assembly.ab.ca. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  8. ^ Children involved in prostitution: report. Edmonton: Alberta Family and Social Services, Task Force on Children Involved in Prostitution (Alberta). 1997. OCLC 1070966827.
  9. ^ "Framework for Action: A Coordinated and Integrated Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplant System for Alberta. April 19, 2000". librarysearch.assembly.ab.ca. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  10. ^ "Keeping communities safe : report and recommendations". librarysearch.assembly.ab.ca. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  11. ^ a b Young, Claire (2015-05-29). "Peanut Butter Classic swings into action helping women and children". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  12. ^ a b c d Young, Claire (June 22, 2018). "Peanut Butter Classic raises $160,000 for Alcove". Calgary Herald. Calgary Herald. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
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