The Honourable
Prasad Panda
ECA
Panda in 2015
Minister of Transportation
In office
June 21, 2022 – October 24, 2022
PremierJason Kenney
Preceded byRajan Sawhney
Succeeded byDevin Dreeshen
Minister of Infrastructure
In office
April 30, 2019 – June 21, 2022
PremierJason Kenney
Preceded bySandra Jansen
Succeeded byNicholas Milliken
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Edgemont (Calgary-Foothills; 2015–2019)
In office
September 3, 2015 – May 29, 2023
Preceded byJim Prentice
Succeeded byJulia Hayter
Personal details
Born1962 or 1963 (age 60–61)
Sangam Jagarlamudi, Andhra Pradesh, India
Political partyUnited Conservative
Other political
affiliations		Wildrose (until 2017)
ResidenceCalgary
OccupationProfessional engineer

Prasad Panda ECA is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in a 2015 by-election, replacing former Alberta Premier Jim Prentice, and the 2019 Alberta general elections to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Foothills.[1]

He is a member of the United Conservative Party. With his party forming majority government Panda joined the Executive Council of Alberta as the Minister of Infrastructure beginning on April 30, 2019.

Background

Prasad Panda was born in Sangam Jagarlamudi, Andhra Pradesh, India. Since coming to Canada, Panda has spent his entire life living in his constituency of Calgary-Edgemont. Panda holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a professional engineer by trade.[2] He worked in the energy sector for 28 years, during which time he held senior management positions with Reliance Industries Ltd. and Suncor Energy Inc. Panda was a key member of the project management teams that built world-scale projects worth over $100 billion, including petroleum, petrochemical, power, pipelines, marine infrastructure, and oil sands projects. He is a member of Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).

Panda is the president of the Telugu Association of Calgary and as the first vice-president of the India-Canada Association of Calgary.[2] Panda also organizes an annual food drive for Calgary Veterans.[3]

Political career

Panda was a member of the Wildrose Party and defeated former Calgary city councillor and Alberta NDP MLA Bob Hawkesworth by 1598 votes, winning 38.3% of all votes cast.[4][5]

In 2017, Panda joined the United Conservative Party and became the party's energy critic. Panda introduced Motion 505, a resolution calling on the federal government to ban the import of oil from countries with a poor human rights or environmental record, and to facilitate pipelines within Canada to ensure better prices for Alberta oil.[6]

Panda ran in the 2019 Alberta general election and was elected to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Edgemont.[7] He is a member of the United Conservative Party. With his party forming a majority government, Panda joined the Executive Council of Alberta as the Minister of Infrastructure, beginning on April 30, 2019.

In October 2021, Panda sponsored and introduced Bill 73, the Infrastructure Accountability Act. The bill aims to increase transparency and accountability by setting a guiding framework for long-term, priority-based public infrastructure planning.[2] It also legislates a governance framework to guide how capital projects are prioritized, as well as the development of a 20-Year Strategic Capital Plan, which will help guide the government's infrastructure decisions over the long-term.[8] The bill passed on the 7th of December 2021, and it is the only bill sponsored by Panda while he was in the cabinet.[2]

Panda ran for re-election in the 2023 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Edgemont.[9] He lost his seat to Julia Hayter from the NDP, who received 34.03% of the vote in the 2019 Alberta general elections in the same riding.[10]

Electoral history

2023 Alberta general election: Calgary-Edgemont
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
New Democratic Julia Hayter 11,681 49.30 +15.27
United Conservative Prasad Panda 11,397 48.10 -4.75
Alberta Party Allen Schultz 488 2.06 -8.82
Wildrose Loyalty Coalition Nan Barron 66 0.28 –
Solidarity Movement Miles Williams 64 0.27 –
Total 23,696 99.23 –
Rejected and declined 184 0.77
Turnout 23,880 65.75
Eligible voters 36,322
New Democratic gain from United Conservative Swing +10.01
Source(s)
Source: Elections Alberta[11]


2019 Alberta general election: Calgary-Edgemont
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
United Conservative Prasad Panda 13,308 52.84 -3.19 $60,021
New Democratic Julia Hayter 8,570 34.03 +0.53 $40,725
Alberta Party Joanne Gui 2,740 10.88 +9.12 $39,339
Liberal Graeme Maitland 305 1.21 -5.15 $500
Green Carl Svoboda 155 0.62 -1.57 $500
Alberta Independence Tomasz Kochanowicz 106 0.42 – $852
Total 25,184 98.83 –
Rejected, spoiled and declined 299 1.17
Turnout 25,483 70.11
Eligible voters 36,346
United Conservative notional hold Swing -1.86
Source(s)
Source: Elections Alberta[12][13][14]
Note: Expenses is the sum of "Election Expenses", "Other Expenses" and "Transfers Issued". The Elections Act limits "Election Expenses" to $50,000.

Calgary-Foothills

Alberta provincial by-election, September 3, 2015: Calgary-Foothills
Voiding of general election results due to Jim Prentice disclaiming his seat
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Wildrose Prasad Panda 4,877 38.35 +20.24
New Democratic Bob Hawkesworth 3,270 25.71 -6.65
Progressive Conservative Blair Houston 2,746 21.59 -18.74
Liberal Ali Bin Zahid 791 6.22 -0.94
Alberta Party Mark Taylor 610 4.80 +4.80
Green Janet Keeping 377 2.96 +0.92
Independent Antoni Grochowski 46 0.36 –
Total valid votes 12,717
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots
Turnout 39.48
Eligible voters 32,212
Wildrose gain from Progressive Conservative Swing +19.49

Calgary-Northern Hills

2015 Alberta general election: Calgary-Northern Hills
Party Candidate Votes %
New Democratic Jamie Kleinsteuber 6,641 38.2
Progressive Conservative Teresa Woo-Paw 5,343 30.7
Wildrose Prasad Panda 4,392 25.3
Liberal Harry Lin 1,000 5.8
Total valid votes 17,376 100.0
Rejected, spoiled and declined 160
Turnout 17,536 46.1
Eligible voters 38,004
Source: Elections Alberta[15]
2012 Alberta general election: Calgary-Northern Hills
Party Candidate Votes %
Progressive Conservative Teresa Woo-Paw 6,144 49.02%
Wildrose Prasad Panda 4,637 37.00%
Liberal Kirstin Morrell 1,058 8.44%
New Democratic Stephanie Westlund 694 5.54%
Alberta provincial government of Jason Kenney Cabinet post (1) Predecessor Office Successor Sandra Jansen Minister of InfrastructureApril 30, 2019– Incumbent

References

  1. ^ "Wildrose's Panda defeats NDP in Calgary-Foothills byelection battle". Calgary Herald, September 4, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d "Member Information". www.assembly.ab.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  3. ^ ucpcaucus_mla (2019-10-02). "Prasad Panda". United Conservative Caucus. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  4. ^ "Report on 2015 Calgary-Foothills and 2016 Calgary-Greenway By-elections". Elections Alberta, November 15, 2016.[1]
  5. ^ Passifiume,Bryan:'Panda beats Hawkesworth as Wildrose wins Calgary provincial byelection' Calgary Sun, September 3, 2015.https://edmontonsun.com/2015/09/03/panda-beats-hawkesworth-as-wildrose-win-calgary-provincial-byelection
  6. ^ "Breakenridge: Governments should stand back and let energy economy take its course". calgaryherald. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  7. ^ "Wildrose's Panda defeats NDP in Calgary-Foothills byelection battle". calgaryherald. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  8. ^ "Strengthening infrastructure planning". www.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  9. ^ "Alberta Election 2023 – daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics and Elections". Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  10. ^ "Alberta election 2023 results: Calgary-Edgemont | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  11. ^ "08 - Calgary-Edgemont". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  12. ^ "08 - Calgary-Edgemont, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  13. ^ 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. 31–34. ISBN 978-1-988620-12-1. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ "2015 Provincial General Election Results". Elections Alberta. Archived from the original on 2017-08-01. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
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