Paul Hinman
Paul Hinman (born 1959 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a provincial politician and small business entrepreneur from Alberta, Canada. He was formerly the leader of the Wildrose Alliance. He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 2004 to 2008 representing the electoral district of Cardston-Taber-Warner. On September 14, 2009, Hinman returned to the Legislative Assembly by winning a by-election in Calgary-Glenmore, but lost his bid for re-election on April 23, 2012. He currently serves as the interim leader of the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta.[1][2]
Paul Hinman | |
|---|---|
 Hinman in 2012 | |
| Leader of the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta | |
| Assumed office July 17, 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Leader of the Wildrose Alliance | |
| In office February 1, 2008 – October 17, 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Danielle Smith |
| Leader of the Alberta Alliance | |
| In office November 19, 2005 – January 31, 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Eleanor Maroes (interim) |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta | |
| In office September 14, 2009 – April 23, 2012 | |
| Preceded by | Ron Stevens |
| Succeeded by | Linda Johnson |
| Constituency | Calgary-Glenmore |
| In office November 22, 2004 – March 3, 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Broyce Jacobs |
| Succeeded by | Broyce Jacobs |
| Constituency | Cardston-Taber-Warner |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1959 (age 61–62) Edmonton, Alberta |
| Political party | Wildrose Independence |
| Other political affiliations | Alberta Alliance (2002-2008) Wildrose (2008-2017) United Conservative (2017-2020) |
| Children | Mark, Jordan, Tanner, Janna |
| Residence | Calgary, Alberta |
| Alma mater | University of Alberta |
Early life
Hinman was born in Edmonton in 1959.[3] He grew up in Calgary in the neighbourhood of Haysboro.[4]
Hinman has been active in the Scouts Canada organization since his childhood and continues to maintain his involvement with the program through leadership roles as an adult. He enjoys participating in outdoor activities such as hiking in the mountains and horseback riding.[5]
Hinman became politically aware at an early age, through his grand father Edgar "Ted" Hinman who served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Cardston and as Provincial Treasurer in the Social Credit government under Ernest Manning.[3]
Hinman has travelled to Denmark, Spain, the Caribbean Islands, Africa and Hong Kong. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and comes from a long line of Mormon pioneers.[6][7][8] He spent two years in the Philippines serving an LDS Mission, where he learned to speak Tagalog.[5][6][7][8]
Hinman prior to winning his seat in the Alberta Legislature was an irrigation farmer, cow-calf producer, purebred-cattle breeder, feedlot operator and small-business entrepreneur. He attended the University of Alberta Faculty of Pharmacy.[5]
Today Hinman currently resides near his childhood home in Calgary.
Political career
Hinman became politically active working for the Reform Party of Canada in the early years. He served on policy and election committees. He later served positions in the Conservative Party of Canada. He serves as a board member for the federal Conservative Party of Canada in the electoral district of Lethbridge.
In provincial politics, he was the southern regional director for the Alberta First Party. Hinman served as vice-president of policy for the Alberta Alliance Party from its founding convention on February 14, 2002, until he was named deputy leader on January 8, 2005.
MLA of Cardston-Taber-Warner
Himan was elected to his first term as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing the constituency of Cardston-Taber-Warner in the 2004 provincial election on November 22, 2004.
He defeated incumbent Broyce Jacobs who was affiliated with the Progressive Conservatives by 129 votes to capture the riding and pickup the district for the Alberta Alliance banner. He was the only person elected under the Alliance banner for the party that election. His win helped to retain the seat the Alliance gained in the Legislature when Edmonton-Norwood MLA Gary Masyk crossed the floor in June 2004.[9]
His win was historic as he became the first person elected under a fourth party banner in the Alberta Legislature since 1986.
Leadership election
Former Alberta Alliance leader Randy Thorsteinson stepped down as leader of the party shortly after the 2004 provincial election.
Hinman was one of four candidates who ran in the 2005 Alberta Alliance Party leadership election. The other three candidates were Ed Klop, Marilyn Burns and David Crutcher.
After a vigorous campaign, Hinman won the election on the third ballot at the leadership convention held on November 19, 2005 in Red Deer, Alberta to take over the party from interim leader Eleanor Maroes.
Wildrose Alliance
Under Hinman's leadership, the Alberta Alliance and the upstart Wildrose Party of Alberta merged to unite the right wing of the political spectrum in Alberta at a convention held on January 19, 2008 in Calgary.
In the 2008 provincial election, held just weeks after the merger convention, Hinman lost to his Progressive Conservative opponent, Broyce Jacobs by 39 votes. The party improved its popular vote in the riding although Hinman only campaigned in the riding for five days.[10] The party also improved its popular vote in most of the other ridings where it ran candidates, but was unable to pick up any seats.
Hinman received accolades during the campaign for his performance in the televised leaders debate.
A year later, Hinman stepped down as leader of the Wildrose Alliance Party, triggering a leadership convention on October 2009 in Edmonton. Hinman remained interim leader of the Alliance until the election of Danielle Smith as party leader on October 17.[11] Like Smith, he is a libertarian.[12]
Calgary-Glenmore by-election
On May 15, 2009 Calgary-Glenmore MLA Ron Stevens announced his resignation to accept a position as a judge. Hinman ran in the ensuing by-election, seeking to return to the legislature from a riding where he had grown up and where he was currently living.[13] Hinman was selected as the Wildrose Alliance candidate at a well-attended nomination meeting and subsequently won the by-election with 37% of the vote.
| Alberta provincial by-election, September 14, 2009: Calgary-Glenmore | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Wildrose Alliance | Paul Hinman | 4,052 | 36.87% | 28.80% | ||||
| Liberal | Avalon Roberts | 3,774 | 34.34% | 1.17% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Diane Colley-Urquhart | 2,847 | 25.90% | −24.77% | ||||
| New Democratic | Eric Carpendale | 148 | 1.34% | −2.42% | ||||
| Social Credit | Len Skowronski | 99 | 0.90% | – | ||||
| Independent | Antoni Grochowski | 71 | 0.65% | – | ||||
| Total | 10,991 | – | – | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 29 | 5 | 1 | |||||
| Eligible electors / turnout | 28,164 | 39.15% | -6.35% | |||||
| Wildrose Alliance gain from Progressive Conservative | Swing | 14.99 | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Chief Electoral Officer (November 20, 2009). Report on the September 14, 2009 Calgary-Glenmore By-Election. Edmonton: Elections Alberta. ISBN 0981120172. Retrieved October 23, 2020. | ||||||||
Leadership of the United Conservative Party
On September 8, 2017, Danielle Smith of NewsTalk770 and Hinman's successor as Wildrose leader, announced that Hinman would be running for the leadership of the new United Conservative Party. However, Hinman ultimately declined to run and endorsed Jason Kenney instead.[14]
References
- Gilligan, Melissa (July 17, 2020). "Paul Hinman named interim leader of Alberta's new Wildrose Independence Party". Global News. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
- Morgan, Cory (July 17, 2020). "Paul Hinman is just the man the Wildrose Independence Party needs". Western Standard. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
- "Alberta Votes 2008 Paul Hinman". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on June 9, 2008. Retrieved August 10, 2009.
- "Hinman to run in Calgary byelection" (PDF). Lethbridge Herald. June 25, 2009. p. A2.
- "Our Leader - Paul Hinman". Wildrose Alliance Party. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
- "Paul Hinman - Famous Mormons". famousmormons.net. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
- Campbell, Joel (April 30, 2009). "Global media spotlight successes of Mormons". DeseretNews.com. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
- "Paul Hinman wants to contest UCP leadership! He has till tonight to raise $57,500! I'm not making this up! - Alberta Politics". Alberta Politics. September 12, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
- "Alberta lawmaker defects from Klein's Conservatives". CBC News. June 30, 2004. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- Renata D'Aliesio (May 7, 2009). "How Paul Hinman lost his seat in the legislature". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013.
- "Smith elected Wildrose Party leader". CBC News. October 17, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- Braid, Don (16 September 2009). "Plain-spoken Hinman refreshed after time away". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 30 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
- "Meet Paul Hinman". Wildrose Alliance. Archived from the original on August 10, 2009. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
- "Honoured to receive the endorsement of former MLA Paul Hinman in Ponoka today, the first Leader of the Wildrose Alliance". Twitter. September 23, 2017. Retrieved September 9, 2020.