Gary Mar - Political Career

Political Career

At the age of 31, Mar was first elected the Alberta Legislature in the 1993 general election. He won the electoral district of Calgary Nose Creek defeating incumbent Liberal MLA Yolande Gagnon. Premier Ralph Klein had campaigned on a debt-reduction platform, and Mar's first years as a Cabinet minister in the Klein government developed and reinforced his fiscal management and commitment to balanced budgeting. Over 14 years, Mar served as minister responsible for the arts, amateur sport, seniors, education, environment, provincial parks, health care, Alberta's centennial celebrations, Alberta's international offices and international relations, and Alberta's relations with other governments within Canada. He was a member of the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund Committee, the Members’ Services Committee and the Cabinet Policy Committee on Managing Growth Pressures.

As Minister of Education, Mar introduced First Things First…Our Children, an initiative that focused on school children of all ages. It made a commitment to ensuring children can read well by grade 3, and focused on high standards for junior and senior high school students, keeping them in school and ensuring they have the skills they need when they graduate. As Minister of Health and Wellness, Mar was instrumental in a number of changes to the system with long-lasting results. He ensured primary care networks, in which physicians lead a team of health care professionals. This interdisciplinary, community-accessible approach became the focus of the health system. He reduced the number of health regions; took steps with electronic health records, negotiated for different funding from the federal government of Canada, and worked with the physicians union to create a controversial model for their pay.