Thomas Lukaszuk - Political Career

Political Career

Former Edmonton-Castle Downs MLA Pamela Paul retirement opened the door for Lukaszuk to win the constituency. Garnering 5,971 votes in the 2001 provincial election, he was able to increase the Progressive Conservative vote share to 51 per cent, up from the 40 per cent Ihor Broda polled in losing to Paul in 1997. Upon his election, he became the first ever Polish-born person to be elected to a Canadian legislature.

In his first term in office, Lukaszuk sponsored Bill 204, a private members bill known as the Blood Samples Act, which passed third reading on March 31, 2004 and was passed into law on May 11, 2004. The act granted authority to Good Samaritans, front-line emergency workers, police officers, fire fighters, correctional officers, and health service providers to seek an order from the justice system to take a blood sample from a person who has refused to give their consent. The act intended to protect individuals who believe they had come into contact with the body fluid of a person who is infected with a virus that causes a prescribed communicable disease.

In the 2004 provincial election, Lukaszuk was originally declared defeated by the Liberals' Chris Kibermanis, a former draft pick of the NHL's Winnipeg Jets. Election night results showed Kibermanis winning by a five-vote margin over Lukaszuk. An automatic judicial recount confirmed Kibermanis's win by three votes rather than five, and Kibermanis was declared the winner by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. However, the Progressive Conservative Party appealed the recount to the Alberta Court of Appeals, which disputed a number of previously rejected ballots, giving Lukaszuk a three-vote margin of victory. The ordeal earned Lukaszuk the moniker "Landslide Lukaszuk," which has been ascribed to him in the local media. Kibermanis again challenged Lukaszuk in the 2008 provincial election, but was defeated by 2,080 votes.

In his time as an MLA, Lukaszuk has served on a total of 21 legislative committees, chairing six of them. After being elected to his third term in 2008, Premier Ed Stelmach named him parliamentary assistant to Municipal Affairs Minister Ray Danyluk. On January 13, 2010, Lukaszuk was appointed as Minister of Employment and Immigration and on October 12, 2011 was appointed as Minister of Enterprise and Advanced Education by Premier Alison Redford.