Advertisement 1

Calgary NDP MLA Stephanie McLean won't run for re-election, opts to pursue law career

Article content

Stephanie McLean, an NDP cabinet minister from Calgary, will not seek re-election in 2019.

McLean, minister for Service Alberta and status of women, said the decision not to run again was not easy, but she is eager to pursue her legal practice.

“Serving the people of Calgary-Varsity and working in the Notley government has been, and remains, an enormous honour,” she said in a statement Thursday.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content
Article content

“At the same time, my life’s ambition has been the law. And as a young lawyer, I am eager to pursue my practice. I have no doubt that all I have learned and come to appreciate in government will make me a better lawyer advancing the cause of justice in a meaningful, if less public, way.”

McLean was elected on May 5, 2015. Before serving as an MLA, she started a small business practising law and later partnered to create GTM LLP, where she practised family and criminal litigation, according to her biography on the province’s website.

She was the first MLA in Alberta history to give birth while in office. Two other Calgary cabinet ministers, Brandy Payne and Kathleen Ganley, have also had children while in office. Payne announced in late March that she will not seek re-election in 2019, citing a decision to spend more time with her family. Ganley is seeking re-election in the riding of Calgary-Mountain View.

In her statement, McLean highlighted her work as minister on “protecting vulnerable Albertans from predatory lending practices and implementing first-of-its-kind strategy to combat sexual violence.”

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

She added that she recognizes “the significance that is attached to my being able to do this work while giving birth to my first child.”

“This government’s commitment to women’s equality and to breaking down barriers that have kept women from politics is a major and long-overdue step forward for our province,” she said.

Mount Royal University political science professor Duane Bratt said these kinds of announcements are not uncommon in the lead-up to provincial elections.

“There’s going to be those that say, ‘They’re not going to get re-elected and they’re pulling out,'” he said. “I’m not convinced of that because this type of turnover happens all the time.”

Bratt said according to calculations he did before the 2015 election, since 1971 in Alberta, an average of 25 to 30 per cent of MLAs who were elected in the previous election have opted not to run again.

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    This Week in Flyers