Lee Richardson (politician)

Infobox CanadianMP | name=Lee Richardson


term_start=2004
term_end=
predecessor= Joe Clark
birth_date= birth date and age |1947|10|31
birth_place= North Battleford, Saskatchewan
successor=
death_date=
death_place=
profession= Business Administration
party=Conservative
party colour=Conservative
residence=Calgary
riding=Calgary Centre
footnotes=
term_start2=
term_end2=
predecessor2=
successor2=
spouse=widower
religion=|

Lee Richardson (born October 31, 1947 in North Battleford, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian politician. He is a current member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Calgary Centre for the Conservative Party of Canada. He was first elected to parliament in the 1988 election as a Progressive Conservative representing the riding of Calgary Southeast. In the PC wipeout of 1993 he lost his seat to Jan Brown of the Reform Party.

He returned to politics in 2004, running in Calgary Centre, which had previously been held by PC leader Joe Clark. He was re-elected in 2006, capturing 55.4 percent of the vote and a 20 000 vote plurality. [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Cresdetail&Election=12312]

Prior to entering Parliament in 1988, Mr. Richardson was Deputy Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister's Office, and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Western Affairs. From 1979 to 1983, Mr. Richardson was Chief of Staff to Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed. As a parliamentarian, Mr. Richardson served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Communications, and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport. He was instrumental in relocating the National Energy Board to Calgary and placing the Calgary International Airport under local authority.

He is President of Lee Richardson Financial Corporation. He is a director of ACD Systems and Chairman of the Board of STI Streetlight Intelligence, a publicly traded technology company.

He served as a director of the 1988 Winter Olympics and on the board of Southminster United Church. He was Chair of the Advisory Board to the University of Calgary Institute for the Humanities and was on the faculty of the Banff Centre for Management for 10 years. He is on the Calgary Stampede Board of Directors and is a Calgary Flames Ambassador. Mr. Richardson received the Queen Elizabeth Medal in 1977, the Canada Medal in 1992 and the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005 " in recognition of significant contribution to compatriots, community and to Canada." [ http://www.calgarycentreconservatives.ca/admin/contentx/default.cfm?PageId=4]

Mr. Richardson, a lifelong Calgarian, is a widower with three children.

He is currently running for re-election in the October 14, 2008 Canadian general election. [http://www.elections.ca/scripts/pss/candidates.aspx?L=e&ED=48006&EV=31&EV_TYPE=1&PC=T2T4M8&Prov=&ProvID=&MapID=&QID=8&PageID=17&TPageID=]

Controversy

On September 25, 2008, Richardson made controversial statements suggesting that immigrants were to blame for much of the crime activity in Calgary. Richardson announced, "Talk to the police. Look at who's committing these crimes, they're not the kid that grew up next door," to Fast Forward Weekly when asked about gun violence in Calgary. Both Liberals and NDP demanded his resignation. He expressed regret for the words he chose, insisting that he meant to talk about the, "youth gangs in the cities." He offers no apology or any sign of resignation. Sgt. Bill Dodd of the Calgary Police Service diversity resources unit said the service doesn't track statistics on where the city's criminals hail from. His 16 years as a city cop, however, tells him immigrants shouldn't be blamed for crime woes. [cite news|url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080925/election2008_immigrants_tories_080925/20080925?s_name=election2008&no_ads=|title=Tory candidate blames immigrants for crime|accessdate=2008-09-25|author=CTV News] [cite news|url=http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=0add4a8f-03ee-48dd-9538-dd4d3762d395|title=Calgary Tory offers no apology for immigrant-crime comment|accessdate=2008-09-25|author=The Vancouver Sun] Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended Richardson, calling the reporting "gotcha journalism" for taking his comments out of their intended context. [cite news | first=Jason | last=Fekete | coauthors= | title=Harper rejects calls for Calgary Tory candidate's resignation | date=2008-09-26 | publisher= | url =http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=f3e3afe9-1edd-42ef-8416-bd5e4639f274 | work =Calgary Herald | pages = | accessdate = 2008-09-26 | language = ]

References

External links

* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?lang=E&query=1592&s=M Federal Political Experience Lee Richardson, Parliament of Canada.]
* [http://www.howdtheyvote.ca/member.php?id=245 How'd They Vote?: Lee Richardson]

succession box|title=Member of Parliament Calgary Southeast
before=New District
after=Jan Brown
years=1988-1993
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Persondata
NAME=Richardson, Lee
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Canadian politician
DATE OF BIRTH=October 31, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH=North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada
DATE OF DEATH=living
PLACE OF DEATH=