Barbara Joan Higgins (born September 21, 1962) is best known in Southern Alberta for her 21 year career as senior anchor, writer and producer of the 6 o'clock news for

CTV CTV may refer to: Television * Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet North America and South America * CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media ** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

. As a journalist and documentarian, Higgins brought a critical eye to the evening news. After a total of 26 years as a journalist, in July, 2010 Higgins left her post at CTV to enter the Calgary

mayoral election Mayoral may refer to: * Mayoral is an adjectival form of mayor * Mayoral, a Spanish Children's Fashion Company * Borja Mayoral (born 1997), Spanish footballer * César Mayoral (born 1947), Argentine diplomat * David Mayoral (born 1997), Spanish f ...

Biography

Barbara Joan Higgins was born September 21, 1962, in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. She graduated from

Ross Sheppard High School Ross Sheppard High School or École Ross Sheppard (SHEP or Ross Shep) is a high school located in a northwest neighbourhood of Coronation Park, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The school colours are Colombia blue and navy blue, and it is repre ...

in 1979 and enrolled in Business Administration at NAIT. After two years of study in Business Administration, she transferred to NAIT's Radio and Television Arts. Higgins worked with both CBC and CTV affiliates in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Win ...

and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

. She moved to Calgary in March 1989. On July 23, 2010, Higgins announced her intention to run as a candidate for mayor in the 2010 Calgary civic election to be held that October. She subsequently described herself as a

fiscal conservative Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., ''A ...

with a heart. Her campaign

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...

has centred on setting the tone at

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

and empowering civic employees to develop solutions to address Calgary's $60-million budget shortfall. In the election, Higgins won the votes of over 90-thousand Calgarians and placed third behind

Naheed Nenshi Naheed Kurban Nenshi (born February 2, 1972) is a Canadian politician who was the 36th mayor of Calgary, Alberta. He was elected in the 2010 municipal election with 39% of the vote, and is the first Muslim mayor of a large North American city. ...

and

Ric McIver Richard William McIver (born August 28, 1958) is a Canadian politician who has represented Calgary-Hays in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta since 2012. A member of the United Conservative Party (UCP), McIver is the current minister of muni ...

Awards and honours

*Winner of 'Best News Series' from the

Radio and Television News Directors Association The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dire ...

for her 3-part series on Calgary firefighter Greg McDougal's battle with the Workers Compensation Board. *Winner of the 'Best of Festival' award at CanPro and winner of 'Most Inspirational' award at the Alberta Motion Picture Industry Association (AMPIA) for her documentary ''Running on Empty''. *Queen's Diamond Jubilee Award. *Peter Legge Philanthropy Award. *UNICEF Volunteer of the Year Award. *City of Calgary White Hat Award. *Two time winner of Calgary's Top 40 Under 40

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Barb 1962 births Living people Canadian television news anchors People from Edmonton Journalists from Alberta Canadian women television journalists