Brandy Payne (born 1978) is a Canadian politician elected in the

2015 Alberta general election The 2015 Alberta general election was held on May 5, following a request of Premier Jim Prentice to the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Donald Ethell to dissolve the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Legislative Assembly on April 7. This election el ...

to the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. Since 2012 the Legislative Assembly has had 87 members, elected first past the post f ...

representing the

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Calgary-Acadia Calgary-Acadia is a current provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Created in 2010, the district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past t ...

. On February 2, 2016, Payne was appointed Associate Minister of Health, assigned with implementing the recommendations of mental health review and the growing opioid crisis.

Background

Payne earned a journalism degree from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

, where she graduated with high honours. She also attended

Mount Royal University Mount Royal University (MRU) is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally “Mount Royal College,” Mount Royal University was granted university status in 2009 by the provincial government. The university has an average class s ...

with a focus on Project Management. Prior to her election, Payne worked in administrative and management capacities for over 15 years, and as owner and operator of her own yoga business since 2010. In the 2015 election, Payne beat former Tory cabinet minister

Jonathan Denis Jonathan Brian Denis, (born September 22, 1975) is a Canadian politician and lawyer. On May 9, 2012, he was named Solicitor General, Attorney General, and Minister of Justice for the province of Alberta. He represented the constituency of Ca ...

, despite being outspent $79,171 to $240 during the campaign. Prior to her cabinet appointment, Payne served as deputy chair of the Select Special Ethics and Accountability Committee. She is also a past member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Standing Committee on Families and Communities. Payne joined Stephanie McLean as the first pregnant women in Alberta to hold cabinet posts. She and her husband, Scott, are raising two young daughters. On March 29, 2018, Payne announced that she would not seek re-election in 2019.

Electoral record

References

1978 births Alberta New Democratic Party MLAs Businesspeople from Calgary Living people Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Politicians from Calgary Women government ministers of Canada Women MLAs in Alberta 21st-century Canadian women politicians 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta {{Alberta-MLA-stub