Claire Rattée is a Canadian politician who has been serving as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

(MLA) since

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. She is a member of the

Conservative Party of British Columbia The Conservative Party of British Columbia, commonly known as the BC Conservatives and colloquially known as the Tories, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. It is the main rival to the governing British Columbia New Demo ...

representing the electoral district of Skeena.

Early life and career

Rattée was born and raised in

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

and moved north to

Kitimat Kitimat is a district municipality in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of the Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine regional government. The Kitimat Valley is part of the most populous urban dist ...

, British Columbia at 19 years old in 2011. During her time in the

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 ...

, she experienced a period of addiction and homelessness eventually recovering and receiving assistance through a treatment facility. Since moving to

, she has worked as a tattoo artist and co-owner of Arcane Arts Inc. in

for over 13 years. On top of her private sector experience, she served as a

city councillor from 2014 to 2018. During her time on city council she prioritized representing struggling business owners, providing younger voters with representation, and increasing

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

for residents of Northern BC. She made history as the youngest female ever elected to the

city council. Rattée's parents converted to

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

shortly around the time she was born and attended

Christian schools A Christian school is a religious school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization. These schools often include religious education and worship in their curriculum. They may also have a distinct Christian mission or philosophy. ...

in her youth. She and her three siblings consider themselves Jewish.

Political career

2019 and 2021 federal elections

Rattée was the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

candidate for the

Skeena—Bulkley Valley Skeena—Bulkley Valley is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. Geography This is a mostly wilderness area comprising almost the entire northwestern ...

riding in the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and 2021 federal elections, both times coming second to the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

candidate Taylor Bachrach while improving on past performances by the party. She increased the Conservative vote share from 24% to 36%.

2024 provincial election

On January 30, 2024, Rattée was nominated as the Conservative Party of BC's candidate for Skeena. She went on to win the provincial election with 51.20% of the votes, succeeding Ellis Ross, the previous

BC United BC United (BCU), known from 1903 until 2023 as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and occupying a centre-right ...

representative for Skeena who stepped down to pursue a federal Conservative candidacy. Rattée is the first female MLA ever elected in this riding. She currently serves in the official oppositions' shadow cabinet as the Critic for Mental Health and Addictions. Her policy priorities include low-income housing, emergency weather shelters, economic shelters, combating antisemitisim, mental health and addictions, drawing on her own personal experiences to inform her advocacy.

Early life and career

Political career

2019 and 2021 federal elections

2024 provincial election

Electoral record

References

See also