David James Parker (born 1947) is a politician from

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. He was the leader of the

Alberta Greens The Alberta Greens, also known as the Green Party of Alberta, was a provincial political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. The Alberta Greens were formed in 1986 and received official party status on April 6, 1990. The party was affili ...

from 1996 to 2001. He has also been a perennial candidate running in federal and provincial elections.

Political career

Parker first ran for a seat in 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 ...

in the

1993 Alberta general election The 1993 Alberta general election was held on June 15, 1993, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The Conservative government was re-elected, taking 51 seats out of 83 (61 percent of the seats) but only having support of 45 pe ...

. He ran in the electoral district of

Edmonton-Gold Bar Edmonton-Gold Bar is a provincial electoral district, in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 in the province mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The di ...

. He was defeated finishing second last in a field of six candidates. Liberal incumbent

Bettie Hewes Elizabeth Jane "Bettie" Hewes (March 12, 1924 – November 6, 2001) was a politician from Alberta, Canada. She served both as Edmonton city councillor and as Liberal MLA. Hewes graduated from the University of Toronto in 1944 with a degree in oc ...

won the electoral district with a landslide majority. Parker became leader of the

in 1996. As leader of the party he ran for office in the

1997 Alberta general election The 1997 Alberta general election was held on March 11, 1997, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The Progressive Conservative government led by Premier Ralph Klein won its eighth consecutive mandate going back to 1971, inc ...

in Gold Bar for the second time. He was easily defeated by Hugh MacDonald losing some of his previous votes and finishing second last with 97 votes. He finished just ahead of

Natural Law Natural law (, ) is a Philosophy, philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of a set of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles, which are discoverable through reason. In ethics, natural law theory asserts ...

leader Maury Shapka. Parker stepped down as leader in 2001. Parker ran for a seat in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

in the

2004 Canadian federal election The 2004 Canadian federal election was held on June 28, 2004, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority but was able to continue ...

Edmonton Centre Edmonton Centre () is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and since 2004. Geography The riding is anchored in the heart of Downtown Edmonton. It also ...

for the federal Greens. He won almost 5% of the popular vote finishing fourth. A few months later Parker ran in the provincial

electoral district in the

2004 Alberta general election The 2004 Alberta general election was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The election was called on October 25, 2004. Premier Ralph Klein decided to go to the polls earlier than the legislated dead ...

. He won fourth place well behind incumbent

Laurie Blakeman Laurie Blakeman (born May 23, 1958) is a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Edmonton-Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. She is a member of the Alberta Liberal Party, and was first elected in the 1997 ele ...

. He ran again in

two years later in the

2006 Canadian federal election The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 39th Canadian Parliament, 39th Parliament of Canada. New details of the sponsorship scandal were released through the Jo ...

this time marginally increasing his popular vote but still finishing a distant fourth place. Parker most recently ran for a second time in the provincial

electoral district in the

2008 Alberta general election The 2008 Alberta general election was held on March 3, 2008, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. It was expected to be called early because the governing Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, Progressive Conservat ...

again finishing a distant fourth. In the 2008 federal election, he placed fourth in the

riding.Elections Canada, 40th General Election results
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Electoral history

References

Living people Alberta Greens candidates in Alberta provincial elections Green Party of Canada candidates in the 2004 Canadian federal election Green Party of Canada candidates in the 2006 Canadian federal election Green Party of Canada candidates in the 2008 Canadian federal election Leaders of the Alberta Greens 1947 births {{Alberta-politician-stub