David Wilks (born September 23, 1959) is a
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
politician, currently serving as the mayor of
Sparwood
Sparwood is a district municipality in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the second-largest community on the Elk River.
Located approximately 30 kilometres from Fernie, the District Municipality of Sparwood has approximately 4,20 ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
following a term as a Member of Parliament 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 ...
. He was elected in the
Kootenay—Columbia riding as a member of 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 ...
in the
2011 election. In the
41st Canadian Parliament
The 41st Canadian Parliament was in session from June 2, 2011 to August 2, 2015, with the membership of its House of Commons having been determined by the results of the 2011 federal election held on May 2, 2011. Parliament convened on June 2, ...
, Wilks was appointed to the
Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and introduced one piece of legislation, a private members bill called ''An Act to amend the Criminal Code (kidnapping of young person)'
(C-299)which sought a minimum sentence of five years in prison for someone convicted of kidnapping a person under the age of 16.
Wilks, originally from
Lethbridge
Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 106,550 in the 2023 Alberta municipal censuses, 2023 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...
, is a former
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...
(RCMP) officer and entrepreneur. Between 1980 and 2000 he was assigned to several RCMP detachments in British Columbia. He was elected as a councillor for the District of Sparwood in 2002 and then as mayor in 2005. As mayor, he was appointed to the
Regional District of East Kootenay
The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Canada. In the 2016 census, the population was 60,439. Its area is . The regional district offices are in Cranbrook, the large ...
and became the chair of the Regional Board. Wilks sought and won the Conservative Party nomination to replace retiring
Kootenay—Columbia Member of Parliament
Jim Abbott and was elected to Parliament in 2011.
Background
David Wilks was born and raised in
Lethbridge
Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 106,550 in the 2023 Alberta municipal censuses, 2023 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...
but after graduating high school he moved to
Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...
. He worked briefly in the
potash
Potash ( ) includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form. industry while undergoing recruitment process. He attended
RCMP Academy in
Regina. His first assignment as an RCMP officer was to the
Terrace
Terrace may refer to:
Landforms and construction
* Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river
* Terrace, a street suffix
* Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...
detachment in 1980. Over his 20-year RCMP career he was subsequently assigned to the detachments in
New Aiyansh,
Golden,
Penticton
Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley of the British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan Lake, Okanagan and Skaha Lake, Skaha lakes. In the 2021 Canadian Census, its population was 36,885, while its Census geographic un ...
and
Sparwood
Sparwood is a district municipality in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the second-largest community on the Elk River.
Located approximately 30 kilometres from Fernie, the District Municipality of Sparwood has approximately 4,20 ...
. He retired from the RCMP in 2000 while in Sparwood and bought a family entertainment business called Sparwood Bowl and Billiards Inc. with his wife.
In the 2002 BC municipal elections Wilks first stood for election. He was elected to a three-year term as a Sparwood municipal councillor. In the 2005 municipal elections he put his name forward in the mayoral election and successfully defeated the incumbent. No one challenged Wilks during the 2008 municipal elections so he was acclaimed to a new 3-year term as mayor. Along with being mayor, he was appointed by the Sparwood council to the Board of Directors at the
Regional District of East Kootenay
The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Canada. In the 2016 census, the population was 60,439. Its area is . The regional district offices are in Cranbrook, the large ...
. Wilks and Sparwood gained national attention in late-December 2008 when an avalanche killed eight men on snowmobiles; Wilks established public trust accounts for the families of the victims and helped organize a memorial service which the Prime Minister attended. At the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, Wilks advocated expanding the Meth Watch program to include a registration system to track people to purchase components used in making
methamphetamine
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug use, recreational or Performance-enhancing substance, performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a secon ...
. At the Regional District, Wilks advocated for the provincial government to give the proposed Jumbo Glacier Resort municipal status, removing the responsibility for public consultation and zoning from the Regional District and placing it with the province or a locally elected or appointed council. His March 2006 resolution was defeated, with Wilks being the only director to vote in favour. Wilks re-introduced the motion in August 2009 and it was approved by the Board, though the province did not take any action. In December 2009, the Regional Board elected Wilks to be the chair of the Regional District.
Federal politics
In February 2010,
Jim Abbott, the local member of parliament for the past 17 years, announced he would not seek re-election. Wilks endorsed
Bill Bennett to replace Abbott but Bennett declined. The 50-year-old Wilks subsequently announced his intent to seek the Conservative Party nomination for the next election. He stepped down from the Chair position at the Regional District to better focus on his campaign but remained a director. In the March 2011 Conservative Party nomination election, Wilks faced three other candidates: a 29-year-old town councillor from
Creston, a lawyer from
Cranbrook, and an engineer also from Cranbrook. Wilks campaign unknowingly employed a con artist who stole an undisclosed sum of money before disappearing. Despite the theft, Wilks won the nomination. During the campaign for the
federal election, Wilks faced former
Invermere
Invermere is a community in eastern British Columbia, Canada, near the border of Alberta. It is the hub of the Columbia Valley between Golden to the north and Cranbrook to the south. Invermere sits on the northwest shore of Windermere Lake a ...
mayor Mark Shmigelsky for NDP, and
Kimberley
Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to:
Places and historical events
Australia
Queensland
* Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas
South Australia
* County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia
Ta ...
residents Betty Aitchison, Bill Green, and Brent Bush. Wilks was seen as the front-runner but his campaign was criticized for avoiding all-candidate forums and debates, skipping the forums in
Revelstoke,
Kimberley
Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to:
Places and historical events
Australia
Queensland
* Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas
South Australia
* County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia
Ta ...
, and
Invermere
Invermere is a community in eastern British Columbia, Canada, near the border of Alberta. It is the hub of the Columbia Valley between Golden to the north and Cranbrook to the south. Invermere sits on the northwest shore of Windermere Lake a ...
. During the campaign, Wilks noted that he would seek to direct federal funds to improving the
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...
, "proper" punishment for criminals, and "proper" funding for the military, noting that his son was currently serving in the military as a combat engineer in Afghanistan. Wilks won the
Kootenay—Columbia riding with 56% of the vote.
As the
41st Parliament began, Wilks was not selected to Prime Minister
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...
's
cabinet. He was appointed to the '
Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development'
and the 'Standing Joint Committee on Scrutiny of Regulations'. In the House of Commons, Wilks used his time on the floor on June 15, 2011, to describe why he sees 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 ...
as a "radical hard left" political party. Following the high-profile kidnapping of a three-year-old boy from his hometown of Sparwood, Wilks introduced a private members bil
(C-299)which would create a five-year minimum sentence for people convicted of kidnapping a person under the age of 16.
Wilks' comments about the
2012 Canadian federal budget
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to ...
made national headlines in May 2012. Speaking at a meeting with constituents in
Revelstoke, Wilks stated his belief that the omnibus budget bill should be split into a series of smaller bills, but that as a
backbench MP, he had little alternative but to vote in favour because "that's how Ottawa works." Answering questions from the audience, he indicated that he and other backbenchers had little influence or input on the budget legislation. Two videos of Wilks' comments were posted online, with his permission. Shortly after the story broke, Wilks released a statement to the effect that he was in full support of the budget bill.
During the
2015 Canadian federal election
The 2015 Canadian federal election was held on October 19, 2015, to elect the 338 members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons of the 42nd Canadian Parliament, 42nd Parliament of Canada. In accordance with the Fixed election date ...
, Wilks made headlines for saying that it was "not fair" for Canadians to expect the government to take action on missing and murdered Indigenous women and that the matter should be dealt with simply as part of "missing and murdered people" in general, without using the term "Indigenous." Wilks ended up losing his seat to
Wayne Stetski of the NDP in one of the closest races of the country by just 282 votes.
In 2018 Wilks let his name stand for Mayor for the District of Sparwood. He was successful for a four-year term that was renewed in 2022. In 2024 Wilks was elected a Director at Large for the
Union of British Columbia Municipalities at the convention in September.
References
External links
Official Website*
Riding Association - Conservative Party
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilks, David
Conservative Party of Canada MPs
Living people
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia
Politicians from Lethbridge
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers
1959 births
21st-century mayors of places in British Columbia
21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada