Gary W. Bikman (born November 13, 1943) is a Canadian politician who represented 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 ...

of Cardston-Taber-Warner 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 ...

from 2012 to 2015. Prior to his election to the legislature, Bikman served on the town council of

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

, including stints as mayor, deputy mayor and councillor since 1980. Bikman was born and raised in southern Alberta. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

in Provo,

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. Bikman has extensive business experience, having owned and managed an oilfield service company for 25 years. He co-founded and led ChopStix Restaurants from 2006 to 2010 and ChopStix International Franchising from 2010 to 2012. Bikman has been a sessional instructor at the University of Lethbridge's faculty of management and at Lethbridge College. He has also served intermittently as a member of the Chinook Arch Regional Library Board and as a scout leader in the village of Stirling. Bikman was a critic of the Alberta government's decision to cut funding supports for persons with developmental disabilities in the 2013-2014 budget. After the 2012 election, he faced some controversy when, in an interview with

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shortly after the election, he attributed his party's defeat to urban voters, who largely remained loyal to the governing Progressive Conservatives (PCs), possessing less "common sense" than the rural voters who turned to the Wildrose Party. Bikman was first elected in the 2012 provincial election, as part of the Wildrose Party caucus. On December 17, 2014, he was one of nine Wildrose MLAs who crossed the floor to join the PC caucus. Bikman failed to earn the PC nomination as a candidate of his riding for the 2015 provincial election.

Electoral history

References

External links

Gary Bikman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bikman, Gary Wildrose Party MLAs Living people Politicians from Lethbridge People from Stirling, Alberta 20th-century mayors of places in Alberta Canadian Latter Day Saints 1943 births Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Brigham Young University alumni 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta Canadian expatriates in the United States 21st-century mayors of places in Alberta