Jason Copping is a Canadian politician who was the

minister of health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

for

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 ...

from September 21, 2021, to June 9, 2023. Elected in the

2019 Alberta general election The 2019 Alberta general election was held on April 16, 2019, to elect 87 members to the 30th Alberta Legislature. In its first general election contest, the Jason Kenney-led United Conservative Party (UCP) won 54.88% of the popular vote and 63 ...

to represent 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-Varsity Calgary-Varsity is a provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The district was created in 1993 and returns a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. It comprises the communities of Varsity, Dalhousie, Brentwo ...

, Copping is a member of the

United Conservative Party The United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) is a conservative political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. It was established in July 2017 as a merger between the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Wildrose Party ...

(UCP). He previously was the labour and immigration minister from April 20, 2019, to September 21, 2021.

Background

Before his election to the legislature, Copping worked in the transportation sector as a human resources and labour relations manager. He holds a Master of Industrial Relations (MIR) from Queen’s University and a master's degree in law with a specialization in labour and employment law from

Osgoode Hall Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original -storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart (architect), John Ewart and William Warren Baldwin. The structure is n ...

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

. Copping also worked as a sessional instructor for several years at both the

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

as well as the

University of Lethbridge The University of Lethbridge (also known as uLethbridge, uLeth, and U of L) is a public comprehensive and research university located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, with a second campus in Calgary, Alberta. Founded in the liberal arts traditio ...

Political career

Copping was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) following the 2019 election, representing the United Conservative Party. Copping served as minister of labour and immigration from 2019 to 2021, before he was named minister of health in 2021, swapping portfolios with

Tyler Shandro Tyler Shandro (born ) is a Canadian politician who served as the minister of justice and solicitor general of Alberta from February 2022 to June 2023. A member of the United Conservative Party (UCP), Shandro was elected to represent Calgary-Aca ...

, who then took over as labour minister. On January 17, 2022, Copping announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19. As a legislator, Copping has advanced several pieces of legislation as their sponsor. During his time as Minister of Health, he sponsored the Alberta Health Care Insurance Act which removed from the government the ability to strike down its master agreement with doctors. In addition, he also sponsored the Continuing Care Act which aimed to provide consistency of standards in

supported living Supported living or supportive living refers to a range of services and community living arrangements (CLAs) designed with individuals with disabilities and their families to support citizens with disabilities to attain or retain their independen ...

and

long-term care Long-term care (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical needs of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods. Long-term care is focused on individualized and ...

settings. In the

2023 Alberta general election The 2023 Alberta general election was held on May 29, 2023. Voters elected the members of the 31st Alberta Legislature. The United Conservative Party under Danielle Smith, the incumbent Premier of Alberta, was re-elected to a second term with a ...

, Copping was defeated by

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 ...

(NDP) candidate

Luanne Metz Luanne Metz is a Canadian politician and clinical neurologist and researcher. She was elected member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Varsity in the 2023 Alberta general election. She is known for her work in the field of multi ...

Electoral history

References

United Conservative Party MLAs Living people Politicians from Calgary Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the Executive Council of Alberta 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta {{Alberta-MLA-stub