Michael George Ellis (born January 9, 1973) is a Canadian politician who has represented Calgary-West 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 ...

since 2014, sitting as a member of the Progressive Conservatives and later 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). Ellis was sworn in as Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services in

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 ...

. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a police officer.

Background

Ellis was born and raised in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, where he was a police sergeant with the

Calgary Police Service Calgary Police Service (CPS; ) is the municipal police service of the City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is the largest municipal police service in Alberta and third largest municipal force in Canada behind the Toronto Police Service and the Mo ...

between 2003 and 2015."Calgary-West elects PC Party's Mike Ellis"

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

, October 27, 2014. He is married with three children.

Political career

Ellis was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in a by-election on October 27, 2014, as a Progressive Conservative (PC). He was re-elected in the 2015, 2019, and 2023 provincial elections and has also been the

government whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline (that members of the party vote according to the party platform rather than their constituents, individual conscience or donors) in a legislature. Whips a ...

. He had previously challenged his predecessor,

Ken Hughes Kenneth Graham Hughes (19 January 1922 – 28 April 2001) was an English film director and screenwriter. He worked on over 30 feature films between 1952 and 1981, including the 1968 musical fantasy film ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'', based on th ...

, in a nomination contest in the same district for the

2012 Alberta general election The 2012 Alberta general election was held on April 23, 2012, to elect members of the 28th Legislative Assembly of Alberta. A 2012 Alberta Senate nominee election, Senate nominee election was called for the same day. During the 2011 Progressive C ...

, Premier Jason Kenney named Ellis as Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions in a 2021 cabinet shuffle.

Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services

Ellis was appointed Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services by Premier Danielle Smith on October 24, 2022, upon Smith's victory of the

2022 United Conservative Party leadership election The 2022 United Conservative Party leadership election was held on October 6 in Alberta to select a new leader of the United Conservative Party and Premier of Alberta. The leadership election was triggered following the May 18 leadership rev ...

. In December 2022 Ellis updated the Alberta Police Act to include an independent committee that handles complaints made towards police. Ellis has introduced plans to have police carry mandatory body cams. Ellis gave the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) $4.4 million to combat gang and gun violence. Ellis supported Danielle Smith during her leadership bid, saying she shared his "values for improving public safety." During 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 ...

, Ellis joined the far-right

Rebel News ''Rebel News'' (also known as ''The Rebel Media'' and ''The Rebel'') is a Canadian far-right political and social commentary media website operated by Rebel News Network Ltd. It has been described as a "global platform" for the Islamophobia, a ...

' hosts

Ezra Levant Ezra Isaac Levant (born February 20, 1972) is a Canadian media personality, political activist, writer, broadcaster, and former lawyer. Levant is the founder and former publisher of the conservative magazine, the'' Western Standard''. He is als ...

and Sheila Gunn Reid for their live-coverage of the event. Ellis continued as Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services in the June 2023 cabinet shuffle. In April 2025, the

National Police Federation The National Police Federation (NPF) is the police union representing Regular Members and Reservists of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) below the rank of Inspector. The NPF represents about 20,000 RCMP Members serving across Canada and i ...

and RCMP Deputy Commissioner Rob Hill said that comments made by Ellis in the Legislative Assembly about the state of rural policing misled the public.

Deputy Premier of Alberta

Following the defeat of former Deputy Premier Kaycee Madu in the

and cabinet reshuffling of

Nathan Neudorf Nathan Neudorf is a Canadian politician who has been Alberta's minister of affordability and utilities since 2023. He was elected in the 2019 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Lethbridge-East in the 30th Alberta ...

, Ellis was sworn in as the sole Deputy Premier of Alberta on June 9, 2023.

Election results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Mike 1973 births Canadian police officers Living people Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Politicians from Calgary Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs United Conservative Party MLAs 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta