Rick Glumac 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 who was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

in the 2017 provincial election. As an MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) for the

British Columbia New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum and is one of the two major parties in British Columbia; since ...

, he represents the riding of Port Moody-Burquitlam, which encompasses some of the western part of the city of

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the List of cities in British Columbia, sixth-largest city in the province, with an estimated population of 174,248 in 2024, and one of th ...

, the entire city of

Port Moody Port Moody is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It envelops the east end of Burrard Inlet and is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south ...

, and the villages of

Anmore Anmore is a village in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is north of the city of Port Moody and along the shores of the Indian Arm. Anmore is one of three politically independent village municipalities (municipalities with populati ...

and

Belcarra Belcarra is a village on the shore of Indian Arm, a side inlet of Burrard Inlet, and is part of Metro Vancouver. It lies northwest of Port Moody and immediately east of the Deep Cove area of North Vancouver, across the waters of Indian Arm. ...

."NDP makes gains in Tri-Cities, Burnaby with upsets"

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 ...

British Columbia, May 9, 2017. Glumac served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Technology until November 2020. He has served as the provincial representative to the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) since 2017, and became president of PNWER in July 2023. In December 2020, he was appointed as Premier's Liaison to

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

State. Glumac's position was expanded in April 2023 and he was appointed by

David Eby David Robert Patrick Eby (; born July 21, 1976) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has served as the 37th and current premier of British Columbia since November 18, 2022. Eby is a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP) a ...

to serve as Premier's Liaison for the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

. Glumac was re-elected in the

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

provincial elections. Following the 2024 election, he was appointed Minister of State for Trade.

Early life

Glumac grew up in

Port Alberni Port Alberni () is a city located on Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The city lies within the Alberni Valley at the head of the Alberni Inlet, Vancouver Island's longest inlet. Port Alberni currently has a total popu ...

, BC. In 1995, he graduated with a degree in Electronics Engineering from

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

. Glumac worked much of his career in the field of computer graphics as a software developmer, visual effects artist, and computer graphics supervisor. He worked on the first computer-animated TV show ''

ReBoot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

'', and later worked for companies such as DreamWorks and

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

on well-known Hollywood films such as ''

Shrek 2 ''Shrek 2'' is a 2004 American animated fantasy comedy film loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book '' Shrek!'' by William Steig. Directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, and Conrad Vernon from a screenplay by Adamson, Joe Sti ...

'', ''

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

'', and ''

Over the Hedge ''Over the Hedge'' is a 2006 American animated heist comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation SKG. Based on the comic strip of the same name, the film was directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick from a screenplay by Len Blum, ...

''. Following this he developed apps for the iPhone.

Career in politics

Glumac was first elected to Port Moody city council in 2011. He was re-elected in 2014 with the highest vote share of any candidate. On council he chaired various committees including the Environmental Protection Committee and Economic Development Committee which recommended the hiring of an Economic Development Officer to grow the city's business tax base. During his time as a Councillor, he served as the Vice President of the Lower Mainland Local Government Association. Glumac was also elected as the Vancouver Metro Area Representative to the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM). Glumac worked with the Ministry of Health to keep the

Eagle Ridge Hospital Eagle Ridge Hospital (ERH) is a small general hospital located in Port Moody, British Columbia, on the Port Moody/Coquitlam border. ERH is one of 12 hospitals under the jurisdiction of Fraser Health, which services more than 1.3 million people. ...

lands in Port Moody from being sold for redevelopment, stopping a plan by the BC Liberal government to condition new improvements to the hospital on the sale of the lands to private real estate developers. Glumac consistently speaks in the legislature to promote action to protect B.C.’s environment. In 2018, he spoke during the Legislature's emergency debate on climate change. He is a key supporter of the province's CleanBC strategy of reducing climate pollution and promoting renewable energies, lowering the costs of renewable energies, and helping create green jobs. He is a staunch advocate for redeveloping the Burrard Generating Station, a former fossil fuel-powered power plant located on the

Burrard Inlet Burrard Inlet () is a shallow-sided fjord in the northwestern Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada. Formed during the last Ice Age, it separates the City of Vancouver and the rest of the lowland Burrard Peninsula to the south from the coa ...

, into a site for clean technology or climate mitigation projects. As Parliamentary Secretary for Technology, Glumac championed innovation in the clean technologies as a tool for transitioning towards a

green economy A green economy is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without environmental degradation, degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological econ ...

. He has advocated support for B.C.'s clean energy and tech sectors which play an increasingly important role in the provincial economy. As President of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER), Glumac secured funding to create PNWER Canada and the hiring of PNWER's first staff member in Canada.

Personal life

On May 11, 2022, Rick Glumac proposed to his partner Haven Lurbiecki in the legislature, prior to question period. Glumac is the first member of the legislative assembly to propose in the legislature and likely the first in Canada (Australian MP Tim Wilson proposed to his partner during a speech to Parliament in 2017). Lurbiecki was elected as city councillor in Port Moody in the 2022 local elections.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glumac, Rick British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs Living people People from Port Moody British Columbia municipal councillors Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia