Blake Richards
| Blake Richards MP |
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|---|---|
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Wild Rose |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2008 |
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| Preceded by | Myron Thompson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 8, 1974 Olds, Alberta |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Residence | Airdrie, Alberta |
| Profession | Real Estate Agent, Constituency Assistant, Volunteer Firefighter |
Blake Richards (born November 8, 1974 in Olds, Alberta) is a Canadian politician, who was first elected to represent the electoral district of Wild Rose in the 2008 Canadian federal election. He was re-elected in the General Election of 2011 and is a member of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons.
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[edit] Election victory
Running as a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada in the Alberta riding of Wild Rose, Richards was re-elected with 74.7 per cent of all ballots (43,669 votes) [1] on May 2, 2011. Richards first won his seat in the House of Commons in the 2008 general election with 72.9 per cent of the ballots (36,869 votes)[1] cast in his favour.
Richards earned the Conservative nomination for Wild Rose following the retirement of the incumbent Member of Parliament, Myron Thompson. Thompson had represented the constituency for the Reform Party, Canadian Alliance and Conservative parties over the previous 15 years. For seven of those years, Richards had worked as Thompson's constituency assistant before leaving to run a real estate company in Airdrie.
[edit] Committee work
As an M.P., Richards is also a member of House of Commons Standing Committees: the Transport, Infrastructure and Communities committee and the joint Senate-House of Commons Library of Parliament committee. He has also in the past served on the Agriculture and Agri-Food committee, the Canadian Heritage and the Public Safety and National Security committee.
[edit] Biography
Richards is a lifelong resident of Wild Rose. He was raised on a family farm near Olds.[2] Today, Richards resides in Airdrie with his wife Tara and son Quinn.
Having first spent some time working in the oil field and agriculture-related industries, Richards attended Red Deer College and the University of Calgary, where he earned a degree in political science.
He worked for seven years as constituency assistant to former MP Myron Thompson, before going on to build a real estate business that serves clients throughout Wild Rose.
Richards regularly volunteers with his church and with Airdrie’s youth. He has coached minor hockey in both Olds and Airdrie, sat on the board of directors of the Red Deer College Foundation, and served on the Olds Volunteer Fire Department.
[edit] Personal/charitable pursuits
In his free time, Richards enjoys playing hockey, golf, hiking and reading.
In particular, he enjoys hockey. On July 5, 2009, Richards organized and co-hosted the first annual Wild Rose Hockey Challenge [3] with Airdrie-Chestermere Member of Legislative Assembly Rob Anderson. The game featured federal MPs and provincial MLAs, including cabinet ministers, with several National Hockey League players such as Zach Boychuk of the Carolina Hurricanes and Dana Tyrell of the Tampa Bay Lightning bolstering the line-ups of each side.
The inaugural game drew hundreds of spectators to Airdrie Twin Arenas and raised $10,000 for area victims of crime assistance funds. The federal MPs won the inaugural Wild Rose Cup by a 17-13 score.
Richards intends to host the charity game on an annual basis to raise funds to assist victims of crime.[4] Since 2009, Richards' charity game had raised a combined total of $117,000 for regional victims of crime assistance groups in Wild Rose, including $83,000 in the latest edition of the game held on Aug. 27th, 2011 in Cochrane, Alberta.
[edit] Offices
As a Member of Parliament, Richards keeps offices in the Justice Building of Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario and in his Alberta riding of Wild Rose, in the City of Airdrie.
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