Mike Lake (politician)

The Honourable
Mike Lake
PC MP
Lake in 2015
Member of Parliament
for Edmonton—Wetaskiwin
Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont (2006-2015)
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 23, 2006
Preceded byDavid Kilgour
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry
In office
November 7, 2008 – August 2, 2015
Prime MinisterStephen Harper
Minister
Preceded byColin Carrie
Succeeded byGreg Fergus
Personal details
Born
Michael Stanley Lake

(1969-06-04) June 4, 1969 (age 55)
New Westminster, British Columbia
Political partyConservative
Residence(s)Edmonton, Alberta
ProfessionBusinessman, sports executive

Michael Stanley Lake PC MP [1] (born June 4, 1969) is a Canadian politician, businessman, and sports executive in Alberta, Canada who represented the riding of Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont from 2006 to 2015 and has represented Edmonton—Wetaskiwin since 2015. He is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Early and personal life

Lake was born in New Westminster, British Columbia. He grew up in Devon, Alberta, and obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta. After graduating from university, he began a career with the Edmonton Oilers ice hockey team as a sales manager and director of ticket sales as their national accounts manager.

He has two children, his son is autistic and as a result he is a longtime member of the Edmonton Autism Society. He is involved in the Alberta Foster Care Program.

Lake has regularly held breakfasts to raise funds for autism research.[2]

Federal politics

Lake won the Conservative Party of Canada nomination for the riding of Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont defeating seven-time candidate Tim Uppal. The nomination proved to be significant since popular long time Liberal incumbent David Kilgour had chosen to retire, creating a power vacuum in the riding.

Lake went on to win the vacant riding in a landslide victory in the 2006 federal election. Pundits had predicted the race would be closer as the Liberal Party of Canada had held the district and its predecessor ridings since 1991.

In his first term as a representative in the House of Commons of Canada, Lake was presented with a very unusual petition signed by almost 500 individuals calling for Bigfoot to be protected under the Species at Risk Act. Lake filed the petition with the Clerk of the House of Commons on March 28, 2007.[3] When interviewed, Lake said that he did not believe in Bigfoot, but filed the petition as a service to constituents without making any judgment call.[4][5]

The 2015 federal election saw Lake's previous district eliminated in the 2012 federal electoral redistribution. Lake ran for election as a Member of Parliament in the Edmonton—Wetaskiwin electoral district, winning with 65.7% of the votes.[6]

After the resignation of Stephen Harper as leader of the Conservatives, now the Official Opposition, Lake announced that he would run for the interim leadership.[7] The race was eventually won by Rona Ambrose.[8] He was re-elected in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

Electoral record

2021 Canadian federal election: Edmonton—Wetaskiwin
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Mike Lake 48,340 55.7 -16.7
New Democratic Hugo Charles 18,259 21.0 +10.2
Liberal Ron Thiering 12,229 14.1 +1.7
People's Tyler Beauchamp 7,670 8.8 +7.0
Veterans Coalition Travis Caillou 345 0.4 +0.2
Total valid votes 86,843 100.0
Total rejected ballots 576 0.7 +0.3
Turnout 87,419 66.5 -4.9
Eligible voters 131,407
Conservative hold Swing -13.5
Source: Elections Canada[9]


2019 Canadian federal election: Edmonton—Wetaskiwin
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Mike Lake 63,346 72.4 +6.63 $66,466.27
Liberal Richard Wong 10,802 12.4 -9.05 $7,055.34
New Democratic Noah Garver 9,820 11.2 +1.48 $1,000.00
Green Emily Drzymala 1,660 1.9 -0.43 $0.00
People's Neil Doell 1,616 1.8 - $4,865.57
Veterans Coalition Travis Calliou 211 0.2 - $0.00
Total valid votes/expense limit 87,455 100.0  
Total rejected ballots 392 0.4 +0.1
Turnout 87,847 71.4 +2.8
Eligible voters 122,984
Conservative hold Swing +7.84
Source: Elections Canada[10][11]
2015 Canadian federal election: Edmonton—Wetaskiwin
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Mike Lake 44,949 65.77 -9.80 –
Liberal Jacqueline Biollo 14,660 21.45 +15.73 –
New Democratic Fritz K. Bitz 6,645 9.72 -4.55 –
Green Joy-Ann Hut 1,595 2.33 -1.76 –
Libertarian Brayden Whitlock 495 0.72 – –
Total valid votes/Expense limit 68,344 100.00   $239,717.63
Total rejected ballots 197 0.29 –
Turnout 68,541 69.58 –
Eligible voters 98,502
Conservative hold Swing -12.76
Source: Elections Canada[12][13]
2011 Canadian federal election: Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Mike Lake 27,857 60.79 +0.47 $44,902
New Democratic Nadine Bailey 10,875 23.73 +8.61 $11,236
Liberal Mike Butler 5,066 11.05 -7.46
Green Christa Baxter 1,364 2.98 -2.70 $1,705
Pirate Brent Schaffrick 374 0.82 * $2,461
Communist Naomi Rankin 100 0.22 -0.16 $562
Total valid votes/Expense limit 45,636 100.00
Total rejected ballots 191 0.42 +0.07
Turnout 45,827 53.64 +1.6
Eligible voters 85,432 – –
Conservative hold Swing +3.97
2008 Canadian federal election: Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Mike Lake 25,130 60.32 +1.70 $80,034
Liberal Indira Saroya 7,709 18.51 -2.64 $82,941
New Democratic Mike Butler 6,297 15.12 +0.57 $4,620
Green David Allan Hrushka 2,366 5.68 +1.21
Communist Naomi Rankin 157 0.38 +0.19 $395
Total valid votes/Expense limit 41,659 100.00 $84,984
Total rejected ballots 146 0.35 +0.07
Turnout 41,805 52.0 -10.3
Conservative hold Swing +2.17
2006 Canadian federal election: Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Mike Lake 27,191 58.62 +16.13 $67,482
Liberal Amarjit Grewal 9,809 21.15 -21.67 $73,522
New Democratic Neal Gray 6,749 14.55 +4.85 $10,297
Green Kate Harrington 2,073 4.47 -0.19 $1,347
Independent Kyle McLeod 477 1.03 N/A $8,055
Communist Naomi Rankin 85 0.18 -0.15 $280
Total valid votes 46,384 100.00
Total rejected ballots 131 0.28 +0.16
Turnout 46,515 62.3 -2.6
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing +18.9

References

  1. ^ "PM announces the establishment of the Priorities and Planning Sub-Committee on Government Administration - Prime Minister of Canada". Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  2. ^ Lazzarino, Dave. "The Edmonton Sun -". The Edmonton Sun. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  3. ^ House of Commons of Canada (28 March 2007). "Journals". Retrieved 9 May 2007.
  4. ^ Maudie, Max (5 April 2007). "Petition says protect Bigfoot". Edmonton Sun. Edmonton, Canada: Canoe Inc. Archived from the original on 8 February 2008.
  5. ^ Radford, Benjamin (25 May 2007). "Endangered Species Protection Sought for Bigfoot". Live Science. Purch.
  6. ^ "Conservatives elected in five of eight Edmonton ridings". CBC News. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Rona Ambrose, Mike Lake to run for Conservative interim leadership". Maclean's. The Canadian Press. 30 October 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  8. ^ Kathleen Harris (5 November 2015). "Rona Ambrose chosen as interim Conservative leader". CBC News. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  9. ^ "List of confirmed candidates – September 20, 2021 Federal Election". Elections Canada. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  10. ^ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  11. ^ "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  12. ^ "October 19, 2015 Election Results — Edmonton—Wetaskiwin (Validated results)". Elections Canada. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  13. ^ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine