25 Facts About Doug Donaldson

Doug Donaldson was born on January 20,1957 and is a Canadian politician, who represented the Stikine electoral district Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2009 to 2020.

Doug Donaldson is a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party and was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the 2009 election and re-elected in the 2013 and 2017 elections.

Doug Donaldson introduced one private member bill to amend the Oil and Gas Activities Act to prohibit the conversion of natural gas pipelines to transmit oil or diluted bitumen.

Doug Donaldson eventually settled in Hazelton where he worked with the Gitxsan Nation and ran a non-profit organization, the Storytellers Foundation, which focused on community-level economic development.

Doug Donaldson spent ten years as a municipal councillor, having been elected or acclaimed in the 1999,2002,2005 and 2009 local government elections.

Doug Donaldson completed a bachelor's degree in Biology and moved to Field, British Columbia where he worked in Yoho National Park for 8 years before leading private guided tours of the area.

Doug Donaldson took a job in Prince George with the CBC Morning Show but moved back to the Bulkley Valley area, living in Telkwa as a technologist in the forestry industry before moving to Houston working as a manager at Northwest Community College.

Finally, Doug Donaldson settled in the village of Hazelton where he became the communications officer for the Gitxsan Treaty Office.

Doug Donaldson got involved in municipal politics in 1999 when he became a member of the municipal council of the village of Hazelton.

Doug Donaldson retained his seat in the 2002 local government elections, and won re-election in November 2005.

Doug Donaldson was supported party leader Carole James who visited the riding during the campaign but had to defend party campaign promises that appeared to mean removing provincial funding for major upgrades to a Smithers ice arena and a Houston swimming pool.

Doug Donaldson led the council and the Union of BC Municipalities to adopt a resolution asking the province to place a moratorium on new fish farm licences until the report by the provincial Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture was made public.

Doug Donaldson supported efforts which called for a suspension of the Klappan Coalbed Methane Project in the Sacred Headwaters.

The incumbent, Dennis MacKay, had retired but Doug Donaldson faced two new opponents: vehicle service manager Scott Groves for the BC Liberals and Smithers HVAC engineer Roger Benham for the BC Green Party.

Doug Donaldson was opposed to the replacement of the Provincial Sales Tax with the HST, claiming that the BC Liberals were "wildly inflating its benefits".

Doug Donaldson opened two constituency offices, one in Hazelton and the other in Smithers.

Doug Donaldson initiated a writing contest supported by hockey player Dan Hamhuis, the Gitxsan Nation, and the Community Police, where youths described how sports activities helped them resist gang activity and contributed to their community.

Doug Donaldson became an advocate of strong environmental assessment reviews as a means of creating investor certainty in projects.

Doug Donaldson was critical of the provincial government's negotiation skills with federal government on RCMP contracts and funding relating to changes in crime legislation and with First Nations engagement on mining proposals.

Doug Donaldson was a supporter of BC NDP leader Carole James, but after her resignation, he supported Mike Farnworth during the leadership election, citing Farnworth's view of rural economic development which includes using a triple bottom line that involves social, environmental and economic criteria.

Also in the election, Doug Donaldson faced Roger Benham of the BC Green Party again, as well as the former leader of the Christian Heritage Party Rod Taylor, BC Conservative Jonathan Dieleman, and independent candidate Jesse O'Leary.

In July 2014, new party leader John Horgan re-assigned Doug Donaldson to be the critic for children and family development issues but upon the July 2016 announcement of Norm Macdonald not seeking re-election, Doug Donaldson was again re-assigned to Macdonald position as critic for Energy and Mines.

Doug Donaldson sponsored one private member bill, the British Columbia Oil and Gas Activities Amendment Act, 2014 which proposed to prohibit the conversion of natural gas pipelines to transmit oil or diluted bitumen.

Doug Donaldson sought re-election in the 2017 provincial election, where he was challenged by Gitanyow Band Councillor Wanda Good for the BC Liberals and, again, Rod Taylor of the Christian Heritage Party.

However, amid speculation of a snap election in that same month, Doug Donaldson announced he would not be seeking re-election.