28 Facts About Kevin Taft

Kevin Taft was born on 9 September 1955 and is an author, consultant, speaker, and former provincial politician in Alberta, Canada.

Kevin Taft is the author of five books as well as several research studies and articles on political and economic issues in Alberta.

Kevin Taft was an Alberta Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 2001 to 2012, and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2004 to 2008.

Kevin Taft is father to two adult sons and currently resides in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with his partner Jeanette Boman.

Kevin Taft has worked as a consultant and policy analyst in both the public and private sectors.

Kevin Taft worked as a planning consultant with the Alberta Hospital Association and on the Alberta government's Nursing Home Review Panel task force from 1981 to 1982.

Kevin Taft was the chief executive officer of the ExTerra Foundation from 1986 to 1991, where he oversaw a team that planned and developed the Canada-China Dinosaur Project.

Noble, who named the Foundation and lead the international team from 1983 to 1989, invited Kevin Taft to become a co-founding member of Ex Terra's Board in 1984.

Kevin Taft resigned from ExTerra in 1991 when it encountered financial shortfalls.

From 1991 to 2000, Kevin Taft worked as a consultant, researcher, and speaker through his firm Kevin Taft Research and Communications.

Kevin Taft's primary focuses were health care policy, energy, and economic policy.

Kevin Taft consulted extensively with the Alberta Ministry Responsible for Seniors from 1991 to 1993, an experience that prompted him to write his first book, Shredding the Public Interest, in 1997.

In 1999, Kevin Taft co-authored a study criticizing the deregulation of Alberta's electricity system, and in 1999 and 2000, he wrote two studies arguing against privatizing Epcor, Edmonton's public electricity utility.

Kevin Taft published his second book with co-author Gillian Steward, Clear Answers: The Economics and Politics of For-Profit Medicine, in 2000.

In December 2000, Kevin Taft announced he would seek the Alberta Liberal Party nomination for the next provincial election, "citing his frustration with Tory policies in health care and power deregulation".

Kevin Taft won the nomination for Edmonton-Riverview in January 2001.

Kevin Taft was elected, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate and former city councillor Wendy Kinsella.

Three years later, in the spring of 2004, Ken Nicol resigned as leader of the Alberta Liberal Party, and Kevin Taft was elected to replace him.

Kevin Taft was generally given credit for his tenacity in the legislature.

Kevin Taft saw his support in Edmonton Riverview solidify; he received more votes than all other candidates, of any party, in the 2004 election.

Kevin Taft published his third book, Democracy Derailed in 2007.

On 26 June 2008, Kevin Taft announced that he would step down as leader of the Alberta Liberal Party.

Kevin Taft was publicly praised, and thanked for his service to the province.

Kevin Taft remained as an MLA until the 2012 provincial election, when he did not seek re-election.

In January 2012, just before leaving office, Kevin Taft published Follow the Money, his fourth book.

In 2014, Kevin Taft was invited to spend three weeks at the Whitlam Institute at Western Sydney University in Australia, to write and speak on the effects of the fossil fuel industry on democracy in the context of global warming.

Kevin Taft's analysis uses theories of democracy and regulatory capture to advance a theory of the "deep state," arguing that the petroleum industry in Canada has captured so many democratic institutions that it has blocked the capacities of the governments of Alberta and Canada to effectively address global warming.

Kevin Taft has toured and spoken extensively in support of his book.