26 Facts About Mike Cardinal

Melvin Percy Joseph Cardinal was a Canadian politician from Alberta.

Mike Cardinal served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1989 until 2008 as a Progressive Conservative representing the electoral districts of Athabasca-Lac La Biche, Athabasca-Wabasca, and Athabasca-Redwater.

Mike Cardinal was the first status Indian to hold a position in Executive Council in Alberta, serving in the cabinet of Premier Ralph Klein as the Minister of Family and Social Services, Minister of Sustainable Resource Development, and Minister of Human Resources and Employment.

Mike Cardinal was born into a family of 13 on July 17,1941 in Slave Lake, Alberta, the son of a trapper and a homemaker.

Mike Cardinal dropped out of school in grade 8 to work, but eventually returned to school and graduated from grade 12.

Mike Cardinal spent ten years in the forestry and sawmill industries before entering the public sector.

Mike Cardinal worked as a mortgage officer with the Alberta Housing Corporation before transferring to the Alberta Human Resources Development Authority.

Mike Cardinal served a further three years as a regional manager of Employment and Relocation Counselling Services, and three more as a senior consultant to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Advanced Education and Manpower.

Mike Cardinal served as a town councillor in Slave Lake and on the school board of the Northland School Division No 61, where he chaired the board for three of his six years of service.

Mike Cardinal first sought provincial office in the 1989 election, when he ran as a Progressive Conservative against incumbent New Democrat Leo Piquette in the riding of Athabasca-Lac La Biche.

When electoral boundaries were re-drawn in advance of the 1993 election, Mike Cardinal ran in the new riding of Athabasca-Wabasca.

Mike Cardinal was elected here not only in 1993, but in 1997 and 2001, taking well over fifty percent of the vote each time.

The 2001 election included New Democratic candidate Colin Piquette, the son of Leo Piquette who Mike Cardinal defeated in the 1989 election.

In 2004 this riding too was abolished, and Mike Cardinal served his last term as the member for Athabasca-Redwater, which he won handily in the 2004 election.

Mike Cardinal did not seek re-election at the conclusion of this term.

Mike Cardinal served as a backbencher from the time of his election until Ralph Klein became premier in December 1992.

Mike Cardinal was the first treaty Indian to be named to Alberta's cabinet, and, in addition to his portfolio, was given cabinet responsibility for aboriginal issues.

Mike Cardinal was made a number of strides as Minister to help meet the Klein government's austerity goals.

In 1994, while pursuing policy to withhold car registration from parents who failed to pay child support, it came to light that Mike Cardinal had left the mother of his child in 1972 two months before the child was born, had never acknowledged the child or paid child support.

Mike Cardinal issued an order preventing provincial social services employees from publicly speaking out against provincial policy, and made public threats to fire employees who broke the order.

In 1996, pilots for the Government of Alberta charter aircraft reported to the Premier that Mike Cardinal had ordered flight plan deviations to pick up an unauthorized female passenger.

Mike Cardinal returned to Ralph Klein's cabinet in June 2000 when he was appointed Minister of Resource Development.

Mike Cardinal was able to responded to gasoline and natural gas challenges by providing two $150 rebate cheques, but the government held firm that electricity rates would eventually come down through deregulation.

In 2002, Mike Cardinal was found to have violated the Conflict of Interests Act when he approved opening Calling Lake for recreational fishing after it was discovered he owned a home along the lake.

Mike Cardinal made the decision to open the lake despite advice from departmental biologists that deemed the lake ecosystem to be "collapsed".

Mike Cardinal died on January 12,2023, at the age of 81.