Richard Dykstra was born on April 10,1966 and is a Canadian politician.
31 Facts About Rick Dykstra
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Rick Dykstra served as president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario from 2016 to 2018.
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Rick Dykstra served as the member of Parliament for the Ontario riding of St Catharines from 2006 to 2015.
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Rick Dykstra was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2006 federal election.
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Rick Dykstra was re-elected in 2008 and 2011 but was defeated by Liberal candidate Chris Bittle in the 2015 federal election.
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Rick Dykstra's parents, born in the Netherlands, immigrated to Montreal in 1951 and moved to the area around Halifax a year later, where they started an agricultural company.
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Rick Dykstra has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Brock University, and a Master's Certificate in Project Management from York University.
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Rick Dykstra served for twelve years as president of Dykstra Landscaping, a family business.
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Rick Dykstra's brother, Larry Dykstra, was a Niagara Regional Councillor from 1994 to 1997.
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Rick Dykstra served as chair of the Standing Committee on Finance for five of the six years he served on Council.
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Rick Dykstra was responsible for the first budget to decrease spending in a budget year.
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Rick Dykstra served six years on the Library Board and chaired the board in 1997.
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Bernardo and Homolka were former residents of St Catharines, and Rick Dykstra argued that he was acting to protect the interests of their victims.
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Rick Dykstra ran for mayor of St Catharines in 1997, and finished second against Tim Rigby.
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Rick Dykstra worked for the Ontario provincial government from 1998 to 2002, during Mike Harris's administration, and served in two Ministries and in the Office of the Premier.
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Rick Dykstra worked at the management board as a senior policy advisor, served as chief of staff to the Minister of Community and Social Services John Baird, and was director of caucus and public relations.
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Between January 2000 and March 2001, Rick Dykstra billed over $7,000 while serving as Baird's executive assistant.
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Rick Dykstra was appointed to the Niagara Parks Commission in 2003.
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Rick Dykstra was first elected to the House of Commons in 2006, defeating Liberal incumbent Walt Lastewka by 244 votes, one of the closest races in the country.
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The Conservative Party won a minority government in the election, and Rick Dykstra sat in Parliament as a government backbencher and served as a member of the Standing Committees on Justice and Finance.
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Rick Dykstra later brought forward a motion to have the Justice Committee study the investigative approach of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
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On November 7,2008, Rick Dykstra was appointed by the Prime Minister as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.
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In 2010 and 2012, Rick Dykstra caused further controversy when he voted against anti-abortion legislation, in particular Bill C-510 and Motion 312.
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Rick Dykstra's decision was seen as hypocritical because, in a 2006 survey put out by Campaign Life Coalition, Dykstra was listed as believing that life began at conception.
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In that same survey, Rick Dykstra said that he would support measures to pass legislation to restrict abortion.
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On November 11,2009, Rick Dykstra received criticism when he was photographed using his BlackBerry during a Remembrance Day ceremony in St Catharines.
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Rick Dykstra stated that he was writing a brief note about the event to be uploaded to his blog and using the device's camera to photograph the wreaths.
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On October 2,2015, BuzzFeed reported that Rick Dykstra bought alcohol for high school-aged girls at a nightclub in St Catharines on September 2,2015, and that an associate and supporter of his had offered a 16-year-old girl indefinite VIP service at the same club once she became of legal drinking age if she would refrain from tweeting about the night and if she would claim that Rick Dykstra never bought her drinks.
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Rick Dykstra denied he knowingly bought under age girls any alcohol saying that he assumed anyone at the nightclub was of legal drinking age.
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On March 6,2016, Dykstra was acclaimed President of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario at its General Meeting in Ottawa, after his friend Patrick Brown, who had won the party leadership the year before, negotiated a deal to get the only other candidate to drop out.
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On January 31,2018, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer ordered a third-party investigation into the facts surrounding how Rick Dykstra remained a candidate in the 2015 election after fellow MP Michelle Rempel publicly declared her outrage over the incident while MP Maxime Bernier and Brad Trost publicly demanded an investigation.