Jim Prentice: Progressive Conservative Party leader
CBC News | Posted: March 24, 2015 11:23 PM | Last Updated: March 25, 2015
Former Conservative MP to run in Calgary-Foothills
Jim Prentice
Party leader since September 2014
Age: 58
Occupation before politics: Senior executive at CIBC, lawyer
Education: Bachelor of Commerce, law degree
First year elected to Alberta legislature: October 2014
Candidate in Calgary-Foothills
Party leader since September 2014
Age: 58
Occupation before politics: Senior executive at CIBC, lawyer
Education: Bachelor of Commerce, law degree
First year elected to Alberta legislature: October 2014
Candidate in Calgary-Foothills
Jim Prentice is a former Conservative MP from Calgary recruited by the Progressive Conservative Party last year during its leadership race in May.
Prentice had been working in the private industry as a senior executive at CIBC.
He left federal politics roughly 4.5 years ago after holding several key portfolios in Stephen Harper's government since 2004, including environment and aboriginal affairs. He was touted as a skilled, bilingual successor in waiting should Harper ever falter.
Born on July 20, 1956, in South Porcupine, Ont., his family moved to Alberta when Prentice was 13 years old.
He put himself through university working in the coal mines of the Crowsnest Pass, receiving a bachelor of commerce at the University of Alberta and law degree at Dalhousie University.
Corporate background
Prentice was brought into the folds of the PC Party after former Alberta premier Alison Redford left in a cloud of controversy about her leadership style and use of government planes.
Before joining the party, he had been acting as a consultant in negotiations between First Nations and Enbridge on its Northern Gateway pipeline project. Prentice was also a board member of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
He would go on to win the leadership vote in September on the first ballot, which was followed by his party sweeping four byelections in October. The race in Calgary-Foothills saw him gain a seat in the Alberta Legislature.
As Alberta's 16th premier, he would go on to make wide-ranging changes to PC party policy — including the sale of government aircraft, dismantling the health superboard and revoking controversial labour legislation Bill 45.
Prentice lives in Calgary with his wife Karen, children and grandchildren.