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James Francis Dinning OC ECA (born December 4, 1952) is a Canadian Progressive Conservative politician and businessman. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta (1986–1997), and now is on the board of directors of several Canadian companies. Dinning ran for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives to replace Ralph Klein as Premier of Alberta. Dinning raised over $2 million for his leadership bid but was ultimately defeated by Ed Stelmach when party members voted for Klein's replacement on December 2, 2006. In June 2010, he was selected as the 12th Chancellor of the University of Calgary. Dinning is an advisor to Canada's Ecofiscal Commission.

Political history

After graduating at Western Canada High School in 1970, Dinning went on to obtain his Bachelor of Commerce honours degree from Queen's University in 1974. He also earned a Master's degree in Public Administration from Queen's in 1977.

Elected in the riding of Calgary-Shaw in 1986, Dinning held the riding until 1993. During this time he served in a variety of positions within the provincial government. He was the Minister of Community and Occupational Health from 1986 to 1988, the Minister of Education from 1988 to 1992, and he served as the Provincial Treasurer from 1992 to 1997.

In 2006, Dinning ran for leadership of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta party. Dinning ultimately lost the party election to Ed Stelmach as a result of a second ballot vote on December 2, 2006. During much of the campaign, he held at least a 20-point lead over his closest competitor and over a 40-point lead on Stelmach.

Today he is a corporate director, advisor and consultant to various companies, not-for-profits and governments.

Electoral record

1986

Calgary-Shaw

• Jim Dinning (PC) 6,694 61.5%
• Brendan Dunphy (Lib) 2,727 25.1%
• Len Curie (NDP) 1,166 10.7%
• Byron L. Chenger (Rep) 295 2.7%

1989

Calgary-Shaw

• Jim Dinning (PC) 7,412 52.9% (-8.6%)
• Bob Crump (Lib) 4,865 34.7% (+9.7%)
• Gordon M. Christie (NDP) 1,728 12.3% (+1.6%)

1993

Calgary-Lougheed (compared to Calgary-Shaw, which covered much of the same area in southwest Calgary)

• Jim Dinning (PC) 7,280 52.8% (-0.2%)
• Jack Driscoll (Lib) 5,803 42.1% (+7.3%)
• Catherine Rose (NDP) 502 3.6% (-8.7%)
• Peter Hope (CoR) 122 0.9% (-)
• Ida Bugmann (NLP) 88 0.6% (-)

Career history

After retiring from active politics in 1997, he was a senior vice-president and then executive vice-president of TransAlta Corporation from August 1997 to December 2004.

Dinning is on the board of directors of four companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. They are: Liquor Stores NA Ltd where he is chair of the board, Parkland Fuel Corp., Russel Metals Inc., and Oncolytics Biotech Inc. Dinning is chairman of Western Financial Group, Export Development Canada and the Canada West Foundation, and chancellor of the University of Calgary.

Dinning was the chair of the Calgary Health Region from 1999 to 2001. He was a governor of the Banff Centre, and served as a director of Finning International, Shaw Communications, the Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN), and the Alberta Energy Research Institute. Dinning has also served as chairman of the Canadian Clean Power Coalition, which comprised major power producers such as ATCO, Epcor, TransAlta, Luscar, SaskPower, and Nova Scotia Power.

The University of Calgary honoured Dinning in 2002 with an honorary doctorate. In 2011, he joined former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein when together they were honoured by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation with their Tax Fighter Award.

He was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015.

References

1. "Dinning's country boy act not convincing". Archived from the original on 11 January 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
2. "Jim Dinning Biography". Archived from the original on 27 October 2005. Retrieved 2 November 2005.
3. "Four Nova Scotians among Order of Canada honourees". The Chronicle-Herald, July 1, 2015.

External links

• University of Calgary Senate website
• Executive profile (2003) - by Pacific Northwest Economic Region
• "Jim Dinning to Receive 2005 CNIB Vision Award" (April 21, 2005) - by Canadian National Institute for the Blind

v t e Cabinet of Premier of Alberta Ralph Klein (1992–2006)
Ralph Klein Jack Ady Guy Boutilier Pearl Calahasen Mike Cardinal Harvey Cenaiko David Coutts Stockwell Day Jim Dinning Victor Doerksen Denis Ducharme Clint Dunford Peter Elzinga Brian Evans Iris Evans Robert Fischer Yvonne Fritz Heather Forsyth Dick Fowler Gordon Graydon Dave Hancock Jon Havelock Denis Herard Doug Horner Ernie Isley Halvar Jonson Ken Kowalski Ty Lund Gary Mar Shirley McClellan Barry McFarland Greg Melchin Dianne Mirosh Pat Nelson Mark Norris Lyle Oberg Luke Ouellette Walter Paszkowski Rob Renner Ken Rostad Murray Smith Donald H. Sparrow Ed Stelmach Ron Stevens Lorne Taylor Tom Thurber Peter Trynchy George VanderBurg Steve West Stan Woloshyn Gene Zwozdesky

• 1952 births
• Living people
• Businesspeople from Calgary
• Businesspeople from Edmonton
• Canadian Anglicans
• Ministers of finance of Alberta
• Members of the Executive Council of Alberta
• Members of the Order of Canada
• Politicians from Calgary
• Politicians from Edmonton
• Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs
• Queen's University at Kingston alumni
• Western Canada High School alumni
• 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta