During his closely watched press conference following his resignation from the Conservative caucus Thursday, someone asked Brent Rathgeber if, given his history in politics, this outcome was inevitable.
“I’ll let you come to that conclusion,” Rathgeber responded. “I think what’s consistent from my days with the Alberta legislature is I put principle before party.”
This is not the first time Rathgeber, 48, has found himself in opposition to the party with which he sits. Before he sought the nomination for Edmonton-St. Albert, he had served one term as MLA for Edmonton-Calder where he had openly defied Ralph Klein’s government when it tried to cap monetary awards at $4,000 for soft tissue injuries in automobile accidents.
Rathgeber, who had worked as an insurance/personal injury lawyer, had said at the time Klein was overreacting to insurance companies’ concerns.
“The legislation took away any meaningful right to litigate,” Rathgeber said in a 2007 interview. Passed by the Klein government, the legislation was overturned in Court of Queen’s Bench the next year before the Court of Appeal restored it in 2009.
Rathgeber was, at the time, speaking from personal experience, and not just based on his law practice. In 1999 he was involved in a car crash that left him with a spinal cord injury, which interferes with the function of his left foot.
Immediately after the injury Rathgeber started getting involved in politics. He bought a membership in the then-Canadian Alliance and helped with nomination and election campaigns. He ran to be MLA for Edmonton-Calder in 2001 and was elected, but was defeated in 2004.
After his election he became executive director of the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada. During his tenure, he was accused by the mainstream labour movement as being anti-union because of his dealings with the Christian Labour Association.
“I have concerns about the power of organized labour,” Rathgeber said.
He was the first candidate in 2006 to announce he would seek to replace John Williams when Williams announced his retirement. Yet despite announcing in the summer of 2006, the nomination wasn’t held until early 2007. Rathgeber won on the third ballot of the evening, defeating Tina Busse, John Kennair and former Progressive Conservative MP Scott Thorkelson for the position.
He easily won both of the federal elections in which he has run since winning the nomination for Edmonton-St. Albert. Since his election he has served as a member of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, the Committee on Public Safety and National Security. He was appointed in February to the Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.
He has been critical of the government previously. He has used his blog to blast cabinet ministers for racking up large bills for limousine rides and expensive orange juice.
He also criticized supply management boards in agriculture, which set quotas in Canada on milk, eggs and poultry. Rathgeber said the system keeps prices for those systems artificially high. Representatives of those sectors denounced his comments.
