Calgary, September 29, 2014 – Ken Hughes, MLA, Calgary West has announced that he has resigned as the Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary West, in order to continue to create opportunities for renewal.
“It has been a great honour to serve the people of Calgary West as MLA. I step aside confident that my decision will contribute to the current renewal of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Government of Alberta.
While I am stepping aside today, I continue to support Jim Prentice and the PC Party of Alberta. Jim Prentice has many qualities that make him a strong Premier and leader. First, I know from my decades of personal experience that it is very difficult to outwork Jim. He has boundless energy, and has a rare personal discipline that allows him to keep a keen eye on the top priorities.
He is smart, listens to people, has compassion for the quality of life of Albertans, and the abundant common sense of someone who grew up in a small community. He understands Alberta, and Alberta’s important role in the world. He also understands smaller Alberta communities because of his roots there. I know he also appreciates the growing needs of Calgary West, as we have discussed this through recent months. He has worked hard to understand the important challenges we face, particularly with school capacity.”
“Nobody can argue with the analysis that the Progressive Conservative party, the caucus, the cabinet and the Government have needed renewal. We are seeing that essential renewal taking place under the leadership of The Honourable Jim Prentice.
I have had the rare honour to serve Albertans in different ways for more than six years in recent history and five years as an MP earlier. For nearly 4 years, I took on the challenge as the founding Chair of Alberta Health Services. I served as Minister of Energy of 19 months and Minister of Municipal Affairs for 4 months. I am very proud of the many specific accomplishments in each of these roles.In April I stepped out of Cabinet to engage Albertans in the leadership process, pursuing a strong theme of renewal of the party and the government.
Community involvement has been a part of how I have lived my life throughout my adult years, and I don’t expect that to change. There are many ways to serve our community, and I look forward to new and other ways of contributing.
People have asked if I am retiring. The short answer is, “No, not now, not likely ever.”
My immediate plans are to return to private life, rejoining the very successful company that my wife Denise and I started over a decade ago, Alpine Insurance and Financial, Inc. I will also return to my experience as a seasoned governance professional and corporate director. Most of my efforts for the past twenty years have been invested as an entrepreneur, so this announcement today is in many ways a step to return home to my other passions.
I would like to thank my wife, Denise, for her unfailing loyalty, encouragement, love and guidance. Public life is not easy for the partner and family of a public leader and any success I have experienced has only been because it has always been a team effort. In a couple weeks, Denise and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary with pride and a hopefully bit more time and flexibility in our lives. Our three teenaged children, Aidan, Carlan and Eamon have also been an important part of the family team in my public service, and I again thank them for their tolerance, and their sense of humour about their father’s public life.
There are many, many people who make public service possible and those are the volunteers who take time away from their professions and families to help improve our community. In particular, I wish to thank Dave Mallory, President of Calgary West PC Association, and through him all the Board Members and hundreds of volunteers who have ensured that Calgary West is one of the strongest Progressive Conservative constituencies in the Province of Alberta.
Brenda Meneghetti has been both the heart and the engine of engagement for many of us, and her loyalty and her willingness to volunteer endless hours for her community deserves gratitude not just from me but from the whole community in Calgary West, and beyond within the province.