Meet Kevin Taft

Not Your Typical Politician

Visit Kevin’s Campaign Site
Kevin Taft, Edmonton-Riverview

Kevin Taft is deeply rooted in the Canadian west.  His grandparents arrived on the prairies a hundred years ago as homesteaders, church ministers, and business leaders.  His mother was a pioneer of women’s and consumer rights; a writer and television host; a schoolteacher and a businesswoman.  His father came of age during the Great Depression, served in the RCAF, and pursued an academic career to the level of university vice president.  His wife, Jeanette Boman, an award-winning university teacher, grew up on a farm, the great granddaughter of homesteaders who fled Europe for a better life here.

Appointed at the age of 17 by the Lougheed cabinet to a committee reviewing the health care system, Kevin’s career has focused on public policy, both in government and the private sector.  He has a PhD in Business and has testified to both a Senate committee and a Royal Commission.  He has written three bestselling books, and during the 1980s helped organize a series of major Canadian-Chinese expeditions into the Gobi Desert in China to hunt for dinosaur fossils.

Kevin was elected to the Alberta Legislature in 2001, having just joined the Alberta Liberals.  It was his first effort at party politics.  He became Leader of the Alberta Liberals in 2004, and under his leadership the party has turned around its organization and finances.  The Alberta Liberals entered the 2004 general election with three incumbents and now have 16 members.  It won almost 30% of the popular vote in 2004 and recently won Ralph Klein’s former constituency of Calgary Elbow.

Known as “the man with a plan,” Kevin believes Alberta needs to prepare for a future beyond oil and gas by saving a portion of its oil and gas royalties, by investing in education, by protecting its environment, and by building its place in Canada.

Kevin has been passionate about public issues since he was young.  Raised in a family with a strong sense of right and wrong, and an enduring commitment to community, he feels strongly that the future of Alberta should be to lead with the spirit of the pioneers: confident, forward-looking, and hard-working.

Kevin lives in Edmonton, in the same neighborhood where he grew up.  He has been married to Jeanette Boman since 1982, and they have two sons.

Kevin on Youtube