Bruce McAllister (politician)

Bruce H. McAllister (born March 27, 1971) is a communications and public affairs consultant operating a private company called Right Angle Communications & Consulting. He is also the Executive Director of a land owner advocacy group in the County of Rocky View entitled Rocky View 2020.

Bruce was formerly a Provincial politician who was an elected member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Chestermere-Rocky View. After the 2012 Alberta election, McAllister along with 16 other Wildrose MLAs formed the Official Opposition. Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith appointed McAllister as Education and Advanced Education Critic, and also as the party’s Deputy Whip.

After completing a diploma in broadcast journalism from Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario, McAllister enjoyed a lengthy career in broadcast journalism, working in cities across the country – including Halifax, Winnipeg, Medicine Hat, and Victoria. From 2004 to 2011 (immediately prior to running in the 2012 provincial election) he was co-anchor of the morning news program on Global Calgary. Bruce was a popular anchor, and helped form the number one morning news team in the city. After eight years of hosting the morning show he made the choice to leave Global Calgary to pursue a career in politics.

Bruce pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the 2012 election, ousting former energy and finance minister Ted Morton with a decisive 60% of the vote. He was an outspoken critic of the Government’s push for inquiry based learning, frequently challenging the Government to listen to the wishes of parents and not abandon the fundamentals in the classroom. He helped a team of concerned educators and parents pressure the Government into putting times tables back into the Alberta math curriculum. He also took up the fight against the infamous “no zero” policy after an Edmonton teacher was fired for giving a student a zero.

In the 2012 fall Legislative session, McAllister brought forward amendments to the Education Act that would have ended school fees for mandatory curriculum activities, and would have guaranteed the rights of teachers to grade students with a zero when warranted.

On December 17, 2014, he was one of nine Wildrose MLAs who attempted to unite the Wildrose and PC parties into one Alberta Conservative party by joining the Alberta Progressive Conservative caucus under the leadership of Premier Jim Prentice.

That decision touched off a firestorm of controversy and McAllister wound up losing his seat by a mere 1% in a vote that came down to the very last advanced poll result, eventually going 37% - 36% to Wildrose. Of 87 Alberta ridings, McAllister was the only PC candidate to increase the percentage PC vote from the 2012 election.