Ricardo Miranda

{{Short description|Canadian politician and trade unionist (born 1976)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Ricardo Miranda | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|ECA|size=100%}} | image = Ricardo Miranda 2015.jpg | caption = Miranda in May 2015 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1976|8|22}} | birth_place = Managua, Nicaragua  | office = Alberta Minister of Culture and Tourism | term_start = February 2, 2016 | term_end = April 30, 2019 | predecessor = David Eggen | successor = Leela Aheer

| party = Alberta New Democratic Party | occupation = Researcher | alma_mater = University of Calgary }} '''Ricardo Miranda''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|ECA}} (born August 22, 1976) is a Canadian politician and trade unionist who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 2015 Alberta general election representing the electoral district of Calgary-Cross.<ref>[https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/ndps-miranda-wins-by-100-votes-over-former-police-chief "NDP's Miranda wins by 100 votes over former police chief"]. ''Calgary Herald'', May 6, 2015.</ref>

On February 2, 2016, Miranda was appointed Alberta's Minister of Culture and Tourism.

==Before politics== Miranda was born in Managua, Nicaragua, and is Jewish.<ref>[https://thecjn.ca/perspectives/opinions/ricardo-miranda-refugee-cabinet-minister/ "Ricardo Miranda: From refugee to cabinet minister,"] ''Canadian Jewish News''.</ref> In 1988, Miranda left war-torn Nicaragua immigrating to Canada as a refugee when he was just 10-years-old.<ref>[https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/2018/12/05/save-the-date-ricardo-miranda-albertas-first-openly-gay-cabinet-minister-is-getting-married.html "Save the date: Ricardo Miranda, Alberta’s first openly gay cabinet minister, is getting married"]. ''Toronto Star'', December 5, 2018.</ref> He graduated from Father Lacombe High School in Calgary, and went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Calgary.

Miranda engaged for several years in activism for various workers' rights organizations. While employed as a flight attendant for Air Canada, he was elected president of his local union, one of the largest within the Canadian Union of Public Employees. He went on to work for CUPE as a researcher in the Alberta office of CUPE National, where he met and worked with Louis Arab, husband of the incumbent premier and Alberta NDP leader the Hon. Rachel Notley. As a CUPE researcher, Miranda also contributed to public policy as a board member of the Parkland Institute, an Edmonton-based public policy think tank based in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://parklandinstitute.ca/about/board/|title = Board Members}}</ref>

==Political career== Miranda's entry into politics came after encouragement by Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley, who suggested he may run for the Alberta NDP party.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://cupe.ca/cupe-researcher-elected-alberta|title=CUPE Researcher elected in Alberta|work=Canadian Union of Public Employees|access-date=March 27, 2018|language=en}}</ref> Previously, Miranda had served as a member of various committees, including the Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund and the Select Special Ethics and Accountability Committee. He also served as chair of the Standing Committee on Alberta's Economic Future.

He was elected as an MLA in the 2015 Alberta general election, becoming one of the first three openly LGBT politicians elected to the provincial legislature, alongside caucus colleagues Michael Connolly and Estefan Cortes-Vargas.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/05/06/new-kids-on-the-block-al_n_7227454.html "Alberta's NDP Government A Diverse Bunch"]. Canadian Press via ''Huffington Post'', May 6, 2015.</ref> In February 2016, Miranda was appointed as Alberta's Minister of Culture and Tourism in a provincial government headed by Notley.

He was defeated in the 2019 provincial election.<ref>[https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/son-of-longtime-mla-moe-amery-ready-to-take-over-calgary-cross "Son of longtime MLA Moe Amery ready to take over Calgary-Cross"]. ''Calgary Herald'', April 18, 2019.</ref>

==Personal life== Miranda is openly gay. In addition to belonging to a sexual minority group, Miranda has variously spoken publicly about the difficulties of his early life fleeing war and persecution, and has been the voice of Judaism in the legislature, rising to inform on the occasion of various Jewish holidays.

Miranda became Alberta's first cabinet minister to be married in a same-sex wedding. In a marriage ceremony held on December 28, 2018 in Calgary's Glenbow Museum, Miranda married boyfriend and partner Christopher Brown. He had met Brown early in 2018. The marriage ceremony of Miranda and Brown was officiated by Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.<ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ricardo-miranda-wedding-notley-1.4962038 "Alberta premier officiates cabinet minister's historic same-sex wedding"]. CBC News, December 30, 2018.</ref>

==Electoral history== {{Alberta provincial election, 2019/Calgary-Cross}}

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miranda, Ricardo}} Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:Alberta New Democratic Party MLAs Category:Canadian LGBTQ people in provincial and territorial legislatures Category:Canadian gay politicians Category:Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Category:Politicians from Calgary Category:University of Calgary alumni Category:People from Managua Category:Nicaraguan emigrants to Canada Category:Nicaraguan Jews Category:21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta Category:Jewish Canadian politicians Category:21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people