{{Short description|Canadian politician (born 1962)}} {{Cleanup press release|1=article|date=July 2021}} {{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Scott Tannas | image = | office = Leader of the Canadian Senators Group | predecessor = ''Position established'' | deputy = {{ubl | Dennis Patterson | Rebecca Patterson}} | term_start = November 4, 2019 | term_end = | office1 = Canadian Senator <br>from Alberta | nominator1 = Stephen Harper | appointer1 = David Johnston | term_start1 = March 25, 2013 | term_end1 = | party = Canadian Senators Group (since 2019) | other_party = Conservative Party of Canada (2013–2019)<br>Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (2012) | profession = Finance executive | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1962|02|25}} | birth_place = High River, Alberta, Canada | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = Taryn McCormick | children = 4 }}
'''Scott Alfred Tannas''' (born February 25, 1962) is a Canadian politician and finance executive. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada and, since November 5, 2019, leader of the Canadian Senators Group, a parliamentary caucus.
Tannas is the former President/CEO and founder of Western Financial Group (formerly Hi-Alta Capital Inc.), an insurance brokerage, life insurance and banking company headquartered in High River, Alberta, Canada.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.westernfinancialgroup.ca/Content/DirectorsManagement.aspx |title=Western Financial Group - Directors & Management |publisher=Westernfinancialgroup.ca |date=April 15, 2011 |access-date=October 25, 2011}}</ref> Tannas was elected as a senator-in-waiting in the 2012 Alberta Senate nominee election, and appointed to the Senate following the retirement of Senator Bert Brown on March 22, 2013.
Outside of politics, Tannas runs the Alberta-based Western Investment Company of Canada, a private equity firm.
==Early life and education== Tannas was born in High River, Alberta, Canada on February 25, 1962. He is the son of Donald Tannas, a school teacher/principal and Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, serving as Deputy Speaker and Christine Tannas, a nurse.
Tannas has spent the majority of his life in High River, except for a 2-year period, where his parents served with the Canadian International Development Agency in Uganda.
Tannas attended and graduated from École Senator Riley School in 1979. Tannas also worked the local dance club scene as a DJ and was known for his sound system and light show. At the age of 26, Tannas got a job in the tourism industry working at the Banff Springs Hotel.
Tannas attended both Mount Royal College (now called Mount Royal University), and the University of Calgary. While attending university, Tannas met Taryn McCormick, the daughter of Michael James Sr and Gweneth Helen McCormick, whose family started the Riley & McCormick Western Wear family in 1901.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://putneys.tripod.com/obfeb11.html |title=Obituaries Calgary, AB |publisher=Putneys.tripod.com |access-date=October 25, 2011}}</ref>
==Businesses and career==
After leaving college, Tannas stayed in the Calgary and Banff area working in the tourism industry and taking side jobs to build up capital. Tannas had accumulated enough capital to move back to his hometown of High River and purchased Hi-Alta Agencies, an established insurance firm in town, which had been operating since 1905.
In May 1996, Hi-Alta changed its name to Western Financial Group to allow for expansion outside of Alberta.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.insurancewest.ca/pdffiles/IW_spr03_11-20.pdf | title=Uniquely Lloydminster | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425091020/http://www.insurancewest.ca/pdffiles/IW_spr03_11-20.pdf | archive-date=2012-04-25}}</ref> In 2001, Western Financial Group's insurance division, WFG Agency Network Inc., became the largest insurance broker network in western Canada. That same year, Tannas started The Western Communities Foundation, a non-profit organization created to support the communities in which Western Financial Group operates. In January 2003, Tannas, along with the board of directors at Western Financial Group, created their own bank: Bank West, which took in over $1 million in deposits in its first day of business. In 2003, Tannas was awarded Ernst and Young's Prairies Entrepreneur of the Year for Professional/Financial Services.<ref>{{cite web |title=Western Financial Group - Our Story |url=http://www.westernfinancialgroup.ca/Content/OurStory.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101121316/http://www.westernfinancialgroup.ca/Content/OurStory.aspx |archive-date=2011-01-01 |access-date=October 25, 2011 |publisher=Westernfinancialgroup.ca}}</ref>
As of 2021, Tannas runs the Western Investment Company of Canada while serving as a senator.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last1=Tasker|first1=John Paul|last2=Rands|first2=Chris|date=January 13, 2021|title=Senate caucus leader admits he travelled to Hawaii for holiday|work=CBC News|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senate-caucus-leaders-travel-pandemic-covid-1.5870733|access-date=January 13, 2021}}</ref> He is also an honorary board member of SOS Children's Villages - Canada.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.soschildrensvillages.ca/our-honorary-board-directors-and-advisory-council |title=Our Honorary Board of Directors and Advisory Council |publisher=Soschildrensvillages.ca |date=July 5, 2016 |access-date=July 5, 2016}}</ref>
==Political career== Tannas' first venture into politics was when he served as campaign manager for Ken Hughes, the Progressive Conservative MP for Macleod, in the 1993 federal election.
In 2012, Tannas stood as a candidate in Alberta's Senate nominee election, as a Progressive Conservative. He placed second out of three available positions, and was named a "senator-in-waiting". Following the retirement of Senator Bert Brown, Tannas was appointed to the Senate of Canada on March 22, 2013. On his appointment, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Tannas was supportive of the government's efforts at Senate reform, including imposing term limits on senators.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-03-25 |title=Harper appoints Scott Tannas to Senate to fill Alberta vacancy |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/harper-appoints-scott-tannas-to-senate-to-fill-alberta-vacancy/ |access-date=2023-07-30 |website=CTV News |language=en |agency=The Canadian Press}}</ref> In 2017, Tannas said he intended to serve no more than ten years in the Senate: "For me and only me…I think hanging around longer than 10 years, I’m not going to add any more value."<ref>{{cite news |title=Tory Senators divided over whether they really agreed to term limits |url=https://www.hilltimes.com/2017/07/19/tory-term-limits-myth-say-senators-promise-never-made/114026 |url-status=live |access-date=October 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024203922/https://www.hilltimes.com/2017/07/19/tory-term-limits-myth-say-senators-promise-never-made/114026 |archive-date=October 24, 2021}}</ref>
On November 4, 2019, Tannas became one of eleven senators who founded the Canadian Senators Group, a non-partisan parliamentary group in the Senate. At the same time, the CSG selected Senator Tannas as its interim leader.By late 2020, Tannas became the CSG's full-time leader.
Over the 2020–2021 winter holidays, Tannas travelled to Hawaii despite public health advice discouraging non-essential international travel during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Tannas said that he had followed all the rules and health protocols required to undertake international travel and that he would shortly be returning to Alberta.<ref name=":0" />
He was elected joint chair of the Standing Joint Committee on the Library of Parliament in the 45th Canadian Parliament in 2025.
== Personal life == Tannas lives in High River, Alberta.
==Election results== ===2012 Alberta Senate nominee election=== {| class="wikitable" ! !Candidate |colspan=2|Party !Votes # !Votes % !Ballots % !Elected !Appointed !1st !2nd !3rd {{Canadian party colour|AB|PC|row}} |Doug Black |colspan=2|Progressive Conservative |align=right|427,745 |align=right|15.90% |align=right|38.95% |{{Y}} |January 25, 2013 |68/87 |8/87 |3/87 {{Canadian party colour|AB|PC|row}} |Scott Tannas |colspan=2|Progressive Conservative |align=right|351,761 |align=right|13.07% |align=right|32.04% |{{Y}} |March 25, 2013 |2/87 |46/87 |14/87 {{Canadian party colour|AB|PC|row}} |Mike Shaikh |colspan=2|Progressive Conservative |align=right|309,587 |align=right|11.51% |align=right|28.19% |{{Y}} | |2/87 |9/87 |31/87 {{Canadian party colour|AB|Wildrose|row}} |Rob Gregory |colspan=2|Wildrose |align=right|300,883 |align=right|11.18% |align=right|27.40% |colspan=2| |8/87 |10/87 |18/87 {{Canadian party colour|AB|Wildrose|row}} |Raymond Germain |colspan=2|Wildrose |align=right|299,800 |align=right|11.14% |align=right|27.30% |colspan=2| |5/87 |13/87 |13/87 {{Canadian party colour|AB|Wildrose|row}} |Vitor Marciano |colspan=2|Wildrose |align=right|246,787 |align=right|9.17% |align=right|22.47% |colspan=2| |0/87 |0/87 |6/87 {{Canadian party colour|AB|Evergreen|row}} |Elizabeth Johannson |colspan=2|EverGreen |align=right|149,844 |align=right|5.57% |align=right|13.65% |colspan=2| |1/87 |1/87 |1/87 {{Canadian party colour|AB|Independent|row}} |Len Bracko |colspan=2|Independent |align=right|141,830 |align=right|5.27% |align=right|12.92% |colspan=2| |1/87 |0/87 |0/87 {{Canadian party colour|AB|Independent|row}} |David Fletcher |colspan=2|Independent |align=right|114,940 |align=right|4.27% |align=right|10.47% |colspan=2| |0/87 |0/87 |0/87 {{Canadian party colour|AB|Independent|row}} |Ian Urquhart |colspan=2|Independent |align=right|107,397 |align=right|3.99% |align=right|9.78% |colspan=2| |0/87 |0/87 |1/87 {{Canadian party colour|AB|Independent|row}} |Paul Frank |colspan=2|Independent |align=right|93,586 |align=right|3.48% |align=right|8.52% |colspan=2| |0/87 |0/87 |0/87 {{Canadian party colour|AB|Independent|row}} |William Exelby |colspan=2|Independent |align=right|81,476 |align=right|3.03% |align=right|7.42% |colspan=2| |0/87 |0/87 |0/87 {{Canadian party colour|AB|Independent|row}} |Perry Chahal |colspan=2|Independent |align=right|65,164 |align=right|2.42% |align=right|5.93% |colspan=2| |0/87 |0/87 |0/87 |- |colspan=4 align=right|'''Total''' |align=right|2,690,800 | |align=right|1,098,021 |colspan=5| |- |colspan=4 align=right|'''Rejected, Spoiled and Declined''' |colspan=3 align=right|189,059 |colspan=5| |- |colspan=4 align=right|'''Total Ballots Cast''' |colspan=3 align=right|1,287,080 |colspan=5| |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Senate of Canada}} {{Canadian Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tannas, Scott}} Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:Businesspeople from Alberta Category:Canadian chief executives Category:Canadian senators-in-waiting from Alberta Category:People from High River Category:Canadian Senators Group Category:Canadian senators from Alberta Category:21st-century members of the Senate of Canada