{{Short description|Canadian politician}} {{BLP sources|date=April 2019}} {{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Travis Toews | image = Travis Toews 2019.jpg | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=CAN|ECA|size=100%}} | office = Minister of Finance of Alberta<br/>President of the Treasury Board | term_start = October 24, 2022 | term_end = May 29, 2023 | premier = Danielle Smith | predecessor = Jason Nixon | successor = Nate Horner | term_start1 = April 30, 2019 | term_end1 = May 31, 2022 | premier1 = Jason Kenney | predecessor1 = Joe Ceci | successor1 = Jason Nixon | office2 = Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Grande Prairie Wapiti | term_start2 = April 16, 2019 | term_end2 = May 29, 2023 | predecessor2 = Wayne Drysdale | successor2 = Ron Wiebe | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1964|11|15}} | birth_place = Beaverlodge, Alberta, Canada | party = United Conservative | occupation = Accountant, rancher, business owner | alma_mater = Northern Alberta Institute of Technology | website = {{URL|https://www.toewsforalberta.ca}} | signature = Signature Travis Toews.gif }} '''Travis Toews''' {{postnominals|country=CAN|ECA}} (born 1964) is a Canadian politician elected in the 2019 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Grande Prairie-Wapiti in the 30th Alberta Legislature.<ref>{{cite web|author=Trevor Howell, Calgary Herald |url=http://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/riding-calgary-klein |title=Calgary-Klein riding: Coolahan, Fawcett, Gamble, Keough and Nixon |publisher=Calgary Herald |date=2015-04-21 |accessdate=2019-04-17}}</ref> He was appointed as Minister of Finance of Alberta and President of the Treasury Board on April 30, 2019, by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.<ref name="mygrandeprairienow_Lumsden_20190908">{{Cite web| last = Lumsden| first = Michael| title = Grande Prairie-Wapiti MLA Travis Toews named Minister of Finance| work = My Grande Prairie Now| access-date = September 8, 2019 |date=April 30, 2019| url = https://www.mygrandeprairienow.com/55352/grande-prairie-wapiti-mla-travis-toews-named-minister-of-finance/}}</ref>
On June 4, 2022, Toews resigned as the minister of finance and announced his candidacy in the 2022 United Conservative Party leadership election, where he placed second to Danielle Smith.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Markus |first=Jade |date=2022-06-04 |title=Travis Toews kicks off leadership campaign, announces 23 endorsements |work=CBC News |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/travis-toews-kicks-off-leadership-campaign-announces-23-endorsements-1.6478123 |access-date=2022-06-15}}</ref> Toews was reappointed as minister by premier Danielle Smith on October 24, 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alberta premier's new cabinet includes familiar faces in prominent roles {{!}} Globalnews.ca |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/9217285/alberta-premier-danielle-smith-cabinet/ |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=Global News |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Education == Toews attended the University of Alberta.<ref name=staplesbio>{{cite web | url=https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/david-staples-steady-as-she-goes-up-and-up-thats-what-travis-toews-is-selling-but-is-it-too-boring | title=David Staples - Steady as she goes, up and up — that's what Travis Toews is selling but is it too boring? | access-date=18 August 2022 | publisher=Edmonton Journal }}</ref> He then attained a professional accounting designation through the society of management accountants and holds Certified Management Accountants of Canada (CMA) and Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) accounting designations.<ref name="mygrandeprairienow_Lumsden_20190908"/>
== Career == Toews spent twelve years working in a public accounting practice prior to pursuing business interests. After retiring from public accounting practice, Toews invested in, managed and grew a corporate family cattle ranching operation<ref name=staplesbio /> as well as an oilfield environmental company. Toews has served as a Director on a number of local non-profit boards, as well as provincial and national industry boards and committees including the Alberta Beef Producers and the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance. He served as President of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association from 2010 to 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://openparliament.ca/committees/agriculture/41-1/20/travis-toews-1/only/ | title=Mr. Travis Toews President Canadian Cattlemen's Association at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Committee | access-date=18 August 2022 }}</ref> Toews co-chaired the Agri-Innovators Committee for then federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2012/09/new-agri-innovators-committee-provide-long-term-vision-agriculture-innovation.html | title=New Agri-Innovators' Committee to Provide Long-term Vision for Agriculture Innovation | date=14 September 2012 | access-date=18 August 2022 | publisher=Government of Canada }}</ref> In 2013, Ritz appointed Toews as a Canadian representative on the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) committee designed to improve international food security between APEC countries. Between 2010 and 2012, Toews served as a member of Country of Origin Labelling Canadian World Trade Organization Legal working group in Geneva, Switzerland.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.international.gc.ca/media_commerce/release_photo_distribution/2011/111118.aspx?lang=eng | title=Canada Wins WTO Case on U.S. Country-of-Origin Labelling | date=6 June 2010 | publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=18 August 2022}}</ref>
==Minister of Finance== On April 30, 2019, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney appointed Toews as Minister of Finance of Alberta and President of the Treasury Board.<ref name="mygrandeprairienow_Lumsden_20190908"/> Toews succeeds Calgary-Buffalo MLA Joe Ceci as Minister of Finance.<ref name="mygrandeprairienow_Lumsden_20190908"/>
On 24 March 2023, he announced that he would not be seeking re election as an MLA.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bennett |first=Dean |date=March 24, 2023 |title=Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews not seeking re-election |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/9576070/alberta-travis-toews-not-seeking-re-election/ |access-date=2023-03-24 |website=Global News |language=en-US}}</ref> He was succeeded in the 2023 Alberta general election by Ron Wiebe from the UCP.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alberta election 2023 results: Grande Prairie-Wapiti {{!}} Globalnews.ca |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/9625513/alberta-election-2023-results-grande-prairie-wapiti/ |access-date=2023-05-30 |website=Global News |language=en-US}}</ref>
==2022 UCP leadership election== On May 30, 2022, Toews registered his candidacy to replace Jason Kenney as UCP Leader with Elections Alberta. At the time of his registration he had not publicly declared his intention to run.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Braid |first1=Don |title=Braid: Finance Minister Toews enters leadership race, others in holding pattern |url=https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/braid-ucp-leadership-race-in-holding-pattern-as-challenges-mount |access-date=31 May 2022 |agency=Calgary Herald |publisher=Postmedia |date=30 May 2022}}</ref>
On June 4, 2022, Toews launched his campaign with twenty-three caucus endorsements.<ref name=":0" /> On October 6, 2022, Danielle Smith won the UCP leadership election defeating six other candidates as determined by instant-runoff voting. On the sixth ballot she was declared the winner taking 53 per cent of the vote, defeating Toews who had 46 per cent.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Danielle Smith wins UCP leadership race, to be next Alberta premier |work=Global News |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/9173229/danielle-smith-wins-alberta-ucp-leadership-premier-designate/ |access-date=October 7, 2022 |first1=Adam |last1=Toy |date=October 6, 2022|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite tweet|url=https://twitter.com/Alberta_UCP/status/1578220183839444992|user=Alberta_UCP|number= 1578220183839444992|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007040342/https://twitter.com/Alberta_UCP/status/1578220183839444992 |archive-date=October 7, 2022|url-status=live|title=Sixth ballot results: #ucpldr|author=United Conservative Party of Alberta}}</ref>
==Electoral history== {| class="wikitable" ! rowspan=2 | Candidate ! colspan=2 | Round 1 ! colspan=2 | Round 2 ! colspan=2 | Round 3 ! colspan=2 | Round 4 ! colspan=2 | Round 5 ! colspan=2 | Round 6 |- ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % |- | '''Danielle Smith''' |style="text-align:right"|34,949 |style="text-align:right"|41.3 |style="text-align:right"|34,981 |style="text-align:right"|41.4 |style="text-align:right"|35,095 |style="text-align:right"|41.7 |style="text-align:right"|38,496 |style="text-align:right"|46.2 |style="text-align:right"|39,270 |style="text-align:right"|47.7 |style="text-align:right"|'''42,423''' |style="text-align:right"|'''53.77''' |- | Travis Toews |style="text-align:right"|24,831 |style="text-align:right"|29.4 |style="text-align:right"|25,054 |style="text-align:right"|29.7 |style="text-align:right"|25,593 |style="text-align:right"|30.4 |style="text-align:right"|26,592 |style="text-align:right"|31.9 |style="text-align:right"|30,794 |style="text-align:right"|37.4 |style="text-align:right"|36,480 |style="text-align:right"|46.23 |- | Brian Jean |style="text-align:right"|9,301 |style="text-align:right"|11.1 |style="text-align:right"|9,504 |style="text-align:right"|11.3 |style="text-align:right"|10,157 |style="text-align:right"|12.1 |style="text-align:right"|11,251 |style="text-align:right"|13.5 |style="text-align:right"|12,203 |style="text-align:right"|14.8 |colspan="2" style="text-align:center"|''Eliminated'' |- | Rebecca Schulz |style="text-align:right"|5,835 |style="text-align:right"|6.9 |style="text-align:right"|6,180 |style="text-align:right"|7.3 |style="text-align:right"|6,784 |style="text-align:right"|8.0 |style="text-align:right"|6,972 |style="text-align:right"|8.4 |colspan="4" style="text-align:center"|''Eliminated'' |- | Todd Loewen |style="text-align:right"|6,496 |style="text-align:right"|7.7 |style="text-align:right"|6,512 |style="text-align:right"|7.7 |style="text-align:right"|6,596 |style="text-align:right"|7.8 |colspan="6" style="text-align:center"|''Eliminated'' |- | Rajan Sawhney |style="text-align:right"|1,787 |style="text-align:right"|2.1 |style="text-align:right"|2,246 |style="text-align:right"|2.7 |colspan="8" style="text-align:center"|''Eliminated'' |- | Leela Aheer |style="text-align:right"|1,394 |style="text-align:right"|1.6 |colspan="10" style="text-align:center"|''Eliminated'' |- | '''Total''' |style="text-align:right"|'''84,593''' |style="text-align:right"|'''100.00''' |style="text-align:right"|'''84,405''' |style="text-align:right"|'''100.00''' |style="text-align:right"|'''84,225''' |style="text-align:right"|'''100.00''' |style="text-align:right"|'''83,3177''' |style="text-align:right"|'''100.00''' |style="text-align:right"|'''82,267''' |style="text-align:right"|'''100.00''' |style="text-align:right"|'''78,903''' |style="text-align:right"|'''100.00''' |}
{{CANelec/top|AB|2019|Grande Prairie-Wapiti|percent=yes}} {{CANelec|AB|UCP|Travis Toews|17,772|74.8}} {{CANelec|AB|NDP|Shannon Dunfield|3,523|14.8}} {{CANelec|AB|Alberta|Jason Jones|2,227|9.4}} {{CANelec|AB|Independent|Terry Dueck|222|0.9}} {{CANelec/total|Total valid votes|23,744}} {{CANelec/total|Rejected, spoiled, and declined|193}} {{CANelec/total|Registered electors|29,757}} {{CANelec/total|Turnout|80.2}} {{end}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
{{s-start}} {{Canadian cabinet member navigational box header |ministry=Jason_Kenney}} {{ministry box cabinet posts | post1preceded = Joe Ceci | post1 = Minister of Finance & President of the Treasury Board | post1years = April 30, 2019– | post1note = | post1followed = Incumbent }} {{s-end}}{{Kenney Ministry}}
{{2022 United Conservative Party leadership election}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toews, Travis}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:United Conservative Party MLAs Category:Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Category:Ministers of finance of Alberta Category:Northern Alberta Institute of Technology alumni Category:Canadian ranchers Category:Canadian accountants Category:Canadian Mennonites Category:21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta