Jason Nixon

Jason John Nixon (born May 26, 1980) is a Canadian politician and the current Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services of Alberta.

He is member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.

A 2005 incident resurfaced in the press in 2017, regarding a female safety officer at Nixon's company Nixon Safety Consulting (NSC).

In 2005, a mother of three was sexually harassed by an independent contractor working on a NSC project.

From 2006 to 2011, Nixon served as the executive director at The Mustard Seed, a non-profit organization founded by his father Pat Nixon dedicated to helping the homeless.

Nixon took online courses at both the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and Athabasca University.

Adjudicator Kurt Neuenfeldt wrote in his December 30, 2008 British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ruling that the contractor "sexually harassed " the female employee, and "that NSC terminated her employment" at the "urging" of Navigator, and Con-Forte when Harrison complained.

In December 2008, the tribunal found that Nixon Safety Consulting, and the other respondents had discriminated against the woman.

Navigator and Con-Forte were ordered to pay her lost wages, $14,144, an additional $15,000 compensation for injury to her dignity, feelings and self-respect, and $3,000 for improper conduct during the hearing.

By 2008, Nixon was working as manager of the Mountain Aire Lodge addiction treatment facility on the Red River near Sundre.

Nixon's father Pat, was the founder of the Mustard Seed that runs the Mountain Aire Lodge.

On February 6, 2009, Nixon was part of a group who shot a deer on Allison Gentry's family's property, the Sixty-One Ranch near Cremona, Alberta.

The bond was in response to threat of injury/damage charges against him in which he had "caused Allison Gentry to fear" that he would "cause personal injury to her, in that on November 6, 2009 Nixon "did harm Allison Gentry". Gentry, who lived alone on her property with her mother, was driving her truck around the perimeter of her property when she heard gunshots then saw several men armed with long guns including Nixon. They had just shot a deer near a No Hunting sign. A neighbour arrived and they both took photos of the incident as evidence. She confronted the men and Nixon, who is 6' 8" tall intimidated her when she accused him of poaching.

Nixon turned to his friends and said, "Somebody just want to shoot the b-ch?"

Nixon signed the peace bond but later denied the claims.

Alberta Fish and Wildlife officer, Adam Mirus, who led the investigation into the 2009 allegation interviewed Nixon and the others and recorded the interviews in his truck.

Mirus returned to Nixon's Mountain Aire lodge for further interviews on January 4, 2010, and Nixon expressed his displeasure with the ongoing investigation.

Nixon graduated from Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2011 with a management major, but he continued to take classes in Athabasca University.

In June 2011, Nixon pleaded guilty to a charge of poaching which resulted in a $500 fine.

In February 2011, Nixon signed a one-year peace bond and paid a surety of $2000.

He agreed to stay 500 metres away from Gentry's property and have no contact with her for a year.

In 2014, Nixon was elected president of the Athabasca University Student Union.

He was first elected as a member of the Wildrose Party in 2015, and then he served on the negotiation team that created a framework for unity between the Wildrose Party and the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta.

The agreement was ratified and approved by the members of both parties in July 2017, establishing the United Conservative Party (UCP).

After the merger, Nixon endorsed Jason Kenney in the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership election.

After Kenney was elected as the leader, Nixon served as Leader of the Official Opposition in Alberta until Kenney won a seat (Calgary-Lougheed) in the Alberta legislature in a by-election.

Nixon served as the Opposition House Leader in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

He has previously served as the Wildrose opposition critic for Human Services and was a participant on the government's Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention.

During the 2019 Alberta election, Nixon was dogged with controversies about a peace bond for an assault of a woman over his alleged involvement in a poaching incident on her property, a subsequent confrontation with a Fish and Wildlife Officer, as well as an earlier British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ruling about his handling of a sexual harassment complaint at his former company.

After winning the 2019 election on the UCP ticket, he was sworn in as Alberta's Minister of Environment and Parks on April 30, 2019.

Before the election, he was a vocal opponent to the previous Minister, Shannon Phillips, especially in relation to the proposed Bighorn Wildland Provincial Park.

He and his brother Jeremy Nixon are the first brothers to serve in the Alberta legislature at the same time.

Jason Nixon is one of four men named Jason serving in the UCP cabinet.

After the 2019 Alberta general election, Nixon was appointed Minister of Environment and Parks.

According to a biography on his website, he has worked in Alberta's oil and gas industry.

His wife works for a pipeline company.

While Nixon was the Leader of the Opposition in Alberta, he was vocal in his opposition to the proposed Bighorn Wildland Provincial Park, calling the plan a: "foreign-funded plot to wall off the back country to Albertans who call the region home."

As the newly appointed Minister, he announced plans to stop the project entirely.

"[Nixon said] that he is pleased that the NDPs plans to make changes to the Big Horn Country will not happen. “They are completely stopped,” he said, adding that the UCP is looking at increasing investment in the area."Other plans include possibly re-writing Alberta's provincial park legislation to be more friendly to agribusiness, forestry, mining, and oil and gas extraction, and cancelling Alberta's climate leadership plan that was implemented under the previous NDP government.

Jason Nixon sponsored the following bills: