Jonathan Denis

Jonathan Brian Denis, (born September 22, 1975) is a Canadian politician and lawyer.

He graduated in 1993 from Luther College, a private school in Regina, SK.

For approximately two months in 1996, Denis was a staffer for Lynda Haverstock when she was an Independent MLA in the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly.

Haverstock had previously been leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party.

Prior to becoming an MLA, Denis was a senior associate, specializing in government relations, at Miller Thomson LLP, a major Canadian law firm.

He was also the co-founder and President of 3D Contact Inc., the other founder being Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre Listed contacts of 3D Contact Inc. are Stephen Harper, Stockwell Day, and Ted Morton.

He was also the founder of a successful real estate investment firm named Liberty West Properties Inc.

Denis resigned from both positions after being elected.

He received a commerce degree from the University of Regina in 1997 and a law degree from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon in 2000.

While in law school, Denis was invited as a speaker at an international law conference in Montreal, Quebec.

As a lawyer since 2001, Denis introduced the new Alberta Rules of Court as Bill 31, 2009.

This bill provided sweeping reforms to court process and completely new rules of court and procedure for Alberta.

He represented the constituency of Calgary-Acadia (formerly Calgary-Egmont) as a Progressive Conservative in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 2008 until 2015.

He was first elected in the 2008 provincial election and was appointed to cabinet in January 2010, making him the second youngest person to be named to cabinet in Alberta history.

Denis sought public office for the Alberta Progressive Conservatives in the 2008 provincial election in the constituency of Calgary-Egmont where he received 43.6% of the vote, beating former Calgary School Board chair Cathie Williams.

Denis initially served as a member of the Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, the Public Accounts Committee, the Standing Committee on Health, and the Cabinet Policy Committee on Health.[12] In 2008, Deputy Premier Ron Stevens also appointed Denis to the Alberta/Alaska Bilateral Council.

In 2008, Health and Wellness Minister Ron Liepert asked Denis to conduct a widely based consultation for the Alberta Pharmaceutical Strategy.

Denis's report came up with ten key recommendations for changes to pharmaceutical policy for the Alberta government.

Also in 2008, Sustainable Resources Minister Ted Morton appointed Denis to the Land Use Framework Committee

On September 16, 2009, Denis was named the Parliamentary Assistant for Energy.

Denis was sworn in as Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs as well as Deputy Government House Leader on January 15, 2010,.

On April 6, 2011, Denis provided $638,000.00 in provincial housing money to support tenants of the YWCA's Ophelia House in Calgary.

Ophelia House supports women experiencing homelessness.

In 2011, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation wrote an article praising Denis for reducing spending in his department by 39% while still achieving targets.

On October 12, 2011, Denis was sworn in as Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security.

On May 9, 2012, he was named Solicitor General, Attorney General, and Minister of Justice for the province of Alberta.

Denis was re-elected to the newly named constituency of Calgary-Acadia on April 23, 2012.

Jonathan Denis is the son of a soldier in the Canadian forces.

He was re-elected in the newly named riding of Calgary-Acadia on April 23, 2012.

Denis was named Minister of Justice, Solicitor General, Attorney General, and Provincial Secretary Alberta on May 9, 2012.

Denis has pursued a "law and order" policy on crime, increasing the amount of RCMP in rural areas and a provincial grant for 300 new police officers in the cities.

On September 1, 2012, Denis enacted strict penalties on drunk drivers.

On April 17, 2014, Denis supported removing the previous preamble to the Marriage Act which made the Act gender-neutral, respecting the LGBTQ community and same-sex marriage.

On June 13, 2014, Denis provided a grant from the Civil Forfeiture Fund to the Edmonton Pride Centre.

The grant was used to support programs for LGBTQ youth.

On July 21, 2014, Denis doubled the limit in Alberta small claims court to $50,000.00, which allows "self-represented litigants to avoid more complicated civil proceedings in Court of Queen’s Bench."

This move was lauded by many Alberta lawyers as a positive step for access to justice.

Following this drunk driving law, drunk driving charges went down two years in a row, including 17% in 2015.

In 2018, Denis completed his ICD.D designation with the Institute of Corporate Directors, a program from Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto.

Later in his career, Jonathan completed a Master of Laws (LL.M) degree from the University of Arizona, graduating with high honours.