Jackie Armstrong Homeniuk | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville | |
| Assumed office April 16, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Jessica Littlewood |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | United Conservative Party |
| Residence(s) | Vegreville, Alberta |
Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2019 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville in the 30th Alberta Legislature.[1][2] She is a member the United Conservative Party and served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Ukrainian Refugee Settlement in October 24, 2022 and previously served as the Associate Minister of Status of Women in 2022.[3]
Career
Armstrong-Homeniuk introduced private member's bills Protection of Students with Life-threatening Allergies Act (Bill 201) which requires all publicly funded schools to have adrenalin autoinjectors (EpiPens) at the ready, should someone have an unexpected, life-threatening allergic reaction.[4] Bill 201 received Royal Assent on June 28, 2019, and came into force on January 1, 2020.
While serving as the Associate Minister of Status of Women, Armstrong-Homeniuk was on a judging panel for the essay competition "Her Vision Inspires" that partnered with the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians Canadian Region. The contest, announced in February 2022, sought to help young Albertan women discover their "political potential" by examining how they would contribute to the creation of a better society.[5]
The winner, R. Cochrane, wrote an essay that encouraged "more young women to run for office" in response to the "imbalance in representation" within elected caucus leadership. Furthermore, this essay highlighted the importance to specifically support young women, namely between the ages of 18 and 26 in their political careers. To enable this, R Cochrane advocates for the increase in advertising campaigns to showcase programs offered within the Legislative Assembly Office to increase political involvement.[6]
The second place winner of the competition, M. Ovcharenko, expresses the need for engaged electorate representation, where "MLA constituents feel heard and valued regardless of their MLA's political stripes." Ovcharenko emphasizes the importance of education, specifically within financial literacy, to improve the economic statehood of Alberta.
The third runner up, S. Silver, described immigration as "a sickly mentality that amounts to a drive for cultural suicide," that women are “not exactly” equal to men, and that it was "misguided" and "harmful" to let women have careers traditionally dominated by men. The essay proposed financial incentives to boost birth rates, and awarding medals to women with more than two children.[7]
On August 9, 2022, Armstrong-Homeniuk came out with a statement stating that the essay "should not have been chosen."[8]
She sent a second statement later that day apologizing after hearing public and private criticism from colleagues in the UCP caucus and cabinet, including Legislature Speaker Nathan Cooper and UCP leadership candidates and MLAs Rebecca Schulz and Rajan Sawhney.[9][10]
UCP MLA Jackie Lovely confirmed she was also part of the judging panel on August 10, 2022 and apologized. Both MLAs did not explain how the essay was selected.[11]
Electoral history
2023 general election
| 2023 Alberta general election: Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| United Conservative | Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk | 14,126 | 58.07 | +4.44 | ||||
| New Democratic | Taneen Rudyk | 9,064 | 37.26 | +7.91 | ||||
| Independent | Kathy Flett | 801 | 3.29 | – | ||||
| Advantage Party | Kelly Zeleny | 227 | 0.93 | +0.03 | ||||
| Solidarity Movement | Granny Margaret Mackay | 108 | 0.44 | – | ||||
| Total | 24,326 | 99.37 | – | |||||
| Rejected and declined | 154 | 0.63 | ||||||
| Turnout | 24,480 | 60.14 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 40,706 | |||||||
| United Conservative hold | Swing | -1.73 | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: Elections Alberta[12] | ||||||||
2019 general election
| 2019 Alberta general election: Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| United Conservative | Jackie Armstrong Homeniuk | 14,233 | 53.63% | 5.11% | ||||
| New Democratic | Jessica Littlewood | 7,790 | 29.35% | -16.59% | ||||
| Alberta Party | Marvin Olsen | 3,386 | 12.76% | 11.10% | ||||
| Freedom Conservative | Malcolm Stinson | 350 | 1.32% | – | ||||
| Green | Rebecca Trotter | 278 | 1.05% | -0.41% | ||||
| Alberta Independence | Shane Ladouceur | 261 | 0.98% | – | ||||
| Alberta Advantage Party | Ronald Malowany | 241 | 0.91% | – | ||||
| Total | 26,539 | – | – | |||||
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | 154 | – | – | |||||
| Eligible electors / turnout | 37,931 | 70.37% | 16.44% | |||||
| United Conservative gain from New Democratic | Swing | 3.30% | ||||||
Source(s)
Source: "62 - Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. | ||||||||
References
- ↑ "Armstrong-Homeniuk busy knocking on doors". fortsaskatchewanrecord. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
- ↑ "Riding profile: Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville". edmontonjournal. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
- ↑ "Cabinet". www.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
- ↑ French, Janet (June 14, 2019). "Canadian allergy organizations laud Alberta MLA's private member's bill". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
- ↑ "Alberta Party Response to the Alberta Legislative Assembly's "Her Vision Inspires" Essay Contest". Alberta Party. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
- ↑ Theriault, Courtney [@cspotweet] (August 9, 2022). "Here are the winners of Alberta's "Her Vision Inspires Essay Contest". In Feb 22, women were invited to share their vision for Alberta and what they would do if they were MLAs. Some eyebrows are being raised by the third place essay. https://t.co/zomVmmuJnP https://t.co/r1I7dVcQyO" (Tweet). Archived from the original on August 9, 2022. Retrieved April 17, 2023 – via Twitter.
- ↑ "Her Vision Inspires Essay Contest". Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Archived from the original on July 31, 2022. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
- ↑ "MLA Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk says essay that won prize should not have been chosen". FortSaskOnline. Archived from the original on 2023-07-27. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
- ↑ Braid, Don (August 9, 2022). "Braid: Panicky UCP withdraws prize for essay urging more babies, fewer 'foreigners'". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 2022-08-10.
- ↑ "MLA Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk says essay that won prize should not have been chosen". FortSaskOnline. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
- ↑ Bellefontaine, Michelle (August 11, 2022). "Camrose MLA says she was only other member on controversial essay judging panel". CBC News.
- ↑ "62 - Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 10, 2023.