# David Eggen

David Manson Eggen ECA MLA (born 1962) is a Canadian politician. He is a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, in 2019 he was elected as the member representing Edmonton-North West. He previously served three terms as the member representing Edmonton Calder from 2004-2008 and then again from 2012-2019. In 2014, Eggen ran in the NDP leadership election, where he placed second. He served as the Minister of Education and Minister of Culture and Tourism in Premier Notley's NDP government from 2015-2019. He is the longest current member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

## Personal life

Born in 1962, Eggen was educated at the University of Alberta where he received a Bachelor of Education degree in 1984. Eggen then went to Zimbabwe, where he taught for three years, after which he returned to Edmonton, where he taught at local schools from 1990 to 2004. He also coached a wide variety of sports for high school and community teams. In 1996 and 1997, he also served as an education consultant, living and working with the Wat Dhammamongkol Temple in Bangkok, Thailand. He volunteered as an animator at Fort Edmonton Park.
Eggen has worked in health care as an executive director of Friends of Medicare, and was a member of the Canadian Health Coalition’s board of directors. He also acted provincial trustee with the Forum for Young Albertans and a chair leader of the Canadian Paraplegic Association. He was also a member of the Diversity, Equity and Human Rights committee for the Alberta Teachers' Association and an amateur musician. He lives in Edmonton with his wife.

## Political career

Eggen was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta as a New Democrat in the 2004 Alberta general election, narrowly defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative Brent Rathgeber. He was the first NDP representative elected in Edmonton-Calder since 1993, increasing his party's share of the vote from 18% to 36%. His victory was widely attributed to a two-year canvassing campaign in the run-up to the election. He served as the NDP's critic for Agriculture and Food, Environment, K-12 Education, Sustainable Resource Development, and Tourism and Culture.
He was defeated in the 2008 election by Progressive Conservative Doug Elniski. After this defeat Eggen assumed the Alberta Executive Director's position for Friends of Medicare, an advocacy group that supports public healthcare. Eggen regained his seat in the 2012 provincial election and retained it with a greatly increased margin in the 2015 election.
After the 2015 election Eggen was sworn in as the Minister of Education and as the Minister of Culture and Tourism. He maintained his position as Minister of Education until the 2019 election but was replaced by Ricardo Miranda as Minister of Culture and Tourism. As of June 21, 2024, he serves as the Whip of the Official Opposition caucus.

## Electoral history
### 2001 general election

vte2001 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Centre :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Laurie Blakeman | 5,095 | 44.01% | 0.06% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Don J. Weideman | 4,446 | 38.41% | 4.91% |
| | New Democratic | David Eggen | 1,959 | 16.92% | -0.08% |
| | Communist | Naomi Rankin | 76 | 0.66% | – |
| Total | Total | Total | 11,576 | – | – |
| Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | Rejected, spoiled, and declined | 74 | – | – |
| Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | 22,648 | 51.44% | -0.66% |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | Swing | -2.43% |
| Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Centre Official Results 2001 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. |||||||

### 2004 general election

vte2004 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Calder :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | David Eggen | 4,067 | 36.01% | 16.10% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Brent Rathgeber | 3,730 | 33.02% | -8.96% |
| | Liberal | Brad Smith | 2,985 | 26.43% | -11.68% |
| | Alberta Alliance | Vicki Kramer | 513 | 4.54% | – |
| Total | Total | Total | 11,295 | – | – |
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | 48 | – | – |
| Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | 23,153 | 48.99% | -2.71% |
| | New Democratic gain from Progressive Conservative | New Democratic gain from Progressive Conservative | Swing | Swing | -0.45% |
| Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Calder Official Results 2004 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020. |||||||

### 2008 general election

vte2008 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Calder :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Doug Elniski | 4,557 | 40.86% | 7.83% |
| | New Democratic | David Eggen | 4,356 | 39.05% | 3.05% |
| | Liberal | Jim Kane | 1,839 | 16.49% | -9.94% |
| | Green | Michael Brown | 402 | 3.60% | – |
| Total | Total | Total | 11,154 | – | – |
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | 39 | – | – |
| Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | 27,420 | 40.82% | -8.17% |
| | Progressive Conservative gain from New Democratic | Progressive Conservative gain from New Democratic | Swing | Swing | -0.59% |
| Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Calder Official Results 2008 Alberta general election". Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. |||||||

### 2012 general election

vte2012 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Calder :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | David Eggen | 5,731 | 38.42% | -0.63% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Bev Esslinger | 5,177 | 34.71% | -6.15% |
| | Wildrose | Rich Neumann | 2,790 | 18.71% | – |
| | Liberal | Alex Bosse | 976 | 6.54% | -9.94% |
| | Alberta Party | David Clark | 189 | 1.27% | – |
| | Social Credit | Margaret Saunter | 52 | 0.35% | – |
| Total | Total | Total | 14,915 | – | – |
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | 119 | – | – |
| Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | 29,535 | 50.90% | 10.08% |
| | New Democratic gain from Progressive Conservative | New Democratic gain from Progressive Conservative | Swing | Swing | 0.96% |
| Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Calder Official Results 2012 Alberta general election". Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. |||||||

### 2015 general election

vte2015 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Calder :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | David Eggen | 12,837 | 70.72% | 32.30% |
| | Progressive Conservative | Thomas (Tom) Bradley | 3,222 | 17.75% | -16.96% |
| | Wildrose | Andrew Altimas | 1,565 | 8.62% | -10.08% |
| | Liberal | Amit (Sunny) Batra | 527 | 2.90% | -3.64% |
| Total | Total | Total | 18,151 | – | – |
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | 42 | – | – |
| Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | 36,266 | 50.17% | -0.74% |
| | New Democratic hold | New Democratic hold | Swing | Swing | 24.63% |
| Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Calder Official Results 2015 Alberta general election". Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. |||||||

### 2019 general election

vte2019 Alberta general election: Edmonton-North West :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | David Eggen | 9,669 | 51.74% | -17.39% |
| | United Conservative | Ali Eltayeb | 6,587 | 35.25% | 7.73% |
| | Alberta Party | Judy Kim-Meneen | 1,871 | 10.01% | – |
| | Liberal | Brandon Teixeira | 276 | 1.48% | -1.88% |
| | Alberta Independence | Tim Shanks | 149 | 0.80% | – |
| | Alberta Advantage | Luke Burns | 136 | 0.73% | – |
| Total | Total | Total | 18,688 | – | – |
| Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | Rejected, spoiled and declined | 80 | 74 | 23 |
| Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | Eligible electors / turnout | 30,639 | 61.33% | N/A |
| Source(s) Source: "39 - Edmonton-North West, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Alberta. Chief Electoral Officer (2019). 2019 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer. Volume II (PDF) (Report). Vol. 2. Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. pp. 152–155. ISBN 978-1-988620-12-1. Retrieved April 7, 2021. |||||||

### 2023 general election

vte2023 Alberta general election: Edmonton-North West :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | New Democratic | David Eggen | 9,978 | 59.74 | +8.01 |
| | United Conservative | Ali Haymour | 6,388 | 38.25 | +3.00 |
| | Green | Tyler Beaulac | 335 | 2.01 | – |
| Total | Total | Total | 16,701 | 99.14 | – |
| Rejected and declined | Rejected and declined | Rejected and declined | 145 | 0.86 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 16,846 | 51.98 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 32,407 |
| | New Democratic hold | New Democratic hold | Swing | Swing | +2.50 |
| Source(s) Source: Elections Alberta |||||||

## Cabinet

David Eggen was sworn into Cabinet on May 24, 2015 as part of the NDP government led by Rachel Notley. There had been speculation since the election that Eggen would receive a large portfolio in Cabinet. He was appointed as Minister of Education and Minister of Culture and Tourism.
In fall 2015, Eggen introduced Bill 8, a proposal to reform the collective bargaining structure for public school teachers in Alberta. Bill 8 proposes to introduce a two-table bargaining system, similar to the structure in Ontario, where the provincial government would handle big items like salary and local boards would negotiate local issues. The existing system sees all issues bargained locally.
There was criticism that school boards were not adequately consulted, but documents provided by Eggen's office to the media detailed consultations that had taken place in September and October 2015.