Drew Barnes is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2012, 2015 and 2019 Alberta general elections to represent the electoral district of Cypress-Medicine Hat in the 28th, 29th and 30th Alberta Legislatures, respectively. He was born in Moosomin, Saskatchewan. In the past he has been the Infrastructure and Transportation Critic, Caucus Whip, Health Critic and Energy Critic for the Wildrose Official Opposition. He has served on the Standing Committees of the Alberta Heritage Trust Fund, Public Accounts, Resource Stewardship and Private Bills. He authored two reports, ("How to Build Alberta Better" and "On Time, On Budget", and co-authored "Twin Highway 63 Now" and "Debt Free Capital Plan". In May 2020, it was reported that Barnes and his spouse collectively own at least 32 rental properties. As recently as 2017, Barnes was identified by Alberta Health Services as “the owner” of a property found to be in such a state of “disrepair,” it could be “injurious or dangerous to the public health.”
Career
Barnes has been a resident of Medicine Hat since 1974, where he lives with his wife Frances and three sons. He graduated from the University of Alberta in 1983, with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He previously attended Camrose Lutheran College. Barnes owned and managed a real estate office for 26 years until 2009. An entrepreneur and businessman, Barnes owns a number of businesses in Medicine Hat, including a construction company, a storage facility and a property management company. He also owns commercial and residential property all over southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan and has irrigation and ranchland, raising commercial beef and rodeo stock. Barnes has been an active community volunteer with Kiwanis Club, serving as past president, and was past President and also Fundraising Chair of the United Way. In August 2012, Barnes and a colleague went on a fact finding mission to Fort McMurray to learn more about the notoriously dangerous Highway 63. They called on the government to release a timeline for the completion of twinning the highway. In late February 2015, Barnes announced he would enter the race for leader of the Wildrose Party and ran a very close second. On July 22, 2017, The Wildrose Party and the Progressive Conservative Party merged to become one entity, namely the United Conservative Party—Both parties voted to merge with >95% approval. Barnes had been vocal about his desire to unite the entities and came forward to endorse United Conservative Party Leadership candidate, Jason Kenney, on August 2, 2017.
Climate Change Controversy
In March 2017 Barnes funded a controversial documentary questioning the science of climate change. He has been accused of Climate change denial. Barnes has also promoted climate denying websites on social media.
In June 2020 Barnes released a response to the Fair Deal Panel's recommendations in which he advocated for putting an independence referendum on the table. Due to these statements, Barnes has been accused of being a separatist by the Alberta New Democratic Party. Barnes indicated that he is not a separatist, but would be open to separation if he felt there was no other option.
