Diotte was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada on February 26, 1956. He was educated at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. Diotte was being employed at the Edmonton Sun from 1985 until October 2009 where he worked as Legislature bureau chief, as well as a copy editor, reporter, and assignment editor. Prior to that, he worked for the Calgary Sun and newsmagazines, including Alberta Report and Maclean's. He has also worked for a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation affiliate where he was an on-camera television reporter. For many years, Diotte was president of the Edmonton chapter of the Canadian Association of Journalists and a national director of the organization. He resigned those positions to campaign for a city council seat in the 2010 Edmonton municipal election.
2004 police sting
On November 18, 2004, seven members of the Edmonton Police Service targeted Diotte along with then-police commission chairman Martin Ignasiak in a controversial undercover drunk-driving operation at an Edmonton bar, the Overtime Broiler & Taproom. Police were staked out in anticipation of catching the two men driving home drunk, but both took cabs home. Subsequent legal proceedings produced evidence, including police radio conversations from that night, showing officers set up the operation because they were upset by Diotte's newspaper columns about policing, including criticism of photo radar operations. After an internal police investigation exonerated the officers involved in the unwarranted would-be sting, then-police chief Fred Rayner was fired from his position by the Edmonton Police Commission. In September 2008, Alberta's Law Enforcement Review Board ruled a senior police officer abused his power by targeting Diotte because the law enforcement official was frustrated by the columnist's viewpoints on police matters. The panel decided there was "no credible evidence" to suggest Diotte would drive drunk when leaving the November 18, 2004 function and noted the journalist has no criminal record. In the decision, the panel chair wrote: "Mr. Diotte had the right, without fear of police reprisal, to freedom of speech, which includes the freedom to write critical articles about policing in his community."
Political career
Diotte ran for city council in the 2010 Edmonton municipal election, winning Ward 11 with 44.3% of the vote. On May 16, 2013, Diotte announced his candidacy for Mayor of Edmonton. He finished in third with 32,917 votes. On February 26, 2014, Diotte announced his intention to seek the Conservative Party of Canada nomination in the new federal riding of Edmonton Griesbach. Diotte won the nomination election on December 6, 2014. In the 2015 election, Diotte won the seat, defeating his closest opponent by almost 3,000 votes. On February 23, 2016, Diotte apologized for participating in a "juvenile" game of Bingo during Question Period. Later that year, on September 15 he was appointed deputy critic of Urban Affairs in Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose's shadow cabinet. Diotte was a member of the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations in the 42nd Parliament. He was appointed in September 2018 as a member of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. Diotte sponsored private member's bill C-306, An Act to establish a Crimean Tatar Deportation Memorial Day and to recognize the mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944 as an act of genocide. This bill sought to recognize the mass deportations of Crimean Tatars in 1944 by the Soviet regime as genocide and establish May 18 as a day of commemoration. Bill C-306 was defeated at second reading. Diotte was appointed Deputy Shadow Cabinet Minister for Public Services and Procurement in Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer's shadow cabinet.
Controversy
On November 19, 2018, Diotte launched a lawsuit against University of Alberta student publication The Gateway for publishing two articles that the suit deemed “defamatory,” especially claims that he is racist. The Gateway's quick apology and retraction stated: "That characterization of Mr. Diotte is false, damaging to his reputation, and caused Mr. Diotte and his family unwarranted embarrassment. The Gateway sincerely apologizes to Mr. Diotte for this wrongful characterization and retracts the offending articles." In a statement Diotte stated that he was “glad that my lawyer and theirs could come to a mutually agreeable solution without a protracted court fight,” and that he was “a strong believer in free speech, but it’s important to remember there are legal lines that can’t be crossed.”
