Dave Taylor (Canadian politician)

Taylor first ran and was elected in the riding of Calgary-Currie in the 2004 election. During his first term Taylor served as Deputy Leader to leader Kevin Taft and also sat on these government committees:

• Deputy chair of the Standing Committee on Managing Growth Pressures
• Members’ Services Committee.

On October 11, 2006, he hosted a townhall meeting to discuss solutions to the housing crisis specifically in Calgary but also for all of Alberta.

He was re-elected as a Liberal in the 2008 Alberta general election although the Liberals lost seven seats. In the new legislature, he serves on the following committees;

• Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing Committee
• Special Standing Committee on Members Services
• Deputy chair of the Standing Committee on the Economy

After the Alberta Liberals lost more seats in the 2008 general election Kevin Taft resigned as leader. Taylor was the Deputy leader of the party at the time and was the first to announce intentions to run for the Liberal leadership. He believed that the Alberta Liberal party had a lot to build on, and he hoped as leader to have opportunity to get the sixty percent of Albertans that stay home on election day re-engaged in the political process. The leadership election was held on December 12, 2008 and David Swann was elected leader with 2,468 votes on the first ballot. Taylor won 1,616 votes finishing second and Mo Elsalhy won 491 votes finishing third.

In April 2010, Taylor decided to leave the Liberal party and sit as an Independent. He claimed the move was because the Liberal party under Swann had become directionless and had failed to present Albertans with an attractive alternative to the Progressive Conservative party.[7][8] In January 2011, Taylor joined the fledgling Alberta Party, becoming that party's first MLA. Taylor said: "The Alberta Party is a good fit with my values and my principles. I can be very comfortable with these people." [4][5] Taylor had previously stated that he would resign and run in a byelection if he joined another party: "If I were to make a decision that I thought I would want to run as a member of some other party, then I would wait until the next election or resign and go through a byelection," he said. "Nobody voted for Dave Taylor as a candidate for another party."[9] Taylor said that despite his statement he would not call for a byelection, arguing that the next general election was near enough that spending money on a byelection now would be fiscally irresponsible.[10] Additionally, the Alberta Party does require consultation at the constituency level for a sitting MLA to join their party.[11] Taylor chose to retire when the 2012 Alberta election was called.[12]