Jason John Nixon (born May 26, 1980) is a Canadian politician and the current Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services of Alberta. He is member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre.
He was first elected as a member of the Wildrose Party in 2015, and then he served on the negotiation team that created a framework for unity between the Wildrose Party and the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. The agreement was ratified and approved by the members of both parties in July 2017, establishing the United Conservative Party (UCP).
After the merger, Nixon endorsed Jason Kenney in the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership election. After Kenney was elected as the leader, Nixon served as Leader of the Official Opposition in Alberta until Kenney won a seat (Calgary-Lougheed) in the Alberta legislature in a by-election.
Nixon served as the Opposition House Leader in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. He has previously served as the Wildrose opposition critic for Human Services and was a participant on the government's Ministerial Panel on Child Intervention.
From 2006 to 2011, Nixon served as the Executive Director at The Mustard Seed, a non-profit organization founded by his father Pat Nixon dedicated to helping the homeless. Nixon took online courses at both the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and Athabasca University.
Nixon graduated from Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2011 with a management major, but he continued to take classes in Athabasca University. In 2014, Nixon was elected president of the Athabasca University Student Union.
During the 2019 Alberta election, Nixon was dogged with controversies about a peace bond for an assault of a woman over his alleged involvement in a poaching incident on her property, a subsequent confrontation with a Fish and Wildlife Officer, as well as an earlier British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ruling about his handling of a sexual harassment complaint at his former company.
After winning the 2019 election on the UCP ticket, he was sworn-in as Alberta's Minister of Environment and Parks on April 30, 2019. Before the election, he was a vocal opponent to the previous Minister, Shannon Phillips, especially in relation to the proposed Bighorn Wildland Provincial Park.
He and his brother Jeremy Nixon are the first brothers to serve in the Alberta legislature at the same time. Jason Nixon is one of four men named Jason serving in the UCP cabinet.
Environmental views
After the 2019 Alberta general election, Nixon was appointed Minister of Environment and Parks.
According to a biography on his website, he has worked in Alberta's oil and gas industry. His wife works for a pipeline company.
While Nixon was the Leader of the Opposition in Alberta, he was vocal in his opposition to the proposed Bighorn Wildland Provincial Park, calling the plan a: "foreign-funded plot to wall off the back country to Albertans who call the region home."
As the newly-appointed Minister, he announced plans to stop the project entirely.[Nixon said] that he is pleased that the NDPs plans to make changes to the Big Horn Country will not happen. “They are completely stopped,” he said, adding that the UCP is looking at increasing investment in the area.Other plans include possibly re-writing Alberta's provincial park legislation to be more friendly to agribusiness, forestry, mining, and oil and gas extraction, and cancelling Alberta's climate leadership plan that was implemented under the previous NDP government.
Contribution in government
Jason Nixon sponsored the following bills:
Bill Pr7 Living Faith Bible College Amendment Act, 2015
Bill 19 Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Implementation Act, 2019 ($) Bill 16 Public Lands Modernization (Grazing Leases and Obsolete Provisions) Amendment Act, 2019 Bill 87 Electoral Divisions (Calgary-Bhullar-McCall) Amendment Act, 2021 Bill 83 Environmental Protection and Enhancement Amendment Act, 2021 Bill 79 Trails Act Bill 69 Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2021 Bill 64 Public Lands Amendment Act, 2021 Bill 42 North Saskatchewan River Basin Water Authorization Act Bill 34 Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2020 Bill 31 Environmental Protection Statutes Amendment Act, 2020 Bill 24 Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2022