The Honourable Brian Mason ECA
Mason in 2015
Minister of Transportation[a]
In office May 24, 2015 – April 29, 2019
Premier	Rachel Notley
Preceded by	Wayne Drysdale
Succeeded by	Ric McIver
Leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party
In office July 13, 2004 – October 18, 2014 Interim: July 13, 2004 – September 18, 2004
Preceded by	Raj Pannu
Succeeded by	Rachel Notley
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta forEdmonton-Highlands-Norwood (Edmonton-Highlands; 2000–2004)
In office June 12, 2000 – April 15, 2019
Preceded by	Pam Barrett
Succeeded by	Janis Irwin
Personal details
Born	Brian David Mason (1953-10-12)October 12, 1953 (age 72) Calgary,Alberta, Canada
Political party	Alberta New Democratic Party
Alma mater	University of Alberta
Occupation	Politician, bus driver
Portfolio	Minister of Infrastructure, Minister of Transportation

Brian David MasonECA (born October 12, 1953) is aCanadianpolitician who was leader of theAlberta New Democratic Party from 2004 to 2014 and served as the Minister of Transportation inRachel Notley'sNDP government.^[1] He also served as theGovernment House Leader. Mason was first elected as a Member of theLegislative Assembly of Alberta for the now-defunct riding of Edmonton Highlands in a 2000 byelection. He was subsequently re-elected, and was elected inEdmonton-Highlands-Norwood after the riding was created in 2004. He chose not to seek re-election in 2019, and was succeeded byJanis Irwin. Mason was the longest serving NDP MLA in Alberta history, with a political career spanning more than 20 years.^[2]

Mason was born in Calgary in 1953,^[3] the son of Robert George Mason, an electrical engineer, and aRed Tory who was a founding member of theReform Party of Canada.^[4] Robert Mason, was also the stepson of Conservative SenatorJohn Alexander Buchanan.^[5] Mason's mother, Patricia Kavanagh was aLiberal.^[2]

Mason first became politically active in the mid-1970s while studyingpolitical science at theUniversity of Alberta. He served as executive director of the Federation of Alberta Students from 1977 to 1979. While there he boarded at the traditionally Tory fraternityPhi Gamma Delta and was roommates with futureProgressive Conservative PremierDave Hancock, who teased him by calling him acommunist.^[6] Upon leaving university Mason began working as bus driver with theEdmonton Transit Service.^[2]

Mason first ran forEdmonton city council after he was temporarily laid off from ETS in 1983, before becoming president of the Edmonton Voters Association, a municipal political party.^[6] He tried again for a seat on the council in 1989 with a dynamic campaign running in Ward 3. Mason's campaign came with a legal challenge he mounted against a provincial law forbidding municipal employees from running as candidates in a civic election unless they resigned their position with the city.^[6]

The legal challenge was unsuccessful, however Mason was elected city councillor for Ward 3 in October 1989.^[6] Shortly after the election the law Mason challenged was repealed, and municipal workers in Edmonton were subsequently allowed to run for civic office without resigning their positions. Mason remained on city council until 2000, when he ran for political office for the New Democratic Party.^[7]

In 2000, following the mid-term resignation of then leader of theAlberta New Democrats and MLA forEdmonton HighlandsPam Barrett, Mason left city council and ran for the NDP in the ensuingby-election. He held the Legislative Assembly seat with a strong majority, and was re-elected in the2001 provincial election.^[7]

Mason was appointed the role of interim party leader for the NDP following the resignation of then leaderRaj Pannu in July 2004. He became the official leader of Alberta's NDP on September 18, 2004, following a vote at the party convention.

Mason held his seat during theprovincial election in 2004, which saw the caucus welcome the return of former leaders Pannu andRay Martin, along with newcomerDavid Eggen. In theprovincial election of 2008 Mason again retained his seat, and was joined in caucus by newly elected NDP MLARachel Notley fromEdmonton-Strathcona, the seat previously held by Pannu.

In the2012 provincial election the NDP picked up two seats in Edmonton, regaining their previous four seat total. Both Notley and Mason safely held onto their seats while David Eggen was re-elected as the member forEdmonton-Calder. NewcomerDeron Bilous was also elected inEdmonton-Beverly-Clareview, the seat formerly held by Martin. In many other ridings the party also won more votes than it had attained previously.^[8]

On April 29, 2014, Brian Mason announced that he would step down as leader as soon as aleadership election could be held to choose his successor.^[9] Mason who had mentoredRachel Notley convinced her to run for the leadership which she won. During the final few months of Mason's tenure the party was already enjoying strong polling in Edmonton, something which would eventually grow into the larger electoral sweep that the Alberta NDP managed in the2015 provincial election under Mason's successor Notley that resulted in the formation of Alberta's first ever NDP government.^[10]

On May 24, 2015, Mason was appointed Minister of Infrastructure and Minister of Transportation, as well as Government House Leader.^[6]

Mason announced on July 4, 2018 that he would not seek re-election in the2019 provincial election.^[11][12] He remained as a minister until April 30, 2019, when the newUnited Conservative Party government ofJason Kenney was sworn in.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toBrian Mason.

• Alberta NDP Opposition homepage (caucus)
• Alberta NDP homepage (party)
• Party info about Brian Mason
• Brian Mason –Legislative Assembly of Alberta Member Profile

• 1953 births
• Living people
• Leaders of the Alberta CCF/NDP
• Alberta New Democratic Party MLAs
• Canadian people of Scottish descent
• Members of the Executive Council of Alberta
• Politicians from Calgary
• Bus drivers
• 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use Canadian English from January 2023
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• Commons category link is on Wikidata