Ms. Cathy Olesen - MLA for Sherwood Park

Heavenly Father, bless MLA Cathy Olesen, today with Your grace and peace and may she seek Your wisdom and help for the challenges that come before her.  May she be an encouragement to those with whom she interacts and a woman of honor.   Give her fun times with her family.   In Jesus Name, amen.

Cathy Olesen was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Sherwood Park on April 23, 2012.

In addition to serving as chair of the Standing Committee on Families and Communities, Ms. Olesen is a member of the Standing Committee on Private Bills and the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing. She serves on the board of directors for Climate Change Central, and is also currently a member of the results-based budgeting challenge panel for municipalities and regional planning. More recently she was appointed to the MLA implementation team working on the review and implementation of the retail market review recommendations to strengthen Alberta’s retail electricity market.

She previously served as chair of the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing and as a member of the Standing Committee on Alberta’s Economic Future.

Among western Canada’s earliest pioneers, Ms. Olesen’s McPhail ancestors came to what was then the Hudson’s Bay land grant, known as Rupert’s Land, to work in the fur trade well before Confederation.

Ms. Olesen was born in Winnipeg. She attended the University of Manitoba, receiving a bachelor of arts in political science and economics in 1981. The following year Ms. Olesen moved to Alberta, where she worked in environmental planning with the Energy Resources Conservation Board for five years. She was also a stay-at-home mother for seven years. 

During this time she also cultivated her painting and volunteer work and was appointed as a public member of the Strathcona Subdivision and Development Appeal Board in 1992.

Ms. Olesen served as Strathcona county councillor in 1995 in urban and rural ward 4. First-term accomplishments included the establishment of Alberta’s Industrial Heartland Association, a co-operative association of four municipalities united to promote industrial development and stimulus within the capital region.

Ms. Olesen repeated her success in 1998, when through a plebiscite she championed the building of Millenium Place, the first recreational complex of its size in western Canada. Ms. Olesen was acclaimed councillor in 2001.

Ms. Olesen contested the mayor’s chair in 2004 and was re-elected in 2007. During Ms. Olesen’s six years as mayor, from 2004 to 2010, Strathcona county attracted substantial industrial and residential development: a new seniors’ lodge, miles of trails, the Ardrossan arena expansion, the new county library complex, the redevelopment of Broadmoor Arena and Clubhouse and the approval of the new Bethel fire station and training facility.

In addition to her role as mayor, Ms. Olesen has served on a wide range of boards and associations. She has served as vice-chair of the Capital Region Board, vice-chair of Alberta’s Industrial Heartland Association, director with the Capital Region Wastewater Commission, director of the Telus Community Board and president of the Trans Canada Yellowhead Highway Association. She is also a member of the Alberta Arbitration and Mediation Society.

Ms. Olesen is married to Rex Adam, and together they are proud parents of four accomplished adults.