Meet BC’s new Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources – Hon. Michelle Mungall

— Photo: Michelle Mungall

Michelle Mungall, a popular MLA from the Nelson-Creston riding in the Kootenays has been appointed BC’s new Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources.  She takes over the responsibility from retired and former MLA and Cabinet Minister, “Kootenay” Bill Bennett.

Here are some highlights from Michelle Mungall Wikipedia profile….

Michelle Mungall is a Kootenay politician, who is currently a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party. She served as a municipal councillor in the city of Nelson prior to being elected in the 2009 provincial election, and re-elected in 2013 in the Nelson-Creston riding. Mungall has introduced two private member bills, neither advancing beyond first reading: the Private Career Training Institutions Amendment Act in the 39th Parliament which would have English as a foreign or second language schools under the Private Career and Training Institutions Act; and the Poverty Reduction and Economic Inclusion Act in the 40th Parliament which would have mandated the preparation and implementation of a provincial poverty reduction strategy. For the BC NDP, Mungall served as the Opposition Spokesperson for Social Development, Advanced Education and Caucus Deputy House Leader.
Michelle Mungall was born and raised in St. Albert, Alberta. She graduated from Paul Kane High School in 1996 and then attended the University of Alberta in Edmonton. She majored in political science and graduated with honours in 2001. At her university she organized a group named the Preservation of Education Accessibility for Society which sought public funding for post-secondary education.[2] She grew up in a household that debated politics, and in which her parents favoured the Progressive Conservative Party, but she became involved with the New Democratic Party during her first year of university. During her final year, she became the NDP candidate in the St. Albert riding during the 2001 Alberta general election. Mungall was an underdog, the race was expected to be close between the incumbent Progressive Conservative Mary O'Neill and the Liberal challenger Len Bracko. Also in 2001 she worked as a youth organizer for the Northern Alberta Alliance on Race Relations[6] and was profiled in the Edmonton Journal as one of Alberta's 30 most-promising people under 30 years old.

In 2001 Mungall re-located to Nelson, British Columbia.  She quickly integrated into the community and ran for city council in the November 2002 election. She was identified as a wildcard in the race, not expected to win because of her inexperience and being new to Nelson, but expected to do well as she ran a very strong campaign.  She finished third, gaining her one of the six council seats.

At the age of 24, she was the youngest councillor in Nelson's history and was the youngest female municipal council member in Canada at the time. She was appointed to several committees, including the Youth Centre Committee, the Nelson Electric Tramway, and the Social Advocacy Committee, and task forces, including the Participatory Governance Task Force, Arts, Culture and Heritage Task Force, and the Solid Waste Management Task Force. As part of that Solid Waste Management Task Force, she helped introduce a blue box recycling program and privatized commercial garbage pick-up. She introduced an anti-war resolution, which the council adopted, matching similar resolutions adopted in several other BC municipalities. On local issues, she supported moving city hall to the White Building in a vote that split the council but was adopted. In another split vote which was ultimately adopted, Mungall supported directing $30,000 in 2005 towards arts and culture initiatives. She was on council during the 2004 ten-week lock-out of municipal union workers as contract negotiations stalled over the issue of staffing levels.[18]

During most of the time she was on council, she also worked at the Nelson Food Coalition. She opted not to stand for re-election in the 2005 municipal election, citing a desire to further her education. After completing an eight-month contract as a community developer with the Nelson Committee On Homelessness, she traveled to Africa to spend seven months as an intern in Lusaka, Zambia working as a National Programmes Assistant for the World Young Women's Christian Association.  Upon her return, she began studying her Master's in Royal Roads University's Human Security and Peacebuilding program.

She returned to Nelson in February 2007 and worked first at the Nelson and District Youth Employment Resources Center, then at a microfinace organization called the Circle of Habondia Lending Society.  At the same time, she was writing her Master's thesis regarding homelessness in rural British Columbia. She submitted her dissertation in March 2009 and was awarded a Master of Arts degree by Royal Roads University. Mungall married Zak Matieschyn on July 23, 2011 in Kokanee Creek Provincial Park.

Through the 40th Parliament, Mungall continued to speak out against the development of the Jumbo Glacier ski resort. In a 2014 Vancouver Sun article she states "I think they just need to end this farce and acknowledge that it hasn’t been substantially started. It’s nothing but a concrete slab. It’s very close if not in an avalanche path. It’s not safe and nobody in the region wants it. End it. Mungall presented a petition with 61,526 signatures to keep Jumbo wild in the BC Legislature in March 2017.
She was appointed BC’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources on Tuesday, July 18th, 2017 along with her NDP colleagues who formed BC new Government.