Robb Connelly was born, raised and educated in Edmonton.  He was very fortunate to have made a living in a province where his family roots go back over 125 years. Robb has lived in rural Strathcona County for over 30 years.

After completing his electrical apprenticeship in the early 1980s and the economy in a slump, he returned to NAIT enrolling in the Instrumentation Engineering Technology program. Robb was offered and accepted an Instrumentation apprenticeship position with Syncrude Canada upon graduation. Robb’s career in industry spanned 29 years, the last 13 of which was with Edmonton Power/Epcor at Clover Bar and Genesee generating stations.

Robb has been instructing at NAIT for the last 12 years in the School of Applied Sciences and Technology and the time has just flown by. It never gets old watching the pride of success on the faces of young graduating adults.

He sincerely believes our most valuable resource is our youth. The builders and leaders of today need to provide the tools to develop today’s youth into the entrepreneurs and visionaries of tomorrow.

Priorities, the needs are many. Employment, quality education, fiscal responsibility, and healthcare. Robb’s drive comes from life experiences during lean times. We can be fiscally responsible AND socially compassionate. He believes that tough decisions backed up by analytics and not ideology are required to act on these priorities in a timely manner.

Robb can relate to those in the energy sector that are currently experiencing employment uncertainty as he was a young apprentice working in Nisku when the National Energy Program was announced.

The energy industry has been very good to Alberta and Robb will do his best to get people back to work no matter the Industry. Robb believes in climate change and we need to do our part however we can’t save the world by ourselves. By investing in Innovation and Technology we can use the decades of oil and gas prosperity ahead of us to help advance industries that will power Alberta into the next century. The future of our grandchildren depends (environmentally and economically) on responsible leadership on this issue.

One of Robb’s strengths is the ability to connect apparent competing interests and together expose a hidden mutually beneficial outcome. There are people in other provinces that are taking great pleasure in the downturn in the fortunes of Alberta. Genuine leaders bring communities together and divisive weak leaders exploit the human condition (biases, prejudices, perceived inequalities…) in the pursuit of power.  

Volunteering has always been important to Robb and his family. He encouraged his daughters into sports and activities like Ringette, lacrosse, school sports, pony club, 4H, dance, brownies, gymnastics etc. He coached ringette for 15 years and was on the executive of the Sherwood Park Ringette Association for six years in various positions from equipment guy to A/B Director. Robb now focuses his time on volunteering for Social Service groups.

Robb enjoys swimming, golfing, curling, snowboarding, shinny, and many more activities.

“I would be honoured to represent the constituents of Leduc-Beaumont. I am hopeful we will connect.”