About Mel

Mel Knight was elected to his first term as Member of the Legislative Assembly for Grande Prairie-Smoky on March 12, 2001. On November 22, 2004, Mel was elected to his second term. On December 15, 2006, he was sworn in as Minister of Energy, and his appointment as a member of the Agenda and Priorities Committee was renewed. He is also a member of the Cabinet Policy Committee on Resources and the Environment.

In addition to his role as MLA, he has served as a member of the standing committees on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund and Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing as well as the Standing Policy Committee on Energy and Sustainable Development.

Mel is also an active participant in the Energy Council and co-chairs the Energy Task Force with the Pacific Northwest Economic Region

Mel has represented Alberta on the Council of State Governments – West (CSG-West); Alaska/Alberta Bi-Lateral Task Force; co-chair on Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI); and Board of Directors for the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI).

Prior to being elected provincially, Mel served as councillor for ward 2 in the municipal district of Greenview.
Mel was born in 1944 in Beaverlodge and raised in the Peace country. He graduated from Hillside high school in Valleyview and is a certified journeyman instrument mechanic.

Mel worked for drilling and exploration service companies until 1965, when he joined PanAm Petroleum. In 1970 he started Knight Measurement and Control, an energy sector service company that employed up to 55 people in northwestern Alberta.

In 1972 Mel and family moved to a half-section farm south of Valleyview, where he expanded to 1,500 acres to support a 125-head registered polled Hereford herd and produce forage for contract sales.

An active member of his community, Mel was a member of a local recreation board, the past president of a senior hockey team and a hockey coach for over 10 years and a member of the local gun club and petroleum association.

Mel continues to live on the farmstead south of Valleyview with his wife, Diana. They have three children—Darren, Shawna and Gregory—and 10 grandchildren.

Mel's committment: