After graduating at
Western Canada High School in 1970, Dinning went on to obtain his
Bachelor of Commerce honours degree from
Queen's University in 1974. He also earned a
Master's degree in Public Administration from Queen's in 1977. Elected in the riding of
Calgary-Shaw in 1986, Dinning held the riding until 1993. During this time he served in a variety of positions within the provincial government. He was the Minister of Community and Occupational Health from 1986 to 1988, the Minister of Education from 1988 to 1992, and he served as the Provincial Treasurer from 1992 to 1997. In 2006, Dinning ran for leadership of the
Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta party. Dinning ultimately lost the party election to Ed Stelmach as a result of a second ballot vote on December 2, 2006. During much of the campaign, he held at least a 20-point lead over his closest competitor and over a 40-point lead on Stelmach. Today he is a corporate director, advisor and consultant to various companies, not-for-profits and governments.
Electoral record 1986 Calgary-Shaw •
Jim Dinning (
PC) 6,694 61.5% •
Brendan Dunphy (
Lib) 2,727 25.1% •
Len Curie (
NDP) 1,166 10.7% •
Byron L. Chenger (
Rep) 295 2.7%
1989 Calgary-Shaw •
Jim Dinning (
PC) 7,412 52.9% (-8.6%) •
Bob Crump (
Lib) 4,865 34.7% (+9.7%) •
Gordon M. Christie (
NDP) 1,728 12.3% (+1.6%)
1993 Calgary-Lougheed (
compared to Calgary-Shaw, which covered much of the same area in southwest Calgary) •
Jim Dinning (
PC) 7,280 52.8% (-0.2%) •
Jack Driscoll (
Lib) 5,803 42.1% (+7.3%) •
Catherine Rose (
NDP) 502 3.6% (-8.7%) •
Peter Hope (
CoR) 122 0.9% (-) •
Ida Bugmann (
NLP) 88 0.6% (-) ==Career history==