Prasad Panda

Prasad Panda was born in Sangam Jagarlamudi, Andhra Pradesh, India. Since coming to Canada, Panda has spent his entire life living in his constituency of Calgary-Edgemont. Panda holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a professional engineer by trade.[2] He worked in the energy sector for 28 years, during which time he held senior management positions with Reliance Industries Ltd. and Suncor Energy Inc. Panda was a key member of the project management teams that built world-scale projects worth over $100 billion, including petroleum, petrochemical, power, pipelines, marine infrastructure, and oil sands projects. He is a member of Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).

Panda is the president of the Telugu Association of Calgary and as the first vice-president of the India-Canada Association of Calgary.[2] Panda also organizes an annual food drive for Calgary Veterans.[3]

Panda was a member of the Wildrose Party and defeated former Calgary city councillor and Alberta NDP MLA Bob Hawkesworth by 1598 votes, winning 38.3% of all votes cast.[4][5]

In 2017, Panda joined the United Conservative Party and became the party's energy critic. Panda introduced Motion 505, a resolution calling on the federal government to ban the import of oil from countries with a poor human rights or environmental record, and to facilitate pipelines within Canada to ensure better prices for Alberta oil.[6]

Panda ran in the 2019 Alberta general election and was elected to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Edgemont.[7] He is a member of the United Conservative Party. With his party forming a majority government, Panda joined the Executive Council of Alberta as the Minister of Infrastructure, beginning on April 30, 2019.

In October 2021, Panda sponsored and introduced Bill 73, the Infrastructure Accountability Act. The bill aims to increase transparency and accountability by setting a guiding framework for long-term, priority-based public infrastructure planning.[2] It also legislates a governance framework to guide how capital projects are prioritized, as well as the development of a 20-Year Strategic Capital Plan, which will help guide the government's infrastructure decisions over the long-term.[8] The bill passed on the 7th of December 2021, and it is the only bill sponsored by Panda while he was in the cabinet.[2]

Panda is running for re-election in the 2023 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Edgemont.[9] His biggest opponent is Julia Hayter from the NDP, who received 34.03% of the vote in the 2019 Alberta general elections in the same riding.