Marlin Schmidt
Canadian politician (Alberta's NDP)

Marlin Schmidt (born October 16, 1978) is a Canadian politician who currently represents the electoral district of Edmonton-Gold Bar in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. First elected in the 2015 Alberta general election, Schmidt served as the Minister of Advanced Education in the New Democratic Party (NDP) government led by Rachel Notley.
Prior to serving with the Legislative Assembly, Schmidt specialized in site remediation for over a decade. From 2008 to 2015 he worked for Alberta Environment as a soil and groundwater contamination specialist, and previous to this, he worked as a remediation specialist, beginning in 2002. He holds a master of science degree in applied environmental geosciences from University of Tübingen in Germany and a bachelor of science from Queen's University in Kingston.
Schmidt drew criticism in July 2020 for comments he made in the Legislature about the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. His remarks were in opposition to a bill proposed by the governing United Conservative Party that modified the province's referendum laws, which Schmidt said Thatcher would have opposed. Schmidt went on to say that he "count[s] on enjoying the fact that Margaret Thatcher is still dead" and regretted she had died "probably 30 years too late". The comments were deemed "totally inappropriate," by the Speaker of the Legislature, which prompted Schmidt to withdraw his comments and apologize.
“Marlin Schmidt” enters the record as canadian politician (Alberta's NDP). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Marlin, Schmidt and Canadian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Marlin Schmidt” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Marlin, Schmidt and Canadian provides the most credible route into that argument.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19880876. VIAF identifies the subject as 2440156374128407710007. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1978, 2015, 2008 and 2002.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Marlin Schmidt”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Marlin Schmidt primary sources, Marlin Schmidt archive and Marlin research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Marlin Schmidt”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Marlin Schmidt” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.