Wayne Cao (born Nguyễn Cảo; December 7, 1946) is a Canadian politician and former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, where he represented the district of Calgary-Fort as a Progressive Conservative. He was first elected in the 1997 provincial election and was re-elected four times. He is perhaps best known as the sponsor of the legislation that led to the enshrining of Alberta. In April 2008, he elected as the Legislature's Deputy Speaker and Chair of Committees and served in that position for the 27th Legislature. Mr. Cao also served as a member of the Standing Committee on Resource Stewardship. Early life Cao was born December 7, 1946 in northern Vietnam. He studied engineering, mathematics, and computing science in Saigon and at the University of Auckland and the University of Waterloo. After the Vietnam War, he came to California as a refugee - he boarded an American helicopter just before the fall of Saigon - and settled in Calgary in 1976. He worked for Shell Petroleum for twenty-six years before taking early retirement in 1997 to enter politics. During this time, he also lectured at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. Political career Cao first sought public office in the 1997 provincial election, when he ran in the riding of Calgary-Fort as the Progressive Conservative. He was elected handily, and was re-elected in each of the next three elections. He supported Jim Dinning in the 2006 P.C. leadership race. In April 2008, he was elected by his legislator colleagues as the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, defeating Len Mitzel and Bridget Pastoor in a secret ballot. Cao would announce he would retire from the legislature in February 2015, prior to the 2015 Alberta general election which saw the Progressive Conservative dynasty end when the New Democratic Party would be elected to a majority government. Cao's former electoral district Calgary-Fort would elect New Democrat Joe Ceci. Legislative initiatives Cao has moved a large number of private member's bills. Of these, the only one to pass was 2001's Alberta Official Song Act, which established a contest for the province's official song, with the winner to be selected by an all party committee of the legislature. It passed with the support of members from all parties, although Progressive Conservative Rob Renner felt that the province's official song should be something that was already known to most Albertans rather than