Education and career
Solberg took her Examen artium in 1970. She then went to the Trondheim teacher's school and got her degree in 1974. She began her teaching career in Mo i Rana during the 1975-1976 school year. She then moved to Harstad to teach the next year, and then she moved to Sortland to teach from 1977-1987. From 1983-1987, she served on the municipal council of Sortland Municipality. She resigned from teaching in 1987 to run for mayor of Sortland Municipality, a position that she won. She served as mayor from 1988 until 1993. [2]
During her political career, she rose to the position of Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and held that position from 1992 until 1997. [2]
Solberg was elected to represent Nordland county in the Parliament of Norway in 1993. She served four consecutive terms in Parliament until 2009. During her time in Parliament, she served in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Gro Harlem Brundtland and Thorbjørn Jagland as the Minister of Health and Social Affairs from 1 January 1994 until 17 October 1997. [2]
As she was serving in her final term in Parliament, the Cabinet of Norway named her to the position of County Governor of Nordland county in 2007. [2] Since she was still serving in Parliament at that time, Ola Bjerkaas served as the acting governor from 2007 until the end of her parliamentary term in 2009 when she assumed the governorship. She served as governor until her retirement on 15 November 2018.
From 2009-2018, she was the chair of the board for Vinmonopolet, the Norwegian government alcoholic beverage retailer.
The politics of Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the Council of State, the cabinet, led by the Prime Minister of Norway. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the legislature, the Storting, elected within a multi-party system. The judiciary is independent of the executive branch and the legislature.
Sortland (Norwegian) or Suortá (Northern Sami) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Vesterålen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sortland. Other population centres in Sortland include Bø, Holand, Holmstad, Liland, Sigerfjord, Strand, and Vik. The Norwegian Coast Guard has its northern base in Sortland, called Kystvaktskvadron Nord.
Marie Haga is Norwegian diplomat, politician and international civil servant.. She has been Board Chair for various organizations including the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) and the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO). Haga has published three books – two on Norwegian politics and one novel.
Monte Kenton Solberg, is a Canadian businessman and politician. Solberg is a former Member of Parliament, representing the riding of Medicine Hat in the House of Commons of Canada as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He was the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and later served as the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development. He has also served as Critic for Foreign Affairs, National Revenue, and Human Resources Development.
Erna Solberg is a Norwegian politician serving as Prime Minister of Norway since 2013 and Leader of the Conservative Party since May 2004. She has been given the nickname "Iron Erna", inspired by Margaret Thatcher's nickname, the "Iron Lady".
Knut Arild Hareide is a Norwegian politician who serves as a member of parliament from Hordaland and as the leader of the Christian Democratic Party from 2011 to 2019. He has served as Minister of Transport and Communications since 2020, and as Minister of the Environment from 2004 to 2005 in the second Bondevik cabinet. In 2007 he announced he would step down from the national political scene for the time being, but he returned when he was nominated as the top candidate for the Christian Democratic Party ticket in Akershus in the 2009 election where he won the county's leveling seat. After Dagfinn Høybråten stepped down as party leader, Hareide was unanimously elected to take his place at the 2011 party convention. In the 2013 election, Hareide was reelected to parliament, this time from his home county of Hordaland.
Olav Akselsen is Director General of Shipping and Navigation. Akselsen has served six terms in the Norwegian Parliament for the Norwegian Labour Party, and was Minister of Petroleum and Energy in the first cabinet Stoltenberg from 2000 to 2001.
Kjell Borgen was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He served as Minister of Transport and Communications from 1986 to 1988, Minister of Local Government 1988 to 1989 and 1990 to 1992. He served as County Governor of Hedmark from 1993 to his death.
Helga Pedersen is a Norwegian politician, former Minister, and member of the Storting, who is currently deputy leader for the Norwegian Labour Party. A native of Sør-Varanger, she served between 2003 and 2005 as the County Mayor of the northernmost Finnmark county. From 2005 to 2009 she served as Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, becoming the youngest member of the Labour-led Red-Green Coalition headed by Jens Stoltenberg.
Jan Tore Sanner is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party who serves as Minister of Finance since 2020. He previously served as Minister of Education from 2018-2020 and Minister of Local Government from 2013-2018.
Åshild Hauan was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She served as the County Governor of Nordland county from 1991 until 2007.
Trine Skei Grande is a Norwegian politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party of Norway from 2010 to 2020. She also served as Minister of Education from January to March 2020, and as Minister of Culture and Gender Equality from 2018 to 2020. She is also a member of parliament for Oslo since 2001.
Monica Mæland is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party who has served as Minister of Justice since 2020. Previously she served as Minister Local Government from 2018–2020, and Minister of Trade and Industry from 2013–2018. In local politics, she was the Chief Commissioner of Bergen from 2003–2013, and leader of the Hordaland Conservatives from 2002–2004.
Solveig Horne is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party who served as Minister of Children and Equality in the Solberg Cabinet from 2013 to 2018. She has also been an MP for Rogaland since 2005.
The 2005 Sámi parliamentary election was held in Norway on September 12, 2005. Voters elected 43 members for the Sámi Parliament of Norway.
Nikolai Eivindssøn Astrup is a Norwegian politician representing the Conservative Party. He has served as Minister of Local Government since 2020. Previously he served as the Minister of International Development from 2018-2019 in Prime Minister Erna Solberg's cabinet, being the first since Heikki Holmås from 2012-2013. In 2019, he also became the first Minister of Digitalization after the Christian Democratic Party joined the Cabinet, a post he served in until 2020.
Tone-Helen Toften is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party.
A parliamentary election was held in Norway on 11 September 2017 to elect all 169 members of the unicameral Norwegian Parliament, the Storting. The non-socialist parties retained a reduced majority of 88 seats, allowing Prime Minister Erna Solberg's Conservative-Progress coalition to remain in government. The Liberal Party joined the coalition in January 2018 but it remained a minority cabinet until the Christian Democratic Party joined the coalition in 2019. The three largest centre-left parties won 79 seats. The Green Party retained its single seat, while the Red Party won its first ever seat.
Ola Bjerkaas is a Norwegian politician. He served as the acting County Governor of Nordland county from 2008 until 2009 while Hill-Marta Solberg was finishing up her term in the Parliament of Norway.
