From small town mayor to a five term Member of Parliament after being convincingly re-elected to office on October 14, 2008 Rick Casson continues to work diligently for the riding of Lethbridge, a federal electoral district comprised of approximately 106,000 southern Alberta residents. 

After registering over 66 percent of the vote in October 2008, Rick once again joined the Government in the House of Commons for the 1st Session of the 40th Parliament. Shortly after he was named Chair of the Alberta Caucus, the Canadian Chair of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence and Chair of the Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan. 

On a note of interest: the Permanent Joint Board on Defence is a Canadian-American advisory body established at Ogdensburg, NY, 18 August 1940, by PM Mackenzie King and US President F.D. Roosevelt. This meeting, which took place at Roosevelt's suggestion, was called during a period of crisis in WORLD WAR II. Although now only one of a number of agencies for Canadian-American military co-operation today, it continues as an arena for frank and informal exchange of views and information.

Rick’s Ottawa tenure began in March 1997 when he was nominated as Lethbridge constituency Reform candidate. Two months later he was elected Member of Parliament and in September 1997 he first sat in the House of Commons. He was re-elected to a second term on November 28, 2000 after garnering 66 percent of the popular vote and to a third term in June 2004 with 63 percent of voter support during the early summer election. In the election of 2006, Rick received 67.3% of the popular vote. Rick's win of 66% of the vote in October 2008 led him to his fifth term as the Member of Parliament for Lethbridge.