34 Facts About Rob Fleming

Rob Fleming was born on November 11,1971 and is a Canadian politician who sat in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2005 provincial election, when he defeated one-term Liberal Party incumbent, Sheila Orr, until 2024.

Rob Fleming was assigned to the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts and introduced the Payday Lending Act, 2006 which sought to regulate the conditions of payday loans and led to the government adopting the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Amendment Act a year later.

Rob Fleming introduced the Cosmetic Pesticide and Carcinogen Control Act and sat on the subsequent Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides which investigated potential bans or regulations on pesticides used for cosmetic purposes.

Rob Fleming introduced the Species at Risk Protection Act, after the government delayed a promise to review its species-at-risk legislation, and the Sustainable Development Indicators and Reporting Act, 2011 which sought to create a Sustainable Development Board to report on provincial sustainability-related indicators.

Rob Fleming sat on the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives which considered the petition seeking the repeal of the Harmonized Sales Tax.

Rob Fleming introduced the private member bill Youth Voter Registration Act that would have allowed provisional voter registration of people between the ages of 16 and 18, a measure that was later adopted in 2019.

Rob Fleming then enrolled in the University of Victoria, where he majored in history.

Rob Fleming met his wife Maura Parte while attending UVic; they have two children together.

Rob Fleming finished third in voting, securing him a seat on the eight-member council.

Rob Fleming was re-elected councillor in 2002, this time receiving the second highest vote count.

Rob Fleming traveled to El Salvador in 2004, as part of a 13-member delegation of election observers to monitor the presidential election.

Rob Fleming supported the legalization of secondary suites, the construction of the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, and amendments to bylaws to target aggressive panhandling.

Rob Fleming sat on the Victoria Regional Transit Commission and has advocated for transit service expansion and light rail in Greater Victoria.

Rob Fleming was a member of the Provincial Capital Commission and was the only member to vote against, due to concerns with the long-term lease agreement and risks involved, replacing the plant and animal conservatory Crystal Gardens with the multi-media tourist attraction, The BC Experience, which filed for bankruptcy protection three months after opening.

The primary was billed as a contest between the hard line "old-school union man" Orcherton versus the "new wave" moderate Rob Fleming which was seen as the symbolic struggle that was occurring throughout the party.

Rob Fleming was one of five candidates across the province who were endorsed by the Conservation Voters of British Columbia.

Rob Fleming resigned from his position as Victoria city councillor to become a New Democratic MLA, as part of the Official Opposition.

Rob Fleming introduced several pieces of legislation, including the Payday Lending Act, 2006, which sought to license payday lenders and regulate the conditions of payday loans, including plain language rules, rights to cancellation, signage requirements.

Rob Fleming was assigned the role of critic for advanced education.

Rob Fleming introduced the Private Post-Secondary Accountability and Student Protection Act, 2007 which was intended to increase the accountability of private career training institutions and increasing the enforcement abilities of the Degree Quality Assessment Board.

Rob Fleming spoke out against deregulation that allowed diploma mills like Rutherford University and Kingston College which advertised to foreign students.

Rob Fleming introduced the Restoring Credibility to Universities Act, 2008 which sought to repeal the World Trade University Canada Establishment Act and portions of the 2007 Education Statutes Amendment Act concerning private post-secondary institutions.

Rob Fleming took on the role as the NDP tourism critic and objected to Tourism Minister Bill Bennett's decision not to participate in the National Vigil Project due to costs and, in response to funding cuts to Tourism BC, he criticized government self-promotional advertising.

Rob Fleming linked planned increases in transit fares to global warming and spoke out against fee increases at provincial park campsites.

Rob Fleming was member of the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives, the committee that only met twice, both times in September 2010, to deal with a petition seeking the repeal of the Harmonized Sales Tax; Fleming and the three other New Democratic Party members voted to recommend introducing the draft HST Extinguishment Act into the Legislative Assembly, while the five BC Liberal members voted to initiate the 2011 British Columbia sales tax referendum.

When Parliament re-convened for a fourth session Rob Fleming introduced another private member bill, the Sustainable Development Indicators and Reporting Act, 2011 which sought to create a Sustainable Development Board to measure and report on indicators of BC's economic, environmental and social sustainability.

Rob Fleming defeated the BC Liberal candidate, small-business owner Christina Bates, and the BC Green candidate Spencer Malthouse.

Rob Fleming was critical of party leader Adrian Dix's positive-only campaigning during the election, partly blamed for the upset loss, saying that it allowed their opponents to define who they were and then attack that without response.

However, after both John Horgan and Mike Farnworth announced their intention to run, Rob Fleming decided he would not; he later endorsed Horgan's candidacy.

In December 2015, Rob Fleming fired his constituency assistant who was arrested, in July 2016, for defrauding the Victoria-Swan Lake constituency office of $120,420 since March 2009.

Rob Fleming sponsored the private member bill Youth Voter Registration Act, 2015 which sought allow provisional voter registration of people between the ages or 16 and 18, one of the recommendations of a 2011 report by the Chief Electoral Officer.

Rob Fleming was again re-elected with his party forming the Official Opposition, but this time in a BC Liberal minority government.

Rob Fleming was in turn replaced by Jennifer Whiteside as Minister of Education.

On July 5,2024, Rob Fleming announced that he would not run in the 2024 election.