Bob Zimmer

Bob Zimmer MP (born October 20, 1968) is a Canadian politician and a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada. He was elected to represent the riding of Prince George—Peace River in the 2011 election, and re-elected in the 2015 election, and the 2019 Canadian federal election, as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He served in both the 41st Parliament as part of the governing party, and 42nd Parliament as part of the official opposition. Zimmer gained notoriety across Canada following his vote against Bill C-6, which aimed to ban conversion therapy in Canada, one of only seven MPs not in favour of its adoption.

Bob Zimmer MP
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies Prince George—Peace River (2011-2015)
Incumbent
Assumed office May 2, 2011
Preceded by	Jay Hill
Personal details
Born	October 20, 1968 Dawson Creek, British Columbia
Political party	Conservative
Other political affiliations	Reform
Spouse(s)	Val Zimmer
Children	4
Residence	Fort St. John, British Columbia
Alma mater	Northern Lights College Trinity Western University University of British Columbia
Profession	Teacher (North Peace Secondary School)

Background

Zimmer was born in Dawson Creek and grew up in Fort St. John. After graduating from North Peace Secondary School in 1986, he worked as a welder's assistant in the oil industry.[1] Through the Northern Lights College he became a journeyman carpenter and operated a small construction business between 1995 and 1998. In the 1990s he moved to the Fraser Valley to play in the British Columbia Rugby Union. Between 1999 and 2003 he attended Trinity Western University, where he coached varsity rugby and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Human Kinetics.[2] He completed a 12-month teaching degree at the University of British Columbia and moved back to Fort St. John where he accepted a teaching job at the North Peace Secondary School.

Political career

Zimmer joined the Reform Party of Canada in 1988. He has cited Ralph Klein and Preston Manning as his political role models.[1] While living in Abbotsford he campaigned for Randy White who was elected as a Reform Party member of parliament.[3] Back in Fort St. John he joined the Conservative Party Prince George-Peace River Electoral District Association and worked as its president until 2009 when he became its secretary and CEO.[4] After long-time Member of Parliament Jay Hill announced he would not seek re-election an election was held for the riding's Conservative Party nomination. In August 2010 Zimmer resigned from his duties in the Electoral District Association and announced he would stand in the nomination election.[1] Five other people stood in the election, including fellow Fort St. John teacher Dan Davies and the former mayor of Prince George Colin Kinsley. With 1,350 votes cast in the March 2011 preferential vote, Zimmer won the nomination in the sixth round.[5]

Member of Parliament

The next federal election was held in May 2011, when Zimmer faced former provincial politician Lois Boone for the NDP, Prince George lawyer Ben Levine for the Liberal Party of Canada, and physiotherapist Hilary Crowley for the Green Party. During the campaign Zimmer said he would advocate for reduced spending until the federal budget was balanced but also lobby to direct federal funds to widen Highways 2 and the Alaska Highway to four lanes between the Alberta border and Fort St. John.[6][7] He noted that he believed pensions for former politicians were too high and that he would seek pension reform.[8] Zimmer won the election with 62.12 per cent of the vote.

During the 2015 federal election, Zimmer opposed another study into murdered and missing Aboriginal women during a heated local candidates debate, saying 42 previous studies had already been done and that a primary problem, as stated in the RCMP report, was economic status or lack of a job.[9] After the debate, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs called for Zimmer to step down as a candidate. Zimmer had stated that, "One of the major drivers of missing and murdered aboriginal women is the lack of economic activity, or simply put, the lack of a job. … Ultimately, when people have a job, they're not in despair. They can stay on reserve, and that's where we want them to be, we want them to be happy where they live." President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Grand Chief Stewart Philip, characterized Zimmer's remarks as "simplistic" and "unacceptable".[10] Zimmer later clarified his comments, stating that he was referencing the RCMP's report on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women which lists employment status as one of the risk factors of murdered Aboriginal women.[11] Zimmer went on to say that, "I absolutely care about missing and murdered Aboriginal women and want to see it stopped. I have a wife and a daughter and a mother and it is a tragedy that we need to fix."[12]

Zimmer was re-elected with over 50% of the vote,[13] and his Conservative Party formed the Official Opposition for the 42nd Canadian Parliament. Zimmer was appointed to be the deputy critic of Families, Children and Social Development (to Karen Vecchio). In May 2016, Zimmer sponsored and brought forward in the House of Commons a petition with 25,000 signatures advocating for the de-restriction of the AR-15 semi-automatic modern sporting rifle. A month later, when that weapon was used in the Orlando nightclub shooting, the petition and Zimmer's advocacy were criticized.[14] In the May 2017 Conservative Party leadership election Zimmer endorsed Andrew Scheer.[15] Following Scheer's victory, he moved Zimmer to deputy critic of the Treasury Board. On April 6, 2017, Zimmer introduced his first private member bill, Bill C-346 An Act to amend the Firearms Act (licences) which would eliminate the expiry of firearms licences, with a mandatory provision that the licence holder update his or her relevant information every 10 years. The bill was debated but defeated at the second reading stage in November 2017 with only the Conservative Party voting in favour.

In October 2019 he was re-elected again, this time with just shy of 70% of the vote. On November 29 Andrew Scheer named him to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for Northern Affairs and Northern Economic Development Agency.

Conversion Therapy Controversy

On Oct. 28, 2020, Zimmer was one of seven Members of Parliament who voted against a bill (C-6) to add the following offences to the Criminal Code:

(a) causing a person to undergo conversion therapy against the person’s will;

(b) causing a child to undergo conversion therapy;

(c) doing anything for the purpose of removing a child from Canada with the intention that the child undergo conversion therapy outside Canada;

(d) advertising an offer to provide conversion therapy; and

(e) receiving a financial or other material benefit from the provision of conversion therapy.[16][17]

Zimmer faced backlash from constituents on social media and subsequently blocked those who publicly criticized him, reinvigorating the use of the #BlockedByBob hashtag created when Zimmer blocked constituents who criticized him previously over his actions on Twitter.[18] Numerous studies show that conversion therapy leads to consequences including depression and suicidal thoughts.[19] Zimmer has defended his vote against Bill C-6 because he said it "leaves open the possibility that voluntary conversations between individuals and their parents, family members, pastors, teachers, or their counsellors may be criminalized."[20] However, Bill C-6 does not criminalize voluntary conversations about sexuality and sexual orientation.[17]

Election results

2019 Canadian federal election: Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Bob Zimmer	38,473	69.8	+17.30
	Liberal	Mavis Erickson	6,391	11.6	-13.30
	New Democratic	Marcia Luccock	5,069	9.2	-6.30
	Green	Catharine Kendall	3,448	6.3	+1.10
	People's	Ron Vaillant	1,748	3.2	-
Total valid votes/Expense limit			55,129	100.0
Total rejected ballots			283
Turnout			55,412	69.8
Eligible voters			79,397
	Conservative hold		Swing		+15.30
Source: Elections Canada[21][22]

2015 Canadian federal election: Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Bob Zimmer	27,237	52.5	-9.35	–
	Liberal	Matt Shaw	12,863	24.9	+19.74	–
	New Democratic	Kathi Dickie	8,014	15.5	-10.35	–
	Green	Elizabeth Biggar	2,672	5.2	-0.86	–
	Libertarian	W. Todd Keller	559	1.1	–	–
	Progressive Canadian	Barry Blackman	464	0.9	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			51,189	100.0	51,808	$259,460.73
Total rejected ballots			97	–	–
Turnout			52,056	68.21	–
Eligible voters			76,312
	Conservative hold		Swing		-14.55
Source: Elections Canada[23][24]

2011 Canadian federal election: Prince George—Peace River
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Bob Zimmer	23,946	62.12	−1.47	$81,669
	New Democratic	Lois Boone	9,876	25.62	+8.04	$38,397
	Green	Hilary Crowley	2,301	5.97	−4.44	$11,625
	Liberal	Ben Levine	2,008	5.21	−3.20	$9,197
	Pirate	Jeremy Cote	415	1.08	–
Total valid votes			38,546	100.0
Total rejected ballots			125	0.32	−0.03
Turnout			38,671	54.08	+5
Eligible voters			71,507
	Conservative hold		Swing		−4.76

References

1. Bell, David (August 6, 2010). "Two educators join Conservative Party nomination race". Alaska Highway News. Fort St. John, B.C. p. 1.
2. "Bob Zimmer makes it three". The Prince George Free Press. September 7, 2010. p. 4.
3. Hoekstra, Gordon (April 6, 2011). "Tory's background runs from rugby to carpentry to politics". Prince George Citizen. p. 5.
4. Makowsky, Sarah (August 7, 2010). "Contest for Hill seat grows". Prince George Citizen. p. 4.
5. Williams, Arthur (March 14, 2011). "Zimmer 'amazed' after nomination win". Prince George Citizen. p. 1.
6. Burnett, Stewart (25 Apr 2011). "Candidates tackle the issues". Dawson Creek Daily News. p. 1.
7. Lux, Ryan (June 6, 2011). "Zimmer finds his seat". Alaska Highway News. Fort St. John. p. 2.
8. Lux, Ryan (May 5, 2011). "Pension reform: Zimmer says he will investigate MP pension reform to bring them in line with the private sector". Alaska Highway News. Fort St. John. p. 1.
9. Stodalka, William (7 October 2015). "Tensions flare over missing women inquiry during Fort St. John federal debate". Alaska Highway News. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
10. "UBCIC Demands Conservative Candidate Bob Zimmer Step Down for Derogatory Comments". Union of BC Indian Chiefs. October 9, 2015. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2016-01-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
12. "Conservative candidate Bob Zimmer clarifies comments on MMIW". audioBoom. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
13. Maloney, Ryan (20 October 2015). "6 Controversial Tory Incumbents Who Lost (And 2 Who Didn't)". Huffington Post Canada. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
14. Zilio, Michelle (June 13, 2016). "Pension reform: Tory MP backed petition to ease access to gun used in Orlando shooting". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. p. 1.
15. Fekete, Jason (September 28, 2016). "Andrew Scheer announces support of 20 members of Conservative caucus as he makes leadership bid official". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on October 3, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
16. "Vote Detail - 14 - Members of Parliament - House of Commons of Canada". ourcommons.ca. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
17. "Government Bill (House of Commons) C-6 (43-2) - First Reading - An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy) - Parliament of Canada". parl.ca. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
18. "https://twitter.com/hashtag/blockedbybob". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-11-11. External link in |title= (help)
19. Reynolds, Emily (2018-07-07). "The cruel, dangerous reality of gay conversion therapy". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
20. staff, Citizen. "MP Zimmer votes against conversion therapy bill". Prince George Citizen. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
21. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
22. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
23. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, 30 September 2015
24. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Official Website
• Bob Zimmer – Parliament of Canada biography