David Stupich

David Daniel Stupich (5 December 1921 – 8 February 2006) was a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for most years from the 1960s to the 1980s, and a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1993. Stupich was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia to a coal miner.

David Stupich
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Nanaimo—Cowichan
In office
21 November 1988 – 25 October 1993
Preceded byJames Manly[1]
Succeeded byBob Ringma
Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Nanaimo
Nanaimo and the Islands (1963-1966)
In office
30 August 1972 – 13 October 1988
Serving with Dale Lovick (1986-1988)
Preceded byFrank Ney
Succeeded byJan Pullinger
In office
30 September 1963 – 27 August 1969
Preceded byEarle Westwood
Succeeded byFrank Ney
Personal details
Born
David Daniel Stupich

(1921-12-05)5 December 1921
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Died8 February 2006(2006-02-08) (aged 84)
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Political partyNew Democratic Party
ProfessionChartered Accountant

He served five years in the Royal Canadian Air Force. After the war he used his veteran's grant to get a degree in agriculture at the University of British Columbia He then became a chicken farmer and studied at night to become a Chartered Accountant. He donated his spare time to doing books for local service clubs.

Provincial politics

His first political campaign was an unsuccessful bid to become a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in 1949. He was the provincial CCF party candidate for the Nanaimo and the Islands riding.

He entered provincial politics by winning the Nanaimo and the Islands riding in the 1963 British Columbia election. He was re-elected in the 1966 provincial election when the riding name changed to simply Nanaimo, but lost the riding to Social Credit candidate Frank Ney in the 1969 election. In the 1972 provincial election, Stupich defeated Ney and returned to the Legislature in the 1972 election, and remained a member until 1988. He introduced the Agricultural Land Reserve bill, which saved thousands of acres of farm land from the paver.[2][3]

Federal politics

Stupich then entered federal politics and was elected in the 1988 federal election at the Nanaimo—Cowichan electoral district for the New Democratic Party. He served in the 34th Canadian Parliament but lost to Bob Ringma of the Reform Party in the 1993 federal election.

Bingogate

Stupich was the central figure in a scandal since known as Bingogate. In the late 1950s, Stupich set up and controlled the Nanaimo Commonwealth Holding Society (NCHS), which raised funds on behalf of the NDP.

But after a tip that something was amiss from the head of the Nanaimo Commonwealth Bingo Association, the RCMP launched an investigation. It found Stupich ran kickback schemes in which donations to charities were refunded to NCHS. In 1999, Stupich, then 77, faced 64 charges, including theft, fraud, forgery and breach of trust. He pleaded guilty that year to fraud and running an illegal lottery, involving the misappropriation of about $1 million from the NCHS.[4][5] He was sentenced to two years, serving it on electronic monitoring at his daughter's home in Nanaimo.[6]

Setting the home of daughter Marjorie Boggis for electronic monitoring may have been related to the prospect of Stupich spending 2 years confined at the Palatial Gabriola Island mansion Stupich shared with partner Elizabeth Marlow. Related charges against Marlow and Boggis were stayed as part of a complex plea bargain. Photos of the walled and outdoor pool equipped Stupich & Marlow mansion added to public outrage about the scandal.[7][8][9] [10][11]

Even though he was personally uninvolved, then-Premier Mike Harcourt resigned as a result of the scandal.[6]

Stupich died in 2006 at Dufferin Place, a long-term care facility in Nanaimo.[12]

References
  1. Cowichan—Malahat—The Islands
  2. "Electoral History of British Columbia 1871-1986" (PDF). Elections BC. 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2006. Retrieved 16 December 2006.
  3. "Debates of the Legislative Assembly (Hansard)". Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. 20 February 2006. Retrieved 16 December 2006.
  4. "Man behind 'Bingogate' pleads guilty". CBC News. 10 November 2000. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  5. Justice Josephson (3 September 1999). "Reasons for Sentence / Her Majesty the Queen Against David Daniel Stupich". In the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  6. Wilson, Valerie (10 February 2006). "NDP minister was at centre of bingo scandal". Nanaimo Daily News via Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
  7. "Orlebar Point". gabriolan.ca. 31 August 2010. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  8. Scandal!!: 130 Years of Damnable Deeds in Canada's Lotus Land, William Rayner
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20110410150711/http://www.camagazine.com/archives/print-edition/1997/camagazine27733.pdf
  10. "Man behind 'Bingogate' pleads guilty". CBC News. 26 June 1999. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  11. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/bingogate-plea-bargain-1.184087
  12. "CANADA-OBITS-L Archives". RootsWeb.com. 14 February 2006. Retrieved 16 December 2006.
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