Stephen Fuhr

Stephen Fuhr (born May 27, 1969) is a Canadian Liberal politician, who represented the riding of Kelowna—Lake Country in Canada's 42nd Parliament.

Stephen Fuhr CD
Chairman of the Standing Committee on National Defence
In office February 18, 2016 – September 11, 2019
Preceded by	Peter Kent
Succeeded by	Karen McCrimmon
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Kelowna—Lake Country
In office October 19, 2015 – September 11, 2019
Preceded by	Ron Cannan
Succeeded by	Tracy Gray
Personal details
Born	May 27, 1969 Edmonton, Alberta
Political party	Liberal (2010-present) Conservative (2003-2010) Canadian Alliance (2000-2003) Reform (?-2000)
Residence	Kelowna, British Columbia
Alma mater	Trinity Western University
Profession	Fighter pilot Entrepreneur
Military service
Allegiance	Canada
Branch/service	Royal Canadian Air Force
Years of service	1989–2009
Rank	Major

Fuhr was born in Edmonton and grew up in Kamloops. He attended Trinity Western University, earning a diploma in aviation technology, and subsequently joined what was then the Canadian Forces Air Command (now the Royal Canadian Air Force). As a pilot in the RCAF he served in several capacities to include flight training and standards. He also served as an operational fighter pilot and was involved in CF-18 fleet management. Fuhr was qualified as both a NORAD and NATO fighter operations evaluator and received a Commanders Commendation for his role as a Canadian NORAD Region (CANR) Fighter Officer (FO). He also received a Chief of the Air Staff Commendation for his part in regenerating Canada's tactical air control party (TACP) for the conflict in Afghanistan. In his final year in the RCAF Fuhr led the team that restructured the course delivery method of the Canadian Forces Instrument Check Pilot School (ICPS).

He retired from the RCAF in 2009, and from 2009 to 2012 worked as an executive at SkyTrac Systems.[1] Prior to his election, he was working as a private pilot[2] and was qualified as a captain on several different aircraft types.

Fuhr, who described himself as a "lifelong Conservative," wrote in an op-ed for HuffPost Canada that he grew increasingly dissatisfied with the Conservatives from 2010 onward. He started moving away from the Conservatives after the Stephen Harper government tried to sole-source new F-35 jets that he claimed were unreliable and expensive. This and other moves by Harper led Fuhr to believe that the Harper government had "completely lost sight of everything it said it stood for." "[3][4]

Fuhr is the first Liberal MP to represent Kelowna since 1972, and his election was seen as an upset.[5] He is also the first Liberal to represent a riding in the British Columbia Interior since 1979.

Fuhr was elected to chair the Standing Committee on National Defence on February 18, 2016.

Electoral record

2019 Canadian federal election: Kelowna—Lake Country
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Tracy Gray	31,497	45.6	+5.85	$118,425.23
	Liberal	Stephen Fuhr	22,627	32.7	-13.46	$103,263.61
	New Democratic	Justin Kulik	8,381	12.1	-1.99	$12,410.64
	Green	Travis Ashley	5,171	7.5	–	$6,745.70
	People's	John Barr	1,225	1.8	–	$7,213.32
	Independent	Daniel Joseph	152	0.2	–	none listed
	Independent	Silverado Socrates	67	0.1	–	$0.00
Total valid votes/Expense limit			69,120	100.0
Total rejected ballots			305
Turnout			69,425	69.4
Eligible voters			99,992
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+9.66
Source: Elections Canada[6][7][8]

2015 Canadian federal election: Kelowna—Lake Country
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Stephen Fuhr	29,614	46.16	+34.69	$127,002.68
	Conservative	Ron Cannan	25,502	39.75	-18.63	$70,942.48
	New Democratic	Norah Mary Bowman	9,039	14.09	-7.28	$33,945.86
Total valid votes/Expense limit			64,155	100.00		$228,718.18
Total rejected ballots			230	0.36	–
Turnout			64,385	70.65	–
Eligible voters			91,131
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+26.66
Source: Elections Canada[9][10][11]

References

1. "SkyTrac Systems Announces CEO". September 23, 2011.
2. Meet Stephen Fuhr, Liberal.ca.
3. "I'm a Lifelong Conservative But I'm Running for the Liberals". February 9, 2015.
4. "Stephen Fuhr: How a lifelong Conservative supporter ended up running for Justin Trudeau's Liberals". The Georgia Straight. 2014-12-10. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
5. Kevin Parnell, Lake Country expected to meet with new MP Stephen Fuhr, The Kelowna Capital News, October 26, 2015.
6. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
7. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
8. "Candidate Campaign Returns". Elections Canada. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
9. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Kelowna—Lake Country, 30 September 2015
10. Official Voting Results - Kelowna—Lake Country
11. "Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates". Archived from the original on August 15, 2015.