Peter Fassbender
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly
for Surrey-Fleetwood
In office
May 14, 2013 – May 9, 2017
Preceded byJagrup Brar
Succeeded byJagrup Brar
Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development of British Columbia
In office
July 30, 2015 – June 12, 2017
PremierChristy Clark
Preceded byCoralee Oakes
Succeeded bySam Sullivan
Minister of Education of British Columbia
In office
June 7, 2013 – July 30, 2015
PremierChristy Clark
Preceded byDon McRae
Succeeded byMike Bernier
Mayor of the City of Langley
In office
December 5, 2005 – June 17, 2013
Preceded byMarlene Grinnell
Succeeded byTed Schaffer
Langley City Councillor
In office
December 9, 2002 – December 5, 2005
Personal details
Born (1946-12-20) December 20, 1946 (age 77)
Germany [1]
Political partyBC Liberal
SpouseCharlene
ChildrenTwo sons
ProfessionPolitician

Peter Fassbender (born 1946) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2013 provincial election after a career at the municipal level.[2] He was elected to represent the electoral district of Surrey-Fleetwood as a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party. He was appointed by Premier Christy Clark as Minister of Education in June 2013, then Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development & Minister Responsible for TransLink in July 2015.

Early profession

Fassbender was born in Germany and emigrated to Canada with his parents in 1952. Since then, he has lived his whole life in Surrey, Aldergrove or Langley. He graduated from Queen Elizabeth High School in Surrey and attended the National Broadcasting School in Vancouver. He got a film librarian job at CHAN Television (now Global) and moved up the ranks to cameraman, and then producer and director. He worked for the advertising agency James Lovick in the early 1970s and eventually became a partner of Frank Palmer at the national firm DDB Canada (formerly Palmer Jarvis).[1][3] A major focus of his private sector career focused on social marketing campaigns including smoking cessation projects for Health Canada and international marketing activities for Industry Canada.[3] In 1996 and 1997 he was reported to have done volunteer public relations work for the evangelical men's organization Promise Keepers.[4] He is a distant cousin of actor Michael Fassbender.[citation needed]

Politics

After a failed run at a Social Credit nomination, Fassbender served a four-year term (1975 to 1979) during some turbulent years on the Langley school board.[1] During that time, the board pursued a 'back-to-basics' approach that considered the restoration of corporal punishment and banning the novel Go Ask Alice.[5] Fassbender says his approach to education has changed since the 1970s.[1]

Fassbender was elected for the first time to the city council of Langley in 2002, and then as mayor in the 2005, 2008 and 2011 civic elections. He advocated for the growing communities south of the Fraser River as co-chair of the municipal advisory council for Fraser Health and as vice-chair of TransLink's mayors council.

In November 2012, the provincial government appointed Fassbender as chair of the board for the BC Pavilion Corporation, which operates BC Place Stadium and the Vancouver Convention Centre. In addition to dealing with major renovations, the position also dealt with transparency criticism from journalist Bob Mackin.[6] In the 2013 provincial election, he defeated three-term NDP MLA Jagrup Brar and took leave from his mayoral position.

As Minister of Education, one of his priorities was to seek a 10-year labour agreement with the British Columbia Teachers' Federation.

In addition to his ministerial duties, Fassbender sat on the Cabinet Committee on Secure Tomorrow.[7]

In the 2017 provincial election, he lost his re-election as MLA to Jagrup Brar.

In 2018, he ran for his former position as mayor of the City of Langley.[8] He was narrowly defeated, losing to Val van den Broek by around 200 votes.[9]

Electoral record

2017 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Fleetwood
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
New Democratic Jagrup Brar 11,085 53.58 +9.17 $74,487
Liberal Peter Fassbender 7,599 36.73 −8.70 $66,268
Green Tim Binnema 2,004 9.69 +3.88 $879
Total valid votes 20,688 100.00 –
Total rejected ballots 160 0.77 +0.10
Turnout 20,848 59.52 +3.80
Registered voters 35,025
Source: Elections BC[10][11]
2013 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Fleetwood
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Peter Fassbender 8,974 45.43 +5.89 $191,875
New Democratic Jagrup Brar 8,774 44.41 −4.88 $74,514
Green Tim Binnema 1,147 5.81 −0.62 $1,641
Conservative Murali Krishnan 801 4.05 −0.66 $1,275
Vision Arvin Kumar 59 0.30 – $2,195
Total valid votes 19,755 100.00 –
Total rejected ballots 134 0.67 −0.33
Turnout 19,889 55.72 +1.76
Registered voters 35,692
Source: Elections BC[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d St. Denis, Jen (13 June 2013). "Peter Fassbender: Higher education". Business in Vancouver (magazine). Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  2. ^ "Riding results: Marvin Hunt and Peter Fassbender carry Liberals to victory in Surrey ridings". Vancouver Sun. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Meet Peter". fassbender.ca. Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  4. ^ "11,000 'take charge of family' Christian men plan rally at Coliseum". Vancouver Sun, November 15, 1996.
  5. ^ Steffenhagen, Janet (9 June 2013). "Peter Fassbender and the back-to-basics education movement in the '70s". BC Education Report. Vancouver Sun (blogs). Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  6. ^ Stueck, Wendy (16 Nov 2012). "B.C. government names Langley mayor as PavCo chair". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  7. ^ Legislature Bio
  8. ^ "ELECTION: Langley City mayoralty candidate Peter Fassbender". Langley Advance Times. 12 October 2018.
  9. ^ "B.C. municipal election 2018: Langley (City) results". Global News.
  10. ^ "2017 Provincial General Election - Statement of Votes" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  12. ^ "Statement of Votes - 40th Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
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