Bob Zimmer

Background

Bob 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. 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. 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. While living in Abbotsford he campaigned for Randy White who was elected as a Reform Party member of parliament. 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. 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. 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.

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. He noted that he believed pensions for former politicians were too high and that he would seek pension reform. 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. After the debate, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs called for Zimmer to step down as a candidate. Zimmer had stated that if the murdered and missing aboriginal women had jobs, "they [could] stay on reserve, and that's where we want them to be". President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Grand Chief Stewart Philip, characterized Zimmer's remarks as "simplistic" and "unacceptable".

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. 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.”

In the 2015 election, Zimmer was re-elected with over 50% of the vote.

In May 2016, Zimmer backed and brought forward in the House of Commons a petition with 25 000 signatures advocating for the derestriction of the AR-15 semi-automatic modern sporting rifle. In the wake of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, this action fell under heavy criticism due to the well-publicized use of that weapon in the attack.