Preceded by Lynn Peterson Name Keith Hobbs | Role Canadian Politician | |
 | ||
Keith Hobbs is a Canadian politician, who was elected mayor of Thunder Bay in Ontario in the 2010 municipal election.
Prior to his term in political office, Hobbs served as a member of the Thunder Bay Police for 34 years.
Hobbs was born in London, UK and immigrated to Canada at a young age. His family settled in Thunder Bay in 1964.
On April 9, 2013, Hobbs, while attending a Thunder Bay City Council meeting, arrested a man who stood up and began shouting profanities and was interrupting the meeting. When police arrived, they verified that the man was intoxicated and charged him for being intoxicated in a public place under the Ontario Liquor Licence Act and was ticketed and fined $65 dollars. He was put in a drunk tank, until he sobered up.
Criminal charges
On July 21, 2017, Hobbs and his wife were charged by the Ontario Provincial Police with extortion and obstruction of justice. The police statement alleges that Keith and Marisa Hobbs and city resident Mary Voss tried to pressure Alexander Zaitzeff, a prominent lawyer in the city, to buy Voss a house in exchange for her silence regarding an allegation that Zaitzeff had sexually assaulted her. Hobbs is currently on a 90-day leave of absence from his duties as mayor.
The city's police chief, J. P. Levesque, has also been under suspension since May after being charged with breach of trust and obstruction of justice for allegedly disclosing confidential information about Hobbs. Police have confirmed that the charges stem from the same investigation.