Robert "Bob" Wood, (born October 10, 1949) is a former

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. He was as a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 1995 to 2003 who represented the southern Ontario ridings of

London South London South was an electoral riding in Ontario, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering o ...

and

London West London West (french: London-Ouest) is a federal electoral district in London, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. Geography The district includes the northwest part of the City of London. I ...

Background

Wood was educated at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

, receiving a law degree in 1970. He practiced law in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

after his graduation, and was the proprietor of the firm Walker and Wood. He also served on the Board of Managers for St. Paul's Cathedral in London, and was the Board Chairman for the Western Ontario Therapeutic Community Hostel.

Politics

Wood ran for the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1990, placing third in

against incumbent

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Joan Smith Joan Alison Smith (born 27 August 1953) is an English journalist, novelist, and human rights activist, who is a former chair of the Writers in Prison committee in the English section of International PEN and was the Executive Director of Hack ...

and the winner,

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

David Winninger David Winninger (born October 10, 1949) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995 representing the riding of London South. From 2000 to 2010 he was a munic ...

. He ran in the same riding in the 1995 provincial election, and easily defeated Winninger and Smith to become the riding's MPP. In the provincial election of 1999, he was re-elected over Liberal candidate Darrel Skidmore by only 294 votes in the redistributed riding of

. Wood was regarded as a maverick right-winger in the Progressive Conservative caucus. He supported the

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protes ...

at the federal level, and holds

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...

opinions on several issues, including

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

. During his first term in the legislature, he introduced a private-member's bill which would have mandated a 45-day waiting period for couples wishing to marry, unless they agreed to eight hours of counselling. He also criticized a government grant to

Anti-Racist Action Anti-Racist Action (ARA), also known as the Anti-Racist Action Network, is a decentralized network of militant far-left political cells in the United States and Canada. The ARA network originated in the late 1980s to engage in direct action (inc ...

in 1999, describing the group as a leftist organization given to violence. It was probably for these reasons that Wood was never appointed to

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

Ernie Eves Ernest Larry Eves (born June 17, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 23rd premier of Ontario from 2002 to 2003. A Progressive Conservative, he took over the premiership upon Mike Harris's resignation as party leade ...

. Wood also criticized his government's plan to reform the provincial system of legal billing. Wood lost his seat to Liberal Chris Bentley by over 10,000 votes in the 2003 provincial election. He remains politically active in the London region, and in November 2004 criticized the Liberal government of

Dalton McGuinty Dalton James Patrick McGuinty Jr. (born July 19, 1955) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 24th premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2013. He was the first Liberal leader to win two majority governments since Mitchell Hepburn nearl ...

for its handling of London's hospital system. Wood supported

Frank Klees Frank Klees (born March 6, 1951) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2014. He was a cabinet minister in the governments of Mike Harris and Erni ...

for the leadership of the Ontario PC Party in 2004.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Bob 1949 births Lawyers in Ontario Living people Politicians from London, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs University of Western Ontario alumni Western Law School alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians