Bob Zimmer (born October 20, 1968) is a Canadian politician and a Member of Parliament in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

. He was elected to represent the riding of

Prince George—Peace River A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

in the 2011 election, and re-elected in the 2015 election, and the 2019 Canadian federal election, as a member of the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

. He served in both the 41st Parliament as part of the governing party, and 42nd Parliament as part of the official opposition.

Background

Zimmer was born in

Dawson Creek Dawson Creek is a city in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The municipality of had a population of 12,978 in 2016. Dawson Creek derives its name from the creek of the same name that runs through the community. The creek was named after ...

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 Northern Lights College (NLC) is an institution that provides post-secondary education to residents of Northern British Columbia. It currently has campuses and access centers in eight communities across the northern third of British Columbia, wit ...

he became a journeyman carpenter and operated a small construction business between 1995 and 1998. In the 1990s he moved to the

Fraser Valley The Fraser Valley is a geographical region in southwestern British Columbia, Canada and northwestern Washington State. It starts just west of Hope in a narrow valley encompassing the Fraser River and ends at the Pacific Ocean stretching from the ...

to play in the

British Columbia Rugby Union The British Columbia Rugby Union (BCRU) is the provincial administrative body for rugby union in British Columbia, Canada. The BCRU consists of nine sub-unions and 65 clubs. It was originally organized in New Westminster in 1889 where Alfred St. G ...

. Between 1999 and 2003 he attended

Trinity Western University Trinity Western University (TWU) is a Private university, private Christian liberal arts university with campuses in both Langley, British Columbia (district municipality), Langley and Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond, British Columbia. The sch ...

, where he coached varsity rugby and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Human Kinetics. He completed a 12-month

teaching degree Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they require to perform their ...

at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

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 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 ...

in 1988. He has cited

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...

and

Preston Manning Ernest Preston Manning (born June 10, 1942) is a Canadian retired politician. He was the founder and the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance in 2000 which in tur ...

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 Jay D. Hill (born December 27, 1952) is a Canadian politician who served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Prince George—Peace River in British Columbia from 1993 to 2010. He served as Government House Leader ...

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 Lois Ruth Boone (born April 26, 1947) is a Canadians, Canadian politician. She served as MLA for Prince George North from 1986 to 1991, and Prince George-Mount Robson from 1991 to 2001, in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. She is a me ...

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