Peter Albert Dueck (July 5, 1923 – February 19, 2015) was a politician and cabinet minister in the Canadian province of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. He was an elected Member of the Legislative Assembly from 1986 to 1993 for the ridings of Central Fraser Valley and

Matsqui Matsqui is a former district municipality in British Columbia, Canada. It was incorporated in 1892 and merged with the district municipality of Abbotsford in 1995 to create the new City of Abbotsford. Matsqui used to be the western part of what is ...

, as a member of the Social Credit Party and later as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. Dueck served as a cabinet minister under premiers

Bill Vander Zalm William Nicholas Vander Zalm (born Wilhelmus Nicholaas Theodore Marie van der Zalm; May 29, 1934) is a politician and entrepreneur in British Columbia, Canada. He was the 28th premier of British Columbia from 1986 to 1991. Early life Wilhelmus Ni ...

and

Rita Johnston Rita Margaret Johnston (born April 22, 1935; née Leichert) is a Canadian politician in British Columbia. Johnston became the first female premier in Canadian history when she succeeded Bill Vander Zalm in 1991 to become the 29th premier of Bri ...

Early life and career

Dueck was born in Aliessovo, Orenburg, USSR to Susanna (Dueck) Dueck and Jacob P. Dueck. He moved to a farm at Coaldale, Alberta at three years of age when his parents immigrated to Canada in 1926. He and his wife Helen moved to Abbotsford, BC where he co-founded MSA Motors car dealership in 1951. He later operated real estate and insurance firms.

Political career

Dueck began his political career in 1978 as an alderman and deputy mayor for the Municipality of Matsqui. He turned to provincial politics in October 1986, when he was elected to the B.C. Legislature alongside

Harry de Jong Hans De Jong (March 25, 1932 – February 6, 2014) was a Canadian politician. He served in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1986 to 1994, as a Social Credit member for the constituencies of Central Fraser Valley and Abbotsford. ...

in the dual-member riding of Central Fraser Valley. Dueck was one of five Socred ministers, along with

Jack Kempf Jack Joseph Kempf (May 12, 1935 - July 1, 2003) was a business owner and politician in British Columbia. He represented Omineca in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1975 to 1991 as a Social Credit member. He was born in Kelowna ...

Cliff Michael Clifford C. Michael (born October 5, 1933) was a Canadian politician. He served in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1983 to 1991, as a Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy develope ...

Bill Reid William Ronald Reid Jr. (12 January 1920 – 13 March 1998) ( Haida) was a Canadian artist whose works include jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and paintings. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year career, Reid is ...

and

Bud Smith Robert Allan "Bud" Smith (born October 23, 1979) is an American retired baseball pitcher. Smith was active at the major league level in 2001 and 2002, playing for the St. Louis Cardinals. Minor leagues In 2000, Smith led the minor league Cardin ...

, who resigned when the party was accused of misconduct after the Fantasy Garden scandal affected Socred leader Bill Vander Zalm.

Health ministry

Dueck was

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

when there was public debate about provincial provision of abortion services due to the legalization of abortion by the Supreme Court of Canada and also the provincial response to the rising number of HIV/AIDS cases. He resigned from cabinet on May 30, 1990, amidst a growing expenses scandal in his ministry related to the deputy minister, Stan Dubas. Dueck denied knowledge but accepted responsibility.

Advanced education

Dueck returned to cabinet on May 29, 1991, now headed by

. After an RCMP investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing in the expenses scandal, Johnston invited him back to cabinet. As Minister of Advanced Education, he announced in July 1991 the upgrade to university-college status for the Fraser Valley College in Abbotsford that later became the

University of the Fraser Valley The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), formerly known as University College of the Fraser Valley and Fraser Valley College, is a Canadian public university with campuses in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission and Hope, British Columbia. Founded ...

Re-election and resignation

In 1991, the dual-member riding was split up and Dueck was elected in the newly created riding of Matsqui. Dueck and de Jong were the only Socreds to win seats in 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 ...

. Dueck became an Independent MLA in February 1992, then resigned in November 1993 which created a by-election opportunity for new Socred leader

Grace McCarthy Grace Mary McCarthy, OC, OBC, LLD, DTech, FRAIC (Hon.) (née Winterbottom; October 14, 1927 – May 24, 2017) was a Canadian politician and florist in British Columbia. A high-ranking member of the Social Credit Party of British Columbia, she ...

to gain a seat in the legislature. Instead, the byelection saw rookie Liberal candidate and future cabinet minister

Mike de Jong Mike de Jong, (born 1963 or 1964) is a provincial politician and was cabinet minister of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Early life De Jong was born to Dutch parents who immigrated to Canada after Canadian soldiers liberated th ...

defeat McCarthy.

Election results

, James Alexander McNeil , align="right", 4,900 , align="right", 9.68% , align="right", , align="right", unknown , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Total valid votes !align="right", 50,618 !align="right", 100.00% !align="right", , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Total rejected ballots !align="right", 627 !align="right", !align="right", , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=3, Turnout !align="right", % !align="right", !align="right", , - bgcolor="white" !align="right" colspan=7, ¹ Seat increased to two members from one.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dueck, Peter Albert 1923 births 2015 deaths British Columbia municipal councillors British Columbia Social Credit Party MLAs Canadian real estate agents Health ministers of British Columbia Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia People from Abbotsford, British Columbia People from Lethbridge County People from Orenburg Soviet emigrants to Canada