Robert Arnold "Butch" Fischer (June 9, 1937 – August 9, 2020) was a Canadian provincial level politician from

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. He served as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from sin ...

from 1982 until 2001 sitting with the governing Progressive Conservative caucus. He was investigated for a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

in 2001 that led to his resignation. During his time in office he served in a couple of different cabinet portfolios under the

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 ...

government.

Early life

Robert Arnold Fischer was born June 9, 1937 in

Irma, Alberta Irma is a village in central Alberta, Canada. It is located northwest of Wainwright and 178 km southeast of Edmonton along Highway 14 and Highway 881. History The Village of Irma came into being in 1908 when the Grand Trunk Pacific Rai ...

to George Everett Fischer and Marjorie Lillian Dutton. Fischer would marry Marian Annette Smallwood on February 21, 1959 and have five children together.

Political career

Fischer ran for a seat to the

in the 1982 Alberta general election. He won a comfortable plurality defeating Bill Veitch from the

Western Canada Concept The Western Canada Concept was a Western Canada, Western Canadian federal political party founded in 1980 to promote the separation of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories ...

and three other candidates to hold the Wainwright provincial electoral district for the governing Progressive Conservative party. He ran for his second term in office in the 1986 Alberta general election. He won a greater percent of the popular vote but a slightly reduced plurality. He still defeated the other three candidates comfortably. Fischer faced off for the second time against Liberal candidate Joe Vermette and New Democrat Willy Kelch in the 1989 Alberta general election. He would win his third term easily despite his total popular vote slipping for the second straight election. Fischer would stand for re-election to his fourth term in office in the 1993 general election. He would fend off three other candidates in the race and for the first time in three elections Fischer saw his popular vote increase. Premier

appointed Fischer to the

Executive Council of Alberta The Executive Council of Alberta (the Cabinet) is a body of ministers of the Crown in right of Alberta, who along with the lieutenant governor, exercises the powers of the Government of Alberta. Ministers are selected by the premier and typica ...

for the first time on September 15, 1994. He would become the new Minister of Public Works, Supply, and Services. On May 31, 1996 he was shuffled to the Minister of Transportation and Utilities portfolio. He would have ministerial advantage for running for his fifth term in office in the

1997 Alberta general election The 1997 Alberta general election was held on March 11, 1997, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Ralph Klein's Conservatives were re-elected, with increased number of seats in the Legislature. Liberal Official Opposition los ...

. His personal popularity continued to climb and he almost won his district with a landslide. After the election Fischer would not return to cabinet. He would run for his final term in office in the 2001 Alberta general election. Despite not having a cabinet portfolio he won the election, seeing Jerry Barber from the

Alberta First Party The Alberta First Party french: Alberta d'abord) was an Albertan separatist political party in Alberta, Canada. It went through several iterations before becoming its current incarnation as the Freedom Conservative Party. History (1999–2018) ...

finish second. He resigned his seat on December 31, 2001 after being investigated for a breach of ethics regarding a private business deal.

Death

Fischer would die on August 9, 2020.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Robert 1937 births Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs 2020 deaths Members of the Executive Council of Alberta 21st-century Canadian politicians