Robert Fleming (1918 - 1985) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician, who served on the

Yukon Territorial Council The Yukon Territorial Council was a political body in the Canadian territory of Yukon, prior to the creation of the Yukon Legislative Assembly. Although not a full legislature, the council acted as an advisory body to the Commissioner of Yukon, and ...

from 1974 to 1978 and in the

Legislative Assembly of Yukon The Yukon Legislative Assembly (french: Assemblée législative du Yukon) is the legislative assembly for Yukon, Canada. Unique among Canada's three territories, the Yukon Legislative Assembly is the only territorial legislature which is organiz ...

from 1978 to 1982.

Personal life

He was born and raised in

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

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 ...

, and moved to Teslin,

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

in 1949."Bob Fleming: Campbell"
''

Whitehorse Star The ''Whitehorse Star'' is one of two newspapers in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. When founded in 1900 it appeared only once a week, and its progress to Monday through Friday publication occurred in fits and starts; it was issued twice a week for a ...

'', May 28, 1982. In Teslin he worked as the owner of a construction company and a wilderness lodge, and competed in various sports including

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

and dog mushing.

Career

Fleming was first elected to the Territorial Council in the

1974 Yukon general election The 1974 Yukon general election was held on 7 October 1974 to elect the twelve members of the 23rd Yukon Territorial Council. The council consisted of 10 non-partisan and two members elected for the Yukon NDP. It had merely an advisory role to th ...

, representing the electoral district of Hootalinqua. Following the replacement of the Territorial Council with the

and the resultant introduction of political parties in the territory, Teslin was redistricted into the new riding of

Campbell Campbell may refer to: People Surname * Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell Given name * Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer * Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...

, and Fleming was reelected as MLA for Campbell in the

1978 Yukon general election The 1978 Yukon general election was held on November 20, 1978, was the first conventional legislative election in the history of Canada's Yukon Territory. Prior elections were held to elect representatives to the Yukon Territorial Council, a non-par ...

; however, he did not join a political party as he was opposed to the introduction of party politics to the territory at that time, and instead ran and was elected as an independent MLA."Independent will be invited to join gov't"
''

'', April 27, 1981. He joined the

Yukon Progressive Conservative Party The Yukon Progressive Conservative Party (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Yukon) was a conservative political party in Yukon, Canada. It was succeeded by the Yukon Party. History The Yukon Progressive Conservative Party was founded in ...

in 1981, although he declined an offer to be appointed to a cabinet post in the

Executive Council of Yukon The Executive Council of Yukon (french: Conseil exécutif du Yukon), more commonly known as the Cabinet of Yukon (french: Cabinet du Yukon), is the cabinet of the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is chosen by the Premier from the elected members of ...

because he felt that other MLAs were more qualified to hold cabinet roles than he was."Former MLA dies"
''

'', February 18, 1985. He was defeated in the

1982 Yukon general election The 1982 Yukon general election was held on June 7, 1982 to elect members of the 25th Legislative Assembly of the territory of Yukon, Canada. It was won by the Progressive Conservatives. Results by Party , - style="background:#ccc;" ! rowspan="2 ...

by Dave Porter of the

Yukon New Democratic Party The Yukon New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique du Yukon) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Yukon, political party in the Yukon territory of Canada. The Yukon NDP first formed the gover ...

.Jim Butler
"'Addition' may lead to recounts"
''

'', June 10, 1982.

Death

Following his retirement from politics he moved to

Chilliwack Chilliwack ( )( hur, Ts'elxwéyeqw) is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Chilliwack is surrounded by mountains and home to recreational areas such as Cultus Lake and Chilliwack Lake Provincial Parks. There are numerous outdoor ...

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, ...

, where he died of a heart attack on February 15, 1985.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Robert 1918 births 1985 deaths Yukon Party MLAs Independent MLAs in Yukon Members of the Yukon Territorial Council