Douglas Ross Belsher (19 January 1933 – 12 December 2003) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as a member of 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 ...

. His career included managing

Eaton's The T. Eaton Company Limited, later known as Eaton's, was a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from what is now Northern Ireland. Eaton's grew ...

stores at various British Columbia locations.

Early life

Belsher was born in

Kincaid, Saskatchewan Kincaid ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Pinto Creek No. 75 and Census Division No. 3. History Kincaid incorporated as a village on July 19, 1913. Demographics ...

, and raised on his family's farm in McCord. He graduated from Luther College and earned a diploma from the University of Saskatchewan College of Agriculture.

Career

Belsher represented the British Columbia riding of

Fraser Valley East Fraser Valley East was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1997. This riding was created in 1966 from parts of Fraser Valley, Kamloops and Okanagan Bounda ...

where he was first elected in the 1984 federal election and re-elected in 1988, becoming a member in the 33rd and

34th Canadian Parliament The 34th Canadian Parliament was in session from December 12, 1988, until September 8, 1993. The membership was set by the 1988 federal election on November 21, 1988, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it wa ...

s. During his tenure, he also served as parliamentary secretary to the

minister of fisheries and oceans The minister of fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard () is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet responsible for supervising the fishing industry, administrating all navigable waterways in the country, and overseeing the o ...

. Belsher left federal politics in the 1993 federal election when he was

defeated Defeated may refer to: * "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song) * "Defeated" (Anastacia song) *"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love'' *Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community *''The Defeated ''The Defeated'', al ...

Chuck Strahl Charles Richard "Chuck" Strahl (born February 25, 1957) is a Canadian businessman and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2011. First elected for the Reform Party, he was the leader of the Democratic Representative Caucus that ...

of 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 ...

Personal life

Belsher died of cancer at the

Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre (''ARHCC'') is a 300-bed Canadian health care facility in the City of Abbotsford, British Columbia that houses the acute care Abbotsford Regional Hospital (ARH) operated by Fraser Health and the regio ...

in 2003. He was a member of the

Alliance World Fellowship The Alliance World Fellowship is the international governing body of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (The Alliance, also C&MA and CMA). The Alliance is an evangelical Protestant denomination within the Higher Life movement of Christianity ...

, an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

denomination.

References

1933 births 2003 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Deaths from cancer in British Columbia {{BritishColumbia-politician-stub University of Saskatchewan alumni Luther College (Saskatchewan) alumni