Rob Fleming (born November 11, 1971) is a Canadian politician who sat in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2005 provincial election, when he defeated one-term Liberal Party incumbent, Sheila Orr, until 2024. Initially representing Victoria-Hillside, he was re-elected in subsequent elections in the renamed constituency of Victoria-Swan Lake. A member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP), he was named to the cabinet of British Columbia in July 2017 as Minister of Education, before assuming the post as Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure in November 2020, serving in that position until 2024. Prior to entering provincial politics, he was a city councillor in Victoria, British Columbia from 1999 to 2005.
In the 38th Parliament Fleming was the New Democrat critic for Advanced Education, sat on the Select Standing Committee on Education, and introduced two education-related private member bills: the Private Post-Secondary Accountability and Student Protection Act, 2007 and the Restoring Credibility to Universities Act, 2008. He was also assigned to the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts and introduced the Payday Lending Act, 2006 which sought to regulate the conditions of payday loans and led to the government adopting the Business Practices and Consumer Protection (Payday Loans) Amendment Act a year later.
In the 39th Parliament Fleming became the NDP's environment critic. He introduced the Cosmetic Pesticide and Carcinogen Control Act and sat on the subsequent Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides which investigated potential bans or regulations on pesticides used for cosmetic purposes. Fleming also introduced the Species at Risk Protection Act, after the government delayed a promise to review its species-at-risk legislation, and the Sustainable Development Indicators and Reporting Act, 2011 which sought to create a Sustainable Development Board to report on provincial sustainability-related indicators. Fleming sat on the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives which considered the petition seeking the repeal of the Harmonized Sales Tax.
In the 40th Parliament Fleming was appointed to be the NDP's education critic. He introduced the private member bill Youth Voter Registration Act that would have allowed provisional voter registration of people between the ages of 16 and 18, a measure that was later adopted in 2019.
Background Born in Windsor, Ontario, Fleming and his family moved to BC when he was three years old, settling on Greater Vancouver's North Shore. In the 1988 federal election, he assisted in the New Democratic Party's campaign in the riding of Capilano—Howe Sound. From 1993 to 1995 he attended the university transfer program at Camosun College in Saanich, which later awarded him the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award. While at Camosun, Fleming served as communications coordinator for the student society.
He then enrolled in the University of Victoria (UVic), where he majored in history. As president of the UVic Students' Society, he was active in acquiring universal access to BC Transit for students through a U-Pass system. After graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in 2002, he started work with a communication consulting business.
He met his wife Maura Parte while attending UVic; together, they have one daughter, Rory, and one son.
Municipal politics While still at university, he stood as a candidate for Victoria City Council in the 1999 municipal elections as a member of the Victoria Civic Electors, which ran a joint slate of seven candidates with the Green Party. Fleming finished third in voting, securing him a seat on the eight-member council. He was re-elected councillor in 2002, this time receiving the second highest vote count. He traveled to El Salvador in 2004, as part of a 13-member delegation of election observers to monitor the presidential election.
While on Victoria City Council, Fleming gained a reputation for being a "fiscally prudent democratic socialist". He supported the legalization of secondary suites, the construction of the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre (but voted against the option to have it privately operated), and amendments to bylaws to target aggressive panhandling. As a director on the board of the Capital Regional District (CRD), Fleming was vice-chair of the CRD Housing Corporation where he advocated for an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. He sat on the Victoria Regional Transit Commission and has advocated for transit service expansion and light rail in Greater Victoria. He was a member of the Provincial Capital Commission and was the only member to vote against, due to concerns with the long-term lease agreement and risks involved, replacing the plant and animal conservatory Crystal Gardens with the multi-media tourist attraction, The B.C. Experience, which filed for bankruptcy protection three months after opening.
Provincial politics With the 2005 BC general election still a year away, Fleming declared his interest in seeking the NDP nomination in the Victoria-Hillside riding. Within a few months, former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Steve Orcherton, who had won the riding in 1996 but lost in 2001, declared his candidacy for the NDP nomination. The primary was billed as a contest between the hard line "old-school union man" Orcherton versus the "new wave" moderate Fleming which was seen as the symbolic struggle that was occurring throughout the party. Fleming won the NDP nomination in January and began campaigning in April for the general election. Fleming was one of five candidates across the province who were endorsed by the Conservation Voters of British Columbia. In the May general election Fleming defeated the incumbent BC Liberal Sheila Orr and Green Party candidate and small business owner Steve Filipovic. Fleming resigned from his position as Victoria city councillor to become a New Democratic MLA, as part of the Official Opposition.
38th Parliament In the 38th Parliament, Fleming and chaired the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts and part way through the 2nd session he was assigned to the Select Standing Committee on Education which focused on adult literacy. He introduced several pieces of legislation, including the Payday Lending Act, 2006, which sought to license payday lenders and regulate the conditions of payday loans, including plain language rules, rights to cancellation, signage requirements.Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2006). Bill M 206 — 2006 Payday Lending Act, 2006. Queen's Printer, Victoria, BC. Retrieved December 24, 2010.Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2007). Bill M 209 — 2007 Payday Lending Act, 2007. Queen's Printer, Victoria, BC. Retrieved December 24, 2010. While Solicitor General John Les stated he was in favour of many of the regulations, he felt the bill was premature and that changes to the federal Criminal Code were required before proceeding with such regulations, despite other provinces already having passed similar legislation. The bill was granted first reading on May 8, 2006, but without the government support the bill was not adopted. However, a year later, a similar bill, introduced by Les, the Business Practices and Consumer Protection (Payday Loans) Amendment Act, 2007 was introduced and adopted concurrent with federal amendments to the Criminal Code.
Fleming was assigned the role of critic for advanced education. He introduced the Private Post-Secondary Accountability and Student Protection Act, 2007 which was intended to increase the accountability of private career training institutions and increasing the enforcement abilities of the Degree Quality Assessment Board.Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2007). Bill M 217 — 2007 Private Post-Secondary Accountability and Student Protection Act, 2007. Queen's Printer, Victoria, BC. Retrieved December 24, 2010. He spoke out against deregulation that allowed diploma mills like Rutherford University and Kingston College which advertised to foreign students. He introduced the Restoring Credibility to Universities Act, 2008 which sought to repeal the World Trade University Canada Establishment Act and portions of the 2007 Education Statutes Amendment Act concerning private post-secondary institutions.Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2008). Bill M 225 — 2008 Restoring Credibility to Universities Act, 2008. Queen's Printer, Victoria, BC. Retrieved December 24, 2010. Fleming also took on the role as the NDP tourism critic and objected to Tourism Minister Bill Bennett's decision not to participate in the National Vigil Project (a light display honouring Canadians killed World War One) due to costs and, in response to funding cuts to Tourism BC, he criticized government self-promotional advertising.
39th Parliament While his riding was re-aligned to create Victoria-Swan Lake, Fleming easily won re-election facing no opposition for the NDP nomination and receiving 61% of the votes in the May 2009 general election. In the 39th Parliament, his party once again formed the Official Opposition to a BC Liberal majority government. Party leader Carole James assigned him the role of environment critic with the intent of re-casting the party's image on environmental issues following the party's negatively received campaign plank of repealing the carbon tax. Fleming, and the party, stopped calling for a repeal of the carbon tax and instead emphasized a more nuanced position in providing alternatives which would improve the tax. He linked planned increases in transit fares to global warming and spoke out against fee increases at provincial park campsites.
In November 2009, and again in April 2010, he introduced the Cosmetic Pesticide and Carcinogen Control Act(Bill M-203) which would have prohibited the sale or use of cosmetic pesticides, other than those deemed low-risk.Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2009). Bill M 206 — 2009 Cosmetic Pesticide and Carcinogen Control Act, 2009. Queen's Printer, Victoria, BC. Retrieved December 24, 2010.Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2010). Bill M 203 — 2010 Cosmetic Pesticide and Carcinogen Control Act, 2010. Queen's Printer, Victoria, BC. Retrieved December 24, 2010. The Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides was struck, with Fleming as deputy chair, to investigate the potential for regulating or banning the use or sale of pesticides used for cosmetic purposes. They first convened in July 2011 and reported in 2012.
In the August 2009 Throne Speech the BC government committed to striking a task force on the topic of species-at-risk, but with no action since then, Fleming introduced his own Species at Risk Protection Act(Bill M-207) in May 2010, based on similar legislation in Ontario.Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2010). Bill M 207 — 2010 Species at Risk Protection Act, 2010. Queen's Printer, Victoria, BC. Retrieved December 24, 2010. The Minister of Environment Barry Penner responded in June by striking a ten member species-at-risk task force consisting of academics and representatives of industry and non-profit organizations, who were told to make recommendations to directly cabinet. The task force report was submitted in January 2011 but, with the government not making the report public, Fleming re-introduced his legislation (Bill M-211) in June 2011 the report was made public less than a month later(the report).