Robert Howard McClelland (born November 2, 1933) is a former broadcaster, journalist and political figure in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. He represented Langley in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1972 to 1986 as a member of the Social Credit Party.

Early life and career

McClelland was born and educated in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. He moved to British Columbia as a driver for a furniture moving company. Later he worked as a broadcaster for radio station CHQM, as publisher of the ''Fraser Valley News Herald'' and as publisher of a monthly country and western music newspaper. He served as an alderman in Langley from 1969 to 1972.

Provincial politics

In 1972, McClelland was elected to the Legislative Assembly of B.C. under the banner of the Social Credit Party. In 1973 he ran unsuccessfully for the leadership of the party. He later served under Premier Bill Bennett as Minister of Health, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Minister of Labour and Minister of Industry and Small Business Development. McClelland earned the nickname "Broadway Bob" from his opponents after a controversy arose in 1982 about a taxpayer-paid visit in 1980 to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The trip included tickets to a burlesque Broadway musical and costs for keeping a limousine on standby for ten hours at Plaza Hotel.

The Top Hat Affair

On the night of Feb. 26, 1985, the day before he was transferred from the Ministry of Labour to the Ministry of Industry and Small Business, McClelland phoned and paid $130 as a customer to Top Hat Productions, a Victoria escort service that was under surveillance by police. On Nov. 27, 1987, McClelland was called by the defence to testify in the criminal trial of Top Hat's operator, Arlie Blakely, who faced 19 counts of offences related to prostitution. McClelland testified that he had drunk too much alcohol that night to retain memory of everything that happened. The matter became known as the "Top Hat Affair". McClelland retained his cabinet position until July 1986, when Bill Vander Zalm became the leader of the Social Credit Party and the Premier of B.C. He did not seek re-election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McClelland, Bob 1933 births British Columbia Social Credit Party MLAs Canadian radio personalities Ministers of health of British Columbia British Columbia municipal councillors People from Langley, British Columbia (city) Living people Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia Politicians from Calgary 20th-century Canadian newspaper publishers (people) 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia