E.J. Douglas Rollins (November 7, 1938 – November 19, 2012) was a

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

who represented the riding of Quinte from 1995 to 1999.

Background

Rollins was active in many community organizations and served as President of the Belleville Agricultural Society and the Quinte Exhibition and Raceway. For many years he owned and operated a gas station in the east end of Belleville. His cousin, Clarke Rollins, was the MPP for neighbouring riding

Hastings—Peterborough Hastings—Peterborough was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 1953. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1924 from parts of Hastings East and Peterborough ...

from 1955 to 1981.

Politics

In the 1995 provincial election, he was elected as a Progressive Conservative in riding of Quinte, defeating Liberal George Zegouras by 2,103 votes. Rollins served as a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of t ...

supporter of the

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. Taking the PC ...

government for the next four years. The Harris government reduced the number of provincial constituencies from 130 to 103 in 1996, and many sitting MPPs were forced to run against each other. Rollins ran for the Progressive Conservative nomination in the new riding of Prince Edward—Hastings, but lost to Gary Fox. Fox was defeated in the June 3, 1999 election.

Later life

In 2003, Rollins was appointed to the Ontario Parole Board which was seen as a patronage appointment. He died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

on November 19, 2012. His political papers are held at the Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rollins, Douglas 1938 births 2012 deaths Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs University of Guelph alumni 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario