Peter Fassbender (born 1946) is a

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politician, who was elected to the

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in the 2013 provincial election after a career at the municipal level. He was elected to represent the electoral district of Surrey-Fleetwood as a member of the

British Columbia Liberal Party BC United (BCU), known from 1903 until 2023 as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and occupying a centre-right ...

. He was appointed by Premier

Christy Clark Christina Joan Clark (born October 29, 1965) is a Canadian politician who served as the 35th premier of British Columbia from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female premi ...

as Minister of Education in June 2013, then Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development & Minister Responsible for TransLink in July 2015.

Early profession

Fassbender was born in Germany and emigrated to Canada with his parents in 1952. Since then, he has lived his whole life in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, Aldergrove or Langley. He graduated from Queen Elizabeth High School in Surrey and attended the National Broadcasting School in

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. He got a film librarian job at CHAN Television (now

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) and moved up the ranks to cameraman, and then producer and director. He worked for the advertising agency James Lovick in the early 1970s and eventually became a partner of Frank Palmer at the national firm DDB Canada (formerly Palmer Jarvis). A major focus of his private sector career focused on social marketing campaigns including smoking cessation projects for

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and international marketing activities for

Industry Canada Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED; ; )''Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Industry (). is a department of the G ...

. In 1996 and 1997 he was reported to have done volunteer public relations work for the evangelical men's organization

Promise Keepers Promise Keepers is an Evangelical Christian parachurch organization for men. It opposes same-sex marriage, and champions chastity and marital fidelity and the man as being head of the household. Promise Keepers originated in the United Sta ...

. He is a distant cousin of actor

Michael Fassbender Michael Fassbender (; born 2 April 1977) is a German-Irish actor. His accolades include nominations for two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, he was listed at number nine on ''The Irish Ti ...

Politics

After a failed run at a

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nomination, Fassbender served a four-year term (1975 to 1979) during some turbulent years on the Langley school board. During that time, the board pursued a 'back-to-basics' approach that considered the restoration of

corporal punishment A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on Minor (law), minors, especially in home and school settings, its methods may include spanking or Padd ...

and banning the novel '' Go Ask Alice''. Fassbender says his approach to education has changed since the 1970s. Fassbender was elected for the first time to the city council of Langley in 2002, and then as mayor in the 2005, 2008 and 2011 civic elections. He advocated for the growing communities south of the

Fraser River The Fraser River () is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...

as co-chair of the municipal advisory council for Fraser Health and as vice-chair of TransLink's Mayors' Council. In November 2012, the provincial government appointed Fassbender as chair of the board for the BC Pavilion Corporation, which operates

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Stadium and the

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. In addition to dealing with major renovations, the position also dealt with transparency criticism from journalist Bob Mackin. In the 2013 provincial election, he defeated three-term NDP MLA Jagrup Brar and took leave from his mayoral position. As Minister of Education, one of his priorities was to seek a 10-year labour agreement with the

British Columbia Teachers' Federation The British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) is the labour union that represents all public school teachers in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was established as an organization in 1917. Governance structure As of 2018, the BCT ...

. In addition to his ministerial duties, Fassbender sat on the Cabinet Committee on Secure Tomorrow. In the 2017 provincial election, he lost his re-election as MLA to Jagrup Brar. In 2018, he ran for his former position as mayor of the City of Langley. He was narrowly defeated, losing to Val van den Broek by around 200 votes.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fassbender, Peter 1946 births Living people Canadian advertising directors British advertising directors BC United MLAs Canadian librarians Canadian television directors Canadian television producers Ministers of education of British Columbia West German emigrants to Canada British Columbia municipal councillors 21st-century mayors of places in British Columbia People from Langley, British Columbia (city) Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia People from Surrey, British Columbia 20th-century Canadian politicians 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia