Robert George "Bob" Wilson (born November 2, 1934) is a former politician in

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. He represented Wolseley in the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba () is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at List of Manitoba genera ...

from 1975 to 1981 as a Progressive Conservative and then independent member. He was first elected to the assembly in a by-election held on June 25, 1975, after former Liberal leader Izzy Asper resigned his seat. Wilson was re-elected in the 1977 general election, defeating New Democrat Murdoch MacKay by 74 votes. In September 1979, he was charged with conspiracy to import and traffic in

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

as the result of drug seizures in May and July of that year. Wilson was expelled from the Progressive Conservative caucus on November 20, 1980, and subsequently sat as an independent member. He was convicted on November 7, 1980, and sentenced to seven years in prison. His appeal to the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

was denied on June 15, 1981, and his seat in the assembly was declared vacant on June 17. In March 2011, Ian Jackson MacDonald, who had escaped police custody in June 1980, was returned to Canada by U.S. authorities. At that time, Wilson expressed hope that information from MacDonald would exonerate him of the earlier charges. In 2014, MacDonald died; his testimony had failed to clear Wilson's name.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Robert 1934 births Canadian politicians convicted of crimes Living people Politicians affected by a party expulsion process Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba MLAs Winnipeg city councillors 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba