Douglas Ross Belsher (19 January 1933 – 12 December 2003) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as a member of the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

. His career included managing

Eaton's The T. Eaton Company Limited, later known as Eaton's, was a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from what is now Northern Ireland. Eaton's g ...

stores at various British Columbia locations.

Early life

Belsher was born in Kincaid, Saskatchewan, and raised on his family's farm in McCord. He graduated from Luther College and earned a diploma from the University of Saskatchewan College of Agriculture.

Career

Belsher represented the British Columbia riding of

Fraser Valley East Fraser Valley East was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1997. This riding was created in 1966 from parts of Fraser Valley, Kamloops and Okanagan Bound ...

where he was first elected in the 1984 federal election and re-elected in 1988, becoming a member in the 33rd and

34th Canadian Parliament The 34th Canadian Parliament was in session from December 12, 1988, until September 8, 1993. The membership was set by the 1988 federal election on November 21, 1988, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it w ...

s. During his tenure, he also served as parliamentary secretary to the

minister of fisheries and oceans The minister of fisheries () is the minister of the Crown responsible for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG). The minister is a member of the King's Privy Council for Canada and the Canadian Cabinet ...

. Belsher left federal politics in the 1993 federal election when he was

defeated Defeated may refer to: * "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song) * "Defeated" (Anastacia song) *"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love'' *Defeated, Tennessee Defeated is an unincorporated community in Smith County, Tennessee ...

Chuck Strahl Charles Richard Strahl (February 25, 1957 – August 13, 2024) was a Canadian businessman and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2011. First elected for the Reform Party, he was the leader of the Democratic Representative C ...

of the

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada () was a right-wing populism, right-wing populist and conservative List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada- ...

Personal life

Belsher died of cancer at the

Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre (''ARHCC'') is a 300-bed Canadian health care facility in the City of Abbotsford, British Columbia that houses the acute care Abbotsford Regional Hospital (ARH) operated by Fraser Health and the reg ...

in 2003. He was a member of the

Alliance World Fellowship The Alliance World Fellowship (or The Alliance, also C&MA and CMA) is an evangelical Christian denomination It includes 6.2 million members throughout 88 countries within 22,000 churches. History The Alliance has its origins in two organization ...

, an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

denomination.

References

1933 births 2003 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Deaths from cancer in British Columbia University of Saskatchewan alumni Luther College (Saskatchewan) alumni 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada {{BritishColumbia-MP-stub