Peter Fassbender

Peter Fassbender
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for Surrey-Fleetwood
In office May 14, 2013 – May 9, 2017
Preceded by	Jagrup Brar
Succeeded by	Jagrup Brar
Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development of British Columbia
In office July 30, 2015 – June 12, 2017
Premier	Christy Clark
Preceded by	Coralee Oakes
Succeeded by	Sam Sullivan
Minister of Education of British Columbia
In office June 7, 2013 – July 30, 2015
Premier	Christy Clark
Preceded by	Don McRae
Succeeded by	Mike Bernier
Mayor of the City of Langley
In office December 5, 2005 – June 17, 2013
Preceded by	Marlene Grinnell
Succeeded by	Ted Schaffer
Langley City Councillor
In office December 9, 2002 – December 5, 2005
Personal details
Born	(1946-12-20) December 20, 1946 Germany
Political party	BC Liberal
Spouse	Charlene
Children	Two sons
Profession	Politician

Peter Fassbender (born 1946) is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 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. He was appointed by Premier Christy Clark 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, Aldergrove or Langley. He graduated from Queen Elizabeth High School in Surrey and attended the National Broadcasting School in Vancouver. He got a film librarian job at CHAN Television (now Global) 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 Health Canada and international marketing activities for Industry Canada. In 1996 and 1997 he was reported to have done volunteer public relations work for the evangelical men's organization Promise Keepers. He is a distant cousin of actor Michael Fassbender.

Politics

After a failed run at a Social Credit 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 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 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 BC Place Stadium and the Vancouver Convention Centre. 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.

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

2017 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Fleetwood
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Jagrup Brar	11,085	53.58	+9.17	$74,487
	Liberal	Peter Fassbender	7,599	36.73	−8.70	$66,268
	Green	Tim Binnema	2,004	9.69	+3.88	$879
Total valid votes			20,688	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			160	0.77	+0.10
Turnout			20,848	59.52	+3.80
Registered voters			35,025
Source: Elections BC

2013 British Columbia general election: Surrey-Fleetwood
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Peter Fassbender	8,974	45.43	+5.89	$191,875
	New Democratic	Jagrup Brar	8,774	44.41	−4.88	$74,514
	Green	Tim Binnema	1,147	5.81	−0.62	$1,641
	Conservative	Murali Krishnan	801	4.05	−0.66	$1,275
	Vision	Arvin Kumar	59	0.30	–	$2,195
Total valid votes			19,755	100.00	–
Total rejected ballots			134	0.67	−0.33
Turnout			19,889	55.72	+1.76
Registered voters			35,692
Source: Elections BC