| Pat Pimm MLA | |
|---|---|
| MLA for Peace River North | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2009 |
|
| Preceded by | Richard Neufeld |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | BC Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Jody Pimm |
| Children | Jennifer, Kristi, Matthew, and Shane |
| Residence | Fort St. John, British Columbia |
| Occupation | Instrumentation (oil and gas) |
Pat Pimm is a Canadian politician, who was elected as a BC Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2009 provincial election, representing the riding of Peace River North. He has lived in Fort St. John, British Columbia and has a business background working at an instrumentation company that specializes in the oil and gas sector. He spent 12 years on the Fort St. John city council before his election to the Legislative Assembly. In the 39th Parliament of BC Pimm served on several committees and first became involved with the Executive Council in October 2010 when Premier Campbell appointed Pimm as the Parliamentary Secretary for the Natural Gas Initiative under the Ministry of Energy. Once Christy Clark became Premier in March 2011, she retained Pimm at the same position as the Parliamentary Secretary for Natural Gas to the Minister of Energy and Mines. On June 27, 2011, he resigned from his Parliamentary Secretary position and from the BC Liberal caucus following a domestic dispute involving his wife which resulted in the RCMP detaining him overnight. He spent over two weeks as an independent MLA but re-joined the BC Liberal Party after prosecutors announced they would not press charges against Pimm.
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Pat Pimm was born and raised in Fort St. John. He married at the age of 21 and raised two daughters. In 2005 he re-married to another woman, Jody, who had two grown sons. He established a career at an instrumentation business, Alpha Controls Ltd., specializing in the oil and gas sector. He enjoys curling and golf and has been a volunteer coach for youth baseball and hockey.[1][2][3] He spent 12 years on the Fort St. John city council, from 1993 to 2005. While on council he advocated for the regionalization of services and the creation of a regional municipality.[4][5] During a 2001 municipal referendum concerning a Fort St. John boundary expansion around a proposed manufacturing plant (oriented strand board), Pimm threatened to resign his council seat if the referendum failed.[6][7] While on council Pimm worked with the province and other municipalities in establishing the Fairshare grant program which redirected some oil and gas revenue to local governments in northeastern BC for use on infrastructure projects.[8] He also supported the BC Lottery Corporation locating a gaming centre (bingo, off-track betting, slots and other electronic games) in Fort St. John.[9]
The appointment of MLA Richard Neufeld to the federal Senate of Canada in December 2008 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper created an opening in the BC provincial Peace River North riding. Such an opening was rare as Neufeld had represented the riding since 1991 and by Tony Brummet for the 12 years prior to Neufeld. There were five candidates in the race for the BC Liberal Party nomination: Chetwynd mayor Evan Saugstad, Fort St. John councillors Lori Ackerman and Dan Davies, School District trustee Linda Sewell, and Pat Pimm.[10] With 1,200 BC Liberal members eligible to vote, Pimm won in the third round of preferential voting in March.[11] He was soon thrust into the provincial election where he faced Fort Nelson town councilor and NDP candidate Jackie Allen, former chief of the Fort Nelson First Nation and Green Party candidate Liz Logan, Refederation Party candidate Suzanne Arntson, and one independent candidate, Baldonnel farmer and Regional District director Arthur Hadland. Pimm oriented his campaign around economic issues stating "The economy is the number one issue and everything else falls around the economy. You have to have a strong economy to have good health care, good education...."[12] Pimm won the Peace River North riding with 43% of the vote and his party formed a majority government.
As the 39th Parliament of British Columbia began, Pimm was not selected for the Executive Council by Premier Gordon Campbell. In the first two sessions Pimm was assigned to three parliamentary committees: the Select Standing Committee on Crown Corporations (which did not meet), the Select Standing Committee on Parliamentary Reform, Ethical Conduct, Standing Orders and Private Bills (which met once), and the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives (which only met in September 2010 to deal with a petition against Harmonized Sales Tax). Once the Harmonized Sales Tax was introduced, Pimm became very supportive of it, arguing that it would make BC business more competitive with Alberta,[13] and stating, "I personally think it's probably the strongest single thing for the economy of our area and the province in general."[14] Pimm lobbied on behalf of the Peace River North to secure infrastructure grants for road construction and paving, recreation centre upgrades, and Fort St. John sewerage expansion.[15][16][17] Pimm made headlines across the province in November when he criticized the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms during a speech in the legislature and called for a "Bill of Responsibilities" to be established.[18][19]
In 2010, as the petition to repeal the HST was very successful in his riding, Pimm became one of 24 MLAs targeted for recall by Bill Vander Zalm's FightHST group.[20][21] However, several months later, his name was removed from the list as the group prioritized candidates for recall campaigns.[22] In October, during Campbell's final cabinet shuffle before resigning, the post of Parliamentary Secretary for the Natural Gas Initiative was created for Pimm under the Ministery of Energy.[23] In January 2011, with community opposition to a transfer move Oil and Gas Commission engineering jobs, from Fort St. John to Kelowna, Pimm intervened by arranging a public meeting with the Minister of Natural Resource Operations Steve Thomson, the CEO of the Commission, as well as industry and public representatives, which resulted in several positions staying in Fort St. John. During the BC Liberal Party leadership electionto replace Campbell, Pimm endorsed Kevin Falcon in mid-December citing Falcon's performance as Minister of Transportation where he directed significant funding to improving oil and gas resource roads and the Alaska Highway.[24] In March 2011, after Christy Clark won the leadership election and was named Premier, she kept Pimm as Parliamentary Secretary for Natural Gas to the Minister of Energy and Mines. On June 27, 2011, he resigned from his Parliamentary Secretary position and from the BC Liberal caucus following a domestic dispute involving his wife which resulted in the RCMP detaining him overnight.[25] On July 13, the prosecutor assigned to his case announced they would not be pressing charges and the BC Liberal caucus allowed Pimm to re-join.[26]
| B.C. General Election 2009: Peace River North | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |
| BC Liberal | Pat Pimm | 3,992 | 43% | n/a | $55,563 | |
| Independent | Arthur Hadland | 2,899 | 31% | n/a | $17,962 | |
| New Democrat | Jackie Allen | 1,293 | 14% | n/a | $17,855 | |
| Green | Liz Logan | 1,010 | 11% | n/a | $26,218 | |
| Refederation | Sue Arntson | 58 | 0.6% | n/a | $260 | |
| Total Valid Votes | 9,252 | 100% | ||||
| Total Rejected Ballots | 52 | 0.6% | ||||
| Turnout | 9,304 | 40% | ||||
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