- Robert C. Mitchell
Robert C. Mitchell (
July 4 ,1931 —June 16 ,2007 ) was a former politician inOntario ,Canada . He served in theLegislative Assembly of Ontario from 1980 to 1987, and was acabinet minister in the government of Frank Miller. Mitchell was a member of theProgressive Conservative Party of Ontario .Mitchell was a communication officer in the Department of National Defence before entering political life. He served for nine years in municipal government, in the city of Nepean and the
Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton .He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in a
by-election , held onNovember 20 ,1980 for the Carleton constituency. He defeated LiberalAl Loney by 3,502 votes, and served in the legislature as a backbench supporter ofBill Davis 's administration. Mitchell was re-elected in the 1981 election, defeating LiberalHans Daigeler and New DemocratJudy Wasylycia-Leis by an increased margin.When Frank Miller replaced Davis as
Premier of Ontario onFebruary 8 ,1985 , he appointed Mitchell as aminister without portfolio responsible for Science and Technology. He was re-elected in the 1985 election, defeating Daigeler by a reduced margin.The Progressive Conservatives were reduced to a fragile
minority government in the 1985 election. Mitchell was named as a minister without portfolio and Chief Government Whip onMay 17 ,1985 , but accomplished little in this position before Miller's government was defeated in the house. In opposition, he served as his party's critic for energy.Mitchell lost to Hans Daigeler in the 1987 provincial election, by 3,636 votes.
On June 16, 2007, Mitchell passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was surrounded by friends and family at the time of his passing. Coincidentally, Mitchell received his medical care at the
Queensway-Carleton Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, which he had been affiliated with numerous times during his political career.
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