Gary Schellenberger

Gary Schellenberger
Gary Schellenberger
Member of Parliament; for Perth Wellington
	In office; June 28, 2004 – October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Riding Created
Succeeded by	John Nater
Member of Parliament; for Perth—Middlesex
	In office; May 21, 2003 – June 28, 2004
Preceded by	John Richardson
Succeeded by	Riding Abolished
Chair of the Standing Committee on ; Canadian Heritage
	In office; 9 May 2006 – 4 October 2010
Minister	Bev Oda ; Josee Verner ; James Moore
Preceded by	Marlene Catterall
Succeeded by	Michael Chong
Personal details
Born	September 15, 1943 (age 80); Sebringville, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Progressive Conservative (1997–2004); Conservative (2004–present)
Spouse	Judy Schellenberger
Residence	Sebringville
Profession	Businessman, interior decorator, painter

Gary Ralph Schellenberger (born September 15, 1943) is a Canadian politician. He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 2003 to 2015, and represented the riding of Perth Wellington for the Conservative Party. Schellenberger won five successive elections in eight years from 2003 to 2011. He did not stand for re-election in 2015.

Early years

Schellenberger owned a painting and decorating store in Stratford before entering political life. Schellenberger also served as a volunteer firefighter with the Perth East Fire Department for 14 years. He is a freemason, and an elder at Avonton Presbyterian Church.

In 1996 Schellenberger raised $26,000 for the Sebringville Community Center and the Sebringville Athletic Association by walking from Tobermory to Sebringville.

Political life

A councillor in the former Downie Township, Ontario from 1988 to 2000, he first ran for parliament in the 1997 federal election as a Progressive Conservative in Perth—Middlesex. He lost to Liberal John Richardson by over 8,000 votes; former Liberal MP-turned-Reformer Garnet Bloomfield was third. Richardson, Schellenberger and Bloomfield all ran again in the 2000 election, with the same overall result.

Richardson resigned his seat on November 10, 2002, suffering from a terminal illness. The subsequent by-election in 2003 garnered national attention, as both the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance candidates attempted to displace the governing Liberals in the riding. Schellenberger, still running as a Progressive Conservative, defeated Liberal Brian Innes by 1,001 votes; despite several appearances from party leader Stephen Harper, the Alliance candidate, Marian Meinen, finished a distant third.^[1] Many interpreted this as a sign that the Alliance would be unable to win many Ontario seats in the next election. Shortly after his election, Schellenberger endorsed Peter MacKay for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party.

Schellenberger was appointed Deputy Whip of the Progressive Conservative Party in September 2003. In early 2004, the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties merged as the Conservative Party of Canada.

In the federal election of 2004, Schellenberger was elected to the newly created riding of Perth-Wellington. He defeated Innes by almost 4,000 votes.

In the 2006 federal election, Schellenberger was re-elected by a margin of 9,703 votes, defeating the Liberal candidate, David Cunningham. In the 39th Canadian Parliament, Schellenberger was elected Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

In the 2008 federal election, Schellenberger won Perth-Wellington for a third time with 20,765 votes (48.08% of valid ballots) defeating Liberal challenger Sandra Gardiner by 10,540 votes.^[2] NDP candidate Kerry McManus finished third. In the 40th Canadian Parliament Schellenberger again served as Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. In November 2010 Schellenberger became chair of a second House of Commons committee, the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.

In the 2011 federal election, Schellenberger won Perth-Wellington for a fourth time with 25,281 votes (54.5% of valid ballots) defeating NDP candidate Ellen Papenburg (9,861 votes) and Liberal candidate Bob McTavish (8,341 votes). In the 41st Canadian Parliament Schellenberger served as a member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development as well as the Subcommittee on International Human Rights.

Schellenberger also served as Chair of the Canada-Germany Interparliamentary Group. In July 2014, he hosted German Ambassador Werner Wnendt in his riding.^[3]

On September 25, 2014, Schellenberger announced he would retire at the end of the 41st Canadian Parliament.^[4]^[5]

Electoral record

Perth-Wellington

2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Gary Schellenberger	25,281	54.5	+6.5	–
	New Democratic	Ellen Papenburg	9,861	21.3	+4.3	–
	Liberal	Bob McTavish	8,341	18.0	-5.7	–
	Green	John Cowling	2,112	4.6	-4.5	–
	Christian Heritage	Irma DeVries	806	1.7	-0.4	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			46,401	100.00
Total rejected ballots			179	0.4	–
Turnout			46,580	64.2	–
Eligible voters			72,610	–	–

2008 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Gary Schellenberger	20,709	48.0	+1.9	$68,139
	Liberal	Sandra Gardiner	10,225	23.7	-1.9	$29,238
	New Democratic	Kerry McManus	7,234	17.0	-1.8	$23,081
	Green	John Cowling	3,884	9.0	+2.5	$13,365
	Christian Heritage	Irma DeVries	898	2.1	-0.8	$8,662
	Marxist–Leninist	Julian Ichim	98	0.2
Total valid votes/Expense limit			43,048	100.0	$82,152

2006 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gary Schellenberger	22,004	46.1	+4.1
	Liberal	David Cunningham	12,301	25.8	-7.6
	New Democratic	Keith Dinicol	8,876	18.6	+3.0
	Green	John Cowling	3,117	6.5	+0.3
	Christian Heritage	Irma DeVries	1,396	2.9	+0.1
Total valid votes			47,694	100.0

2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Gary Schellenberger	18,879	42.0
	Liberal	Brian Innes	15,032	33.4
	New Democratic	Robert Roth	7,027	15.6
	Green	John Cowling	2,770	6.2
	Christian Heritage	Irma Nicolette Devries	1,273	2.8
Total valid votes			44,981	100.0

Perth-Middlesex

Canadian federal by-election, 21 May 2003: Perth—Middlesex
Party	Candidate	Votes
	Progressive Conservative	Gary Schellenberger	10,413
	Liberal	Brian Innes	9,412
	Alliance	Marian Meinen	5,400
	New Democratic	Sam Dinicol	4,703
	Christian Heritage	Ron Gray	902
By-election called upon Mr. Richardson's resignation.

v t e 2000 Canadian federal election: Perth—Middlesex
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Richardson	16,988	40.37	-3.64
	Progressive Conservative	Gary Schellenberger	11,545	27.44	+2.56
	Alliance	Garnet Bloomfield	9,785	23.26	+2.63
	New Democratic	Sam Dinicol	2,800	6.65	-1.90
	Green	Eric Eberhardt	689	1.64	–
	No affiliation	Tom Kroesbergen	141	0.34	–
	Canadian Action	Larry Carruthers	128	0.30	–
Total valid votes			42,076	100.00
	Liberal hold		Swing		-3.10

v t e 1997 Canadian federal election: Perth—Middlesex
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	John Richardson	19,583	44.01
	Progressive Conservative	Gary Schellenberger	11,073	24.88
	Reform	Garnet M. Bloomfield	9,180	20.63
	New Democratic	Linda Ham	3,806	8.55
	Christian Heritage	Jamie Harris	858	1.93
Total valid votes			44,500	100.00