MLA: Rod Visser North Island Elected: 2001 BRITISH COLUMBIA LIBERAL PARTY |
Rod Visser was first elected MLA for the North Island in the 2001 general provincial election. Rod currently serves on the Government Caucus Committee on Cross Government Initiatives, is a member of the Land Use Planning Committee and was a former member of both the BC Task Force on Mining and the Government Caucus Committee on Natural Resources. As well, he is a member of the Standing Legislative Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Crown Corporations. He also sits with his colleagues on the Vancouver Island Coastal Caucus. In 2002, he chaired the MLA task force that held province-wide hearings on the new results-based Forest Practices Code.
Previously, Rod was the managing partner in the family business. He was raised in Campbell River and after graduation from high school he enrolled in Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. During his years at university, he spent the summers working in the woods for Holbrook Dyson Logging. After earning his Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 1988, Rod worked in the waste management field in Hamilton and Toronto. In 1990, he travelled in East Africa for five months before returning to his hometown of Campbell River in 1991 to work in his family's business.
Rod has served as Chair of the Campbell River based Pacific Resource Education Society where he was very active in the C.O.R.E. process and land-use planning on Vancouver Island. The organization focused on both the history and the future of the resource dependent communities. Through his work he continues to be actively involved in the community.
Rod has lived all his life in Campbell River, born there in 1964.