Editing Rob Fleming (section)

===39th Parliament===
While his riding was re-aligned to create [[Victoria-Swan Lake]], Fleming easily won re-election facing no opposition for the NDP nomination<ref>{{cite news |title=Fleming receives NDP nod again |newspaper=Victoria News |date= February 16, 2009 |page= 1}}</ref> and receiving 61% of the votes in the [[2009 British Columbia general election|May 2009 general election]]. In the [[39th Parliament of British Columbia|39th Parliament]], his party once again formed the Official Opposition to a BC Liberal majority government. Party leader [[Carole James]] assigned him the role of environment critic with the intent of re-casting the party's image on environmental issues following the party's negatively received campaign plank of repealing the [[carbon tax]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Rob |last=Shaw |title=Few changes in NDP's critic shuffle |newspaper=[[Times-Colonist]] |location=[[Victoria, British Columbia]] |date= June 12, 2009 |page= A3}}</ref> Fleming, and the party, stopped calling for a repeal of the carbon tax and instead emphasized a more nuanced position in providing alternatives which would improve the tax.<ref>{{cite news |first=Jonathan |last=Fowlie |title=Carbon tax to rise by 50 per cent |newspaper= [[The Vancouver Sun]] |date= June 30, 2009 |page= C2}}</ref> He linked planned increases in transit fares to global warming and spoke out against fee increases at provincial park campsites.<ref>{{cite news |first=Rob |last=Fleming |title=Higher transit fares promote global warming |newspaper=[[Times-Colonist]] |location=[[Victoria, British Columbia]] |date= October 31, 2009 |page= A15}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Rob |last=Shaw |title=Fee increases follow 2 years of park cuts |newspaper=[[Times-Colonist]] |location=[[Victoria, British Columbia]] |date= March 20, 2010 |page= A3}}</ref>

In November 2009, and again in April 2010, he introduced the ''Cosmetic Pesticide and Carcinogen Control Act''<ref>[http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th2nd/1st_read/m203-1.htm (Bill M-203)]</ref> which would have prohibited the sale or use of cosmetic [[pesticide]]s, other than those deemed low-risk.<ref>Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2009). [http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th1st/1st_read/m206-1.htm Bill M 206 — 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320063139/http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th1st/1st_read/m206-1.htm |date=2012-03-20 }} Cosmetic Pesticide and Carcinogen Control Act, 2009. Queen's Printer, Victoria, BC. Retrieved December 24, 2010.</ref><ref>Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2010). [http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th2nd/1st_read/m203-1.htm Bill M 203 — 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202034514/http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th2nd/1st_read/m203-1.htm |date=2012-02-02 }} Cosmetic Pesticide and Carcinogen Control Act, 2010. Queen's Printer, Victoria, BC. Retrieved December 24, 2010.</ref> The Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides was struck, with Fleming as deputy chair, to investigate the potential for regulating or banning the use or sale of pesticides used for cosmetic purposes. They first convened in July 2011 and reported in 2012.

In the August 2009 [[Speech from the throne|Throne Speech]] the BC government committed to striking a task force on the topic of [[List of wildlife species at risk (Canada)|species-at-risk]], but with no action since then, Fleming introduced his own ''Species at Risk Protection Act''<ref>[http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th2nd/1st_read/m207-1.htm (Bill M-207)]</ref> in May 2010, based on similar legislation in [[Ontario]].<ref>Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (2010). [http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th2nd/1st_read/m207-1.htm Bill M 207 — 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202023813/http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th2nd/1st_read/m207-1.htm |date=2012-02-02 }} Species at Risk Protection Act, 2010. Queen's Printer, Victoria, BC. Retrieved December 24, 2010.</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Judith |last=Lavoie |title=Species-at-risk bill introduced; Victoria NDP MLA Fleming hopeful Liberals will support his initiative |newspaper=[[Times-Colonist]] |location=[[Victoria, British Columbia]] |date= June 1, 2010 |page= A4}}</ref> The Minister of Environment [[Barry Penner]] responded in June by striking a ten member species-at-risk task force consisting of academics and representatives of industry and non-profit organizations, who were told to make recommendations to directly [[Executive Council of British Columbia|cabinet]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Judith |last=Lavoie |title=Species-at-risk task force appointed |newspaper=[[Times-Colonist]] |location=[[Victoria, British Columbia]] |date= June 11, 2010 |page= A4}}</ref> The task force report was submitted in January 2011 but, with the government not making the report public, Fleming re-introduced his legislation <ref>[http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th3rd/1st_read/m211-1.htm (Bill M-211)]</ref> in June 2011 the report was made public less than a month later<ref> ([http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/sartaskforce/Documents/SpeciesAtRisk_report.pdf the report]</ref>).

In addition, Fleming participated in two committees. In the first two sessions he was deputy chair of the Select Standing Committee on Parliamentary Reform, Ethical Conduct, Standing Orders and Private Bills, which met once in each session to review [[private bill]]s. He was member of the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives, the committee that only met twice, both times in September 2010, to deal with a petition seeking the repeal of the [[Harmonized Sales Tax]]; Fleming and the three other New Democratic Party members voted to recommend introducing the draft ''HST Extinguishment Act'' into the Legislative Assembly, while the five BC Liberal members voted to initiate the [[2011 British Columbia sales tax referendum]].

During the [[2011 British Columbia New Democratic Party leadership election|BC NDP leadership election]] to replace Carole James, Fleming supported [[Mike Farnworth]],<ref>{{cite news |first=Kyle |last=Slavin |title=Saanich NDP MLAs support Farnworth for party leader |newspaper=Saanich News |location=[[Saanich, British Columbia]] |date=March 16, 2011 |url=http://www.vicnews.com/news/118107589.html |access-date=June 10, 2015 |archive-date=June 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611035041/http://www.vicnews.com/news/118107589.html |url-status=live }}</ref> though [[Adrian Dix]] eventually won. Dix kept Fleming as the critic for Environment. When Parliament re-convened for a fourth session Fleming introduced another private member bill, the ''Sustainable Development Indicators and Reporting Act, 2011''<ref>[http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th4th/1st_read/m207-1.htm (Bill M-207)]</ref> which sought to create a Sustainable Development Board to measure and report on indicators of BC's economic, environmental and social sustainability.