Editing Rob Fleming (section)

===41st Parliament===
For the [[2017 British Columbia general election|2017 general election]] Fleming was challenged by digital media management consultant Stacey Piercey for the BC Liberal Party, Vancouver medical researcher Chris Maxwell for the Green Party, and David Costigane for the [[Vancouver Island Party]].<ref>{{cite news |title= Meet The Candidates; Election May 9 |newspaper=[[Times Colonist]] |location= [[Victoria, British Columbia]] |date=April 30, 2017 |page= D1}}</ref> Fleming was again re-elected with his party forming the Official Opposition, but this time in a BC Liberal minority government. However, in the first session of the [[41st Parliament of British Columbia|41st Parliament]] the BC Liberal government lost a confidence vote and the second session began with the BC NDP forming a minority government. In July 2017, Premier [[John Horgan]] appointed Fleming Minister of Education in the [[Executive Council of British Columbia]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.timescolonist.com/news/b-c/rob-fleming-b-c-s-new-education-minister-diving-into-urgent-priorities-1.21237366 |title=Rob Fleming, B.C.'s new education minister, diving into urgent priorities |first=Cheryl |last=Chan |newspaper=Times Colonist |date=July 19, 2017 |access-date=December 29, 2019 |archive-date=December 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229202924/https://www.timescolonist.com/news/b-c/rob-fleming-b-c-s-new-education-minister-diving-into-urgent-priorities-1.21237366 |url-status=live }}</ref> In that role he oversaw the suspension of in-class learning in the province's schools during the initial months of the [[COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia|COVID-19 pandemic]] in 2020;<ref>{{Cite news|date=2020-04-28|title=No plan to reopen B.C. schools yet, says education minister|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-schools-update-education-minister-rob-fleming-covid-19-1.5547878|access-date=2023-02-11|publisher=[[CBC News]]|language=en-CA}}</ref> that August he announced the re-opening of schools on September 10, 2020 for the new school year.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2020-08-12|title=B.C. students will be back in class by Sept. 10|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-students-will-be-back-in-class-by-sept-10-1.5683534|access-date=2023-02-11|publisher=[[CBC News]]|language=en-CA}}</ref>