Rob Howard (born 1954 or 1955) is a Canadian politician who was elected to the 39th Parliament of British Columbia as the Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from the riding of Richmond Centre. A member of the BC Liberal Party, he replaced retiring BC Liberal Olga Ilich in that riding, by winning the riding in the 2009 provincial election. While his party formed a majority government, Howard was appointed to several committees, including the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts in the first two sessions, and Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services in the third and fourth session.
As chair of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services, Howard supported Premier Campbell's efforts at establishing the Harmonized Sales Tax. Following Campbell's resignation, Howard endorsed Kevin Falcon but Christy Clark won the leadership election. Clark made Howard a Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Transportation. In this position he advocated for Open Sky agreements and continued this advocacy in his post-political life by establishing the non-profit organization OpenSkies4Canada. Howard did not seek re-election during the 2013 provincial election and was replaced by BC Liberal Teresa Wat.
Prior to his election to the legislature, Howard worked in property management. He served as a City Councillor in the Richmond, British Columbia for seven years. He was first elected to the Richmond, British Columbia City Council in the October 2001 by-election as a member of the Richmond Non-Partisan Association and was re-elected in the November 2002 and 2005 civic elections as a member of the Richmond First Party. He sat on council as an independent starting in 2006. While on council he advocated in favour of casino expansion, locating the Olympic speed-skating oval in Richmond, and developing a convention centre.
Background
Rob Howard was born and raised in Richmond. He graduated from the University of British Columbia where he studied Urban Land Economics. He went on to work at Richmond Savings Credit Union for almost 20 years, and in 1994, started his own business, NCL Real Estate Management, which specialized in Property Development and property management. He is married to Trudy and has one son, Justin (Jay).
Howard volunteered with the Richmond Minor Hockey Association for over 12 years, and was active with Tourism Richmond, the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, and the Real Estate Institute of BC. While his mother had served as an Alderwoman on the Richmond City Council, Howard's political career began with a civic bylaw election in October 2001. Howard, belonging to the civic political party Richmond Non-Partisan Association, was elected to one of the three available seats on the Richmond City Council. After less than a year on council, Howard left the Richmond Non-Partisan Association to join a new pro-business political party, Richmond First, which he saw as being less controlling and allowing him to make more independent decisions. He was re-elected in the November 2002 civic election, with his Richmond First party taking four of the eight council seats.