Frank Oberle Sr.

The Honourable Frank Oberle PC
Minister of Forestry
In office February 23, 1990 – June 24, 1993
Prime Minister	Brian Mulroney
Preceded by	Jack Davis (1971)
Succeeded by	Bobbie Sparrow
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Prince George—Peace River
In office October 30, 1972 – October 25, 1993
Preceded by	Robert Borrie
Succeeded by	Jay Hill
Personal details
Born	(1932-03-24)March 24, 1932 Forchheim, Baden, Germany
Died	September 12, 2024(2024-09-12) (aged 92) Squamish, British Columbia, Canada
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Children	Frank Oberle Jr.

Frank Oberle Sr. PC (March 24, 1932 – September 12, 2024) was a Canadian businessman and politician.

Life and career

Born in Forchheim near Karlsruhe, Germany, Oberle moved with his family to German-occupied Poland in 1941. There he was placed in a Hitler Youth indoctrination program. Later, he fled the Red Army advance, surviving on grass and stolen eggs while walking 800 kilometres to his home village in the Black Forest. Rejected by his relatives, he immigrated to Canada at the age of 19 and became a logger and then a gold miner.

Oberle entered municipal politics, becoming mayor of Chetwynd. He entered federal politics and was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1972 general election as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Prince George—Peace River, British Columbia. He subsequently won re-election five times.

In 1985, Oberle became the first German-born federal Canadian cabinet minister when he became Minister of State for Science and Technology in Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's government. He was science minister when the Canadarm went into space as part of the Space Shuttle program. He later became Minister of State for Forestry, and then Minister of Forestry in 1990.

Oberle retired from Cabinet when Kim Campbell succeeded Mulroney as Prime Minister, and retired from politics with the dissolution of the 34th Canadian Parliament for the 1993 election.

In 2004, Oberle published a memoir of his World War II experiences, Finding Home: A War Child’s Journey to Peace (2004). A second memoir, A Chosen Path: From Moccasin Flats to Parliament Hill, was published in the same year.

His son Frank Oberle Jr. was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 2004 provincial election, and was appointed Solicitor General on January 13, 2010.

Oberle died on September 12, 2024, in Squamish, British Columbia, two weeks after his wife of Joan, at the age of 92.

Electoral history

1988 Canadian federal election: Prince George—Peace River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Oberle Sr.	13,903	39.60	-22.84
	New Democratic	Alan Timberlake	11,684	33.28	+9.17
	Reform	Jay Hill	5,077	14.46	–
	Liberal	Jacques Monlezun	4,183	11.92	+1.97
	Independent	Howard Karpes	169	0.48	–
	Confederation of Regions	Lorne W. Backus	89	0.25	-0.74
Total valid votes			35,105	100.0
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-16.00

1984 Canadian federal election: Prince George—Peace River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Oberle Sr.	21,154	62.44	+10.34
	New Democratic	Jim Best	8,168	24.11	-2.09
	Liberal	Paul Bouey	3,368	9.94	-9.39
	Rhinoceros	J. Paul Ekering	385	1.14	–
	Social Credit	Richard J. Lawrence	342	1.01	-1.37
	Confederation of Regions	John F. Light	335	0.99	–
	Libertarian	Sid Schneider	127	0.37	–
Total valid votes			33,879	100.0
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+6.22

1984 Canadian federal election: Prince George—Peace River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Oberle Sr.	21,154	62.44	+10.34
	New Democratic	Jim Best	8,168	24.11	-2.09
	Liberal	Paul Bouey	3,368	9.94	-9.39
	Rhinoceros	J. Paul Ekering	385	1.14	–
	Social Credit	Richard J. Lawrence	342	1.01	-1.37
	Confederation of Regions	John F. Light	335	0.99	–
	Libertarian	Sid Schneider	127	0.37	–
Total valid votes			33,879	100.0
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+6.22

1980 Canadian federal election: Prince George—Peace River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Oberle Sr.	13,593	52.10	-8.85
	New Democratic	Bob Simpson	6,835	26.20	+5.70
	Liberal	Jim McIntyre	5,044	19.33	+0.78
	Social Credit	Richard J. Lawrence	620	2.38	–
Total valid votes			26,092	100.0
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		-7.28
lop.parl.ca

1979 Canadian federal election: Prince George—Peace River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Oberle Sr.	16,288	60.95	+14.11
	New Democratic	Bob Simpson	5,478	20.50	+5.83
	Liberal	Les Broddy	4,957	18.55	-15.79
Total valid votes			26,723	100.0
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+4.14

1974 Canadian federal election: Prince George—Peace River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Oberle Sr.	18,769	46.84	+7.48
	Liberal	Allan Bate	13,759	34.33	+2.72
	New Democratic	Stuart Robert Steventon	5,880	14.67	-7.03
	Social Credit	Wendell Philip Smith	1,665	4.15	-3.17
Total valid votes			40,073	100.0
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		+2.38

1972 Canadian federal election: Prince George—Peace River
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Oberle Sr.	14,648	39.36	+9.66
	Liberal	Robert Borrie	11,766	31.62	-3.30
	New Democratic	Bill Close	8,076	21.70	-0.33
	Social Credit	Al Kruegar	2,726	7.32	-4.74
Total valid votes			37,216	100.0
	Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+6.48

Bibliography

• Oberle, Frank (2004). Finding Home: A War Child's Journey to Peace. Surrey, BC: Heritage House. ISBN 978-1-894384-76-6. OCLC 56370627.
• Oberle, Frank (2005). A chosen path : from Moccasin Flats to Parliament Hill. Surrey, BC: Heritage House. ISBN 978-1-894384-83-4. OCLC 60318962.

External links

• Frank Oberle Sr. – Parliament of Canada biography