Robert Muir, Canadian politician, MP and Senator, died he was 91.

Robert (Bob) Muir  was a Canadian Member of Parliament, first in the House of Commons and later in the Senate died he was 91.. Muir sat in both chambers as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He was born in Scotland and raised on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Before he became a politician, he was also a miner, a union official, a salesman and a businessman during his career. He died at his home in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in 2011.
(10 November 1919 – 31 August 2011)

Early life

Muir was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 10 November 1919.^[1] After his father died in 1920, he and his mother immigrated to Canada.^[2] After leaving school in grade 8, he worked in the coal mines until injuries ended his ability to do so.^[2] Before he was injured for the final time, he was elected as the secretary of his United Mine Workers of America (UMW) local.^[2] After recuperating from his injuries, he worked in insurance for London Life until he was elected to parliament.^[1] He later served as chair of the Miners' Hospital in Cape Breton.^[3]

Political career

Muir began politics as a member of the Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia municipal council, where he served from 1948 to 1958.^[4] He entered federal politics in the 1957 Canadian general election, winning the Cape Breton North and Victoria electoral district in Nova Scotia.^[2] His old riding was abolished after the 1966 electoral district redistribution.^[4] Muir then ran in the newly created Cape Breton—The Sydneys electoral district in the 1968 Canadian general election and won the seat.^[1] Muir won election eight consecutive times, stepping down in 1979 after having served in the 30th Canadian Parliament.^[4]
On March 28, 1979, two-days after an election call, Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed Muir to the Senate.^[5] Muir sat in the self-designated Senate division of Cape Breton-The Sydneys.^[4] Muir retired from the Senate on 10 November 1994.^[4] He died at home, in Coxheath, Nova Scotia on 31 August 2011, aged 91, from respiratory failure.^[2][6]



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