Gary Schellenberger

Who is Gary Schellenberger?

Gary Ralph Schellenberger is a Canadian politician. He is a current member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Perth—Wellington for the Conservative Party. Schellenberger won five elections in only eight years from 2003 to 2011.

Schellenberger owned a painting and decorating store in Stratford before entering political life. Schellenberger also served as a volunteer firefighter with the Perth East Fire Department for 14 years. He is a freemason, and an elder at Avonton Presbyterian Church.

In 1996 Schellenberger raised $26,000 for the Sebringville Community Center and the Sebringville Athletic Association by walking from Tobermory to Sebringville.

A councillor in the former Downie Township, Ontario from 1988 to 2000, he first ran for parliament in the 1997 federal election as a Progressive Conservative in Perth—Middlesex. He lost to Liberal John Richardson by over 8,000 votes; former Liberal MP-turned-Reformer Garnet Bloomfield was third. Richardson, Schellenberger and Bloomfield all ran again in the 2000 election, with the same overall result.

Richardson resigned his seat on November 10, 2002, suffering from a terminal illness.