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Robert David Sopuck
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Conservation biologist, MP (2010-2011), MP (2011-2015), MP (2015-2019).
Born at Winnipeg on 11 July 1951, eldest of three children of Joseph Robert “Joe” Sopuck (c1913-2000) and Ida Lulewick (c1925-1998), nephew of Vera Marie Sopuck Derenchuk, he received a BSc degree in Zoology from the University of Manitoba (1972) and a MS degree in Fisheries Management from Cornell University (1975).
He worked as District Biologist for the Eastern Arctic for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (1976-1979) then was a grain farmer in western Manitoba (1979-1988). He coordinated sustainable development initiatives for the provincial government of Gary Filmon (1988-1996), was director of environmental programs at the Pine Falls Paper Company (1996-1998), and served as Vice-President of agricultural policy (2000-2009) for the Delta Waterfowl Foundation. During this time, he also consulted for such entities as Exxon and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, served on the board for the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation and the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (2007-?), and was a natural resources specialist with an Alberta-based oil exploration and drilling company (2009-2010).
Elected to the House of Commons as a Conservative representative for the Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette riding at a byelection on 29 November 2010, he was re-elected at the 2011 and 2015 general elections. He served on the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development and the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. In recognition of his political and conservation work, he received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012) and a Past President's Award from the Canadian Wildlife Federation (2014). He did not stand for re-election in 2019 and, in retirement, served on the boards for the Sunrise Credit Union and the Delta Waterfowl Foundation, and chaired the Manitoba Fish and Wildlife Enhancement Fund Committee.
He wrote several reports and books, including Canada's Agricultural and Trade Policies: Implications for Rural Renewal and Biodiversity (1993), Environmental Policy for the 21st Century: Smart and Green (2005), and A Life Outdoors: Essays on Hunting, Gathering and Country Living in the 21st Century (2014) based on weekly columns he wrote as an outdoors enthusiast and rural advocate for the Winnipeg Free Press. He was a freelancer for the National Post and other national newspapers, and he hosted a series of four YouTube videos entitled A Life Outdoors.
He died at his acreage near Sandy Lake on 23 October 2024, survived by a wife and two stepchildren. He was buried in the Crawford Park Cemetery.
Annual Fall Convocation, 19 October 1972, University of Manitoba.
“Emigration of juvenile rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri Richardson) in Cayuga Inlet, New York” by Robert David Sopuck, MS thesis, Cornell University [Ithaca, NY], 1975.
Obituary [Ida Sopuck], Winnipeg Free Press, 3 October 1998, page 61.
Obituary [Joseph Robert Sopuck], Winnipeg Free Press, 1 June 2000.
“Sopuck to seek CPC nomination,” Erickson South Mountain Press, 1 August 2009, page 1.
Robert Sopuck, M.P., ParlInfo.
Robert D. Sopuck, Delta Waterfowl Foundation.
Robert D. Sopuck, robertsopuck.ca.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 26 October 2024
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