Nelson Riis

Nelson Andrew Riis (born 10 January 1942) is a Canadian businessman and former Member of Parliament (MP).

Early life Nelson Riis was born in High River, Alberta, on 10 January 1942 to Hans and Signe Riis. He attended school in Longview, Alberta, and Port Moody, BC. Early occupations included clerk, waiter, fisherman, surveyor, truck driver, timber cruiser, farm labourer, deckhand, and refinery worker.

Nelson graduated from the University of British Columbia (UBC) with a Bachelor of Education (BEd) in 1967 and Master of Arts (MA) (Geography) in 1970. In the late 1960s, he taught in both elementary and secondary schools. In the 1970s, he taught in the newly created Geography Department of Cariboo College (now known as Thompson Rivers University) in Kamloops,

While an MP, he wrote a weekly newspaper column and hosted a weekly half-hour TV show. Of the 43 NDP MPs, he was one of the eight who survived the 1993 federal election.

Riis was rumoured at various times in the 1980s to have been offered cabinet positions in the Brian Mulroney government if he were willing to cross the floor and join the Progressive Conservative Party. During his parliamentary career, he introduced legislation which made ice hockey Canada's official winter sport, and unsuccessfully demanded that the government block Wayne Gretzky's trade from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings.

Later life During the early 2000s as an officer and director, Riis made overly optimistic and misleading claims and unreasonable financial projections with respect to Canadian Rockport Homes International, a start-up company established to manufacture and sell modular housing. In response, the BC Securities Commission fined him $40,000 and banned him for two years from acting as a director, or officer of any issuer, or engaging in investor relations. Consequently, the executive officers incorporated the company in the US and continued operations.

Following his 2000–2010 association with Rockport, he became a consultant on long term care planning.

To present the various challenges confronting modern society, he used the fictional form in his 2023 novel Foothills Justice.

Marriage and children In 1966, he married Irene (Penny) Patricia Hill. Their two children are Nils Petter and Jonathon James.