Robert Fletcher Nixon OOnt (born July 17, 1928) is a retired Canadian politician in the province of Ontario, Canada.

Nixon remained a prominent member of the Liberal caucus after standing down from the party leadership, including two stints as interim opposition leader, and served as Provincial Treasurer and Deputy Premier in the government of David Peterson from 1985 to 1990.

When his father, who had been a member of the legislature since the 1919 provincial election, died on October 22, 1961, Nixon was chosen to run under the Liberal banner as his replacement.

However, Thompson suffered a physical breakdown in late 1966 as a result of his involvement in an automobile accident in which two elderly women were seriously injured and withdrew from the position on the advice of his doctors.

Nixon's Liberals were reduced to 20 seats, only one more than the NDP, and the party's share of the popular vote sank to its lowest level in nearly fifty years.

[1] There are reports that Nixon wanted to resign from provincial politics in 1984 and that he was actively seeking an appointment to the Canadian Senate.

Nixon remained, and surprised some reporters prior to the 1985 provincial election by openly speculating about a future Liberal-NDP coalition.

Unlike the situation in 1975, however, the Liberals clearly emerged as the dominant opposition party with 48 seats and a narrow victory over the Tories in the popular vote.

His government produced balanced budgets in 1989 and 1990, although some opposition members later criticized the methodology used to calculate revenues and expenditures in this period.

Nixon's tenure as Treasurer ended with the provincial election of 1990, as Peterson's Liberals were upset by the NDP under Bob Rae.

Peterson lost his seat, and Nixon fell below 50% support in his own riding for the only time in his career as he defeated an NDP challenger by about 1,500 votes.

Source: Return from the Records of the General Election held on the 3rd and 17th of October 1967; Printed by Order of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.