Roy Romanow
Roy Romanow (born
August 12,
1939),
Canadian politician and
Premier of
Saskatchewan (1991-2001), was born in
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He was first elected to the
Saskatchewan Legislature in
1967. Between
1971 and
1982, Roy Romanow served as deputy premier of Saskatchewan and from 1987 to 2001 he led the
Saskatchewan New Democratic Party.
Romanow was a close personal friend of
Pierre Trudeau and still is with
Jean Chrétien. During the
1981 discussions over the repatriation of the
Canadian constitution it was these three men who worked out most of Canada's new constitution at the famous late night kitchen table discussion. Romanow helped push the constitution to the left, he objected strongly to any protections on private property in the new
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and none were included.
On
November 7,
1987 Mr. Romanow replaced
Allan Blakeney as leader of the
Saskatchewan New Democratic Party. When the party won the 1991 Saskatchewan election, he became
Premier of
Saskatchewan.
Romanow's government was more conservative than previous NDP administrations and was considered a practitioner of what became known as the
Third Way in the mold of the
British Labour Party under
Tony Blair. The Romanow government eliminated the budgetary deficit they inherited from the
Grant Devine government by closing hospitals and cutting services.
In 1999 the NDP was re-elected to a third consecutive term but because they had been reduced to a minority of seats in the
legislature, Romanow negotiated an agreement to form a
coalition government with the
Saskatchewan Liberal Party appointing several Liberals to
Cabinet. Romanow retired in 2001, and was replaced as Premier by
Lorne Calvert.
The
federal Liberals, and especially
Jean Chretien have long tried to encourage Romanow to run federally as a Liberal, but he has always refused. Instead on
April 4,
2001, Romanow was appointed to head the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada by
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. He released the Romanow Report in
2002, which outlined suggestions to improve the health care system.
Category:Saskatchewan premiers
