Allan Blakeney

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Hon. Allan Blakeney's Official Portrait

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Allan Emrys Blakeney, PC , OC , SOM , QC , MA , DCL (born September 7, 1925) was the Premier of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan from 1971 to 1982, and leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP).

Born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Blakeney was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he played for the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club.

On returning to Canada, he became a senior civil servant in Saskatchewan before entering politics and serving as a cabinet minister in the governments of Tommy Douglas and Woodrow S. Lloyd. As minister of health, he played a crucial role in the introduction of Medicare. In 1970, Blakeney succeeded Lloyd as leader of the Saskatchewan NDP, which was then in opposition. Historically, his election as leader has been interpreted as a victory of the provincial NDP's "establishment" over its left-wing "Waffle" faction. In the 1971 provincial election, he led the party to power, defeating Ross Thatcher's Liberal government.

Blakeney's government practised state-led economic intervention in the economy. His government created a Crown corporation in the potash industry in an attempt to further diversify the province's agrarian economy and threatened expropriation of private potash mines within the province. Blakeney pointed out that the sums paid for these mines were slightly in excess of their appraised "book" value. However, the mere threat of expropriation created a political firestorm that involved even the U.S. government.

Blakeney also created a state-owned oil and gas corporation (SaskOil) to handle oil exploration and production. The private oil industry had essentially abandoned Saskatchewan following the NDP's imposition of extremely high royalty rate policy of the early 1970s. Blakeney then seved as a consultant to the Romanow government in the 1990s when they sold the former state owned government corporation to Occidental Petroleum. Then Blakeney served on the board of directors of the successor corporation.

Blakeney played an important role in the federal-provincial negotiations that led to the 1982 patriation of the Canadian constitution. Blakeney joined Progressive Conservative Premier Peter Loughheed in a fight for provincial rights over minerals, oil and gas.

Blakeney's government was defeated in the 1982 provincial election, in its attempt to win a fourth successive term. It was defeated by the Progressive Conservative Party, led by Grant Devine.

He led the NDP into the 1986 provincial election in an unsuccessful attempt to return to the Premier's Office, and then retired from politics. He was succeeded as NDP leader by Roy Romanow.

In 1992, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2000, he was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. In 2001, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Blakeney is also a past president of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. As with many public figures in Saskatchewan he has been a person of national importance, his formidable intellect together with his engaging personal qualities having been well and widely noted.