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.

Preceded by: Grant Devine

Premiers of Saskatchewan

Succeeded by: Lorne Calvert