About Allan Blakeney
Allan Emrys Blakeney (September 7, 1925 – April 16, 2011) was a Canadian politician who served as the tenth premier of Saskatchewan from 1971 to 1982. Originally from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Blakeney moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, and worked in the province's civil service before running for office with the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) under Tommy Douglas. Blakeney became leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1970. Altogether, he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan from 1960 to 1988. Before he was premier, Blakeney played a key role in the implementation of the first Canadian public health insurance program (Medicare) in 1962. As premier, Blakeney's government nationalized the potash industry, created a range of new crown corporations such PotashCorp and SaskOil, and fought with the federal government over resource rights and taxation. Blakeney's NDP reformed labour legislation and introduced the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission. Blakeney was also a key figure in the negotiations surrounding Patriation of the Canadian Constitution in the early 1980s, and in the development of the Constitution's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. After retiring from politics, Blakeney taught and wrote about constitutional law for more than two decades. Blakeney was attracted to the province due to the innovation of Tommy Douglas' CCF administration, which in 1944 had become the first social democratic government elected in North America. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and attended Queen's College, Oxford, where he played for the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club, making an appearance at the 1948 Spengler Cup tournament.
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