Ken Cheveldayoff

Ken Cheveldayoff
MLA
Ken Cheveldayoff MLA
Member of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly; for Saskatoon Willowgrove ; Saskatoon Silver Springs (2003-2016)
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; November 5, 2003
Preceded by	Riding Established
Leader of the Government in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan
	In office; June 5, 2014 – August 23, 2016
Premier	Brad Wall
Preceded by	Jeremy Harrison
Succeeded by	Paul Merriman
Personal details
Born	April 1, 1965 (age 59); Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	Saskatchewan Party
Other political; affiliations	Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
Spouse	Trish Cheveldayoff (née Lamers) (m. 1996)
Residence(s)	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Occupation	businessperson

Ken Cheveldayoff (born April 1, 1965) is a Canadian provincial politician. He is the Saskatchewan Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan (MLA) for the constituency of Saskatoon Willowgrove. He has been a cabinet minister in the governments of both Brad Wall and Scott Moe.

Early life and career

Cheveldayoff holds a B.A. (Honours) in Economics and Political Science and a Masters of Business Administration.^[1] He was a parliamentary page in the House of Commons and won the Queen Elizabeth II scholarship for excellence in Parliamentary Studies.^[2] Prior to being elected to public office, Cheveldayoff worked with Western Economic Diversification as a senior business advisor.^[1] He is also the majority shareholder in a real estate company developing several Saskatoon properties.^{[citation needed]}

Politics

1993 federal election

Cheveldayoff's first run for political office came in the 1993 Canadian federal election as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party in the riding of The Battlefords—Meadow Lake. The incumbent, Len Taylor of the New Democratic Party, held the seat, with Cheveldayoff finishing fourth.

Saskatchewan Party MLA

Ten years after running federally, Cheveldayoff turned to provincial politics with the Saskatchewan Party, which had formed in 1997, as an alliance of former Progressive Conservative and Liberal MLAs. First elected in November 2003, Cheveldayoff was the Opposition Critic for Finance, Deputy Critic for Learning, and was a member of the Public Accounts Committee. He also served as Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Human Services. After being re-elected in 2007, he was named Minister of Crown Corporations. In a 2009 cabinet shuffle, he became Minister of Enterprise, and in 2010, he was appointed Minister of First Nations and Métis relations. On May 25, 2012, Cheveldayoff was appointed Minister of Environment, Responsible for SaskWater and the Water Security Agency.^[3] In 2014, Cheveldayoff was appointed Government House Leader.

On August 23, 2016, Cheveldayoff was named Minister of Parks, Culture, Sport and Minister responsible for the Public Service Commission (PSC).

2018 Saskatchewan Party leadership bid

Premier Brad Wall announced that he was retiring from politics in August 2017. On August 28, Cheveldayoff announced his bid for the leadership of the Saskatchewan Party.^[4] While Cheveldayoff called himself a "centrist" and "very much a moderate" at the outset of the race, he drew scrutiny throughout the campaign for his stances on social issues.^[2] In a November interview, Cheveldayoff denied that racism was an issue in the province.^[5] The same month, Cheveldayoff received the endorsement of a national anti-abortion lobbying group, who rated him the most pro-life of all leadership candidates.^[6] Cheveldayoff said that he would support "anything that emphasizes that life begins at conception", and stated that not even rape victims should have legal access to abortion services.^[7]

At the Saskatchewan Party leadership convention, held on January 27, 2018, Cheveldayoff finished third; he was eliminated on the fourth ballot, having received 30% of votes. The contest was won by Scott Moe.^[8] Moe was sworn in as the 15th Premier of Saskatchewan six days later, on February 2. Moe named Cheveldayoff to his cabinet as Minister of Central Services and the minister responsible for the public service and provincial capital commissions.^[9] After he was re-elected in the 2020 election, Cheveldayoff was dropped from the cabinet.^[10]

Personal life

Cheveldayoff’s wife Trish formerly worked as a news anchor at CTV Saskatoon. The couple have two children.^[2] Cheveldayoff and his family are members of various community organizations, along with the Lakeview Free Methodist Church.^{[citation needed]}

Cheveldayoff is the older brother of Kevin Cheveldayoff, the general manager of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets.^[11] On May 20, 2018, Cheveldayoff was photographed trying to sell tickets outside a Jets home playoff game; he stated that he had bought the tickets for a friend, but when the friend could not use the tickets, he sold them on the street.^[12]

Electoral history

Provincial

2020 Saskatchewan general election: Saskatoon Willowgrove
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Saskatchewan	Ken Cheveldayoff	7,509	66.38
	New Democratic	Kaitlyn Harvey	3,600	31.82
	Green	David Greenfield	203	1.80
Total			11,312	100
Source: Elections Saskatchewan

2016 Saskatchewan general election: Saskatoon Willowgrove
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Saskatchewan	Ken Cheveldayoff	6,603	72.10
	New Democratic	Tajinder Grewal	2,196	23.98
	Liberal	Jason Gorin	229	2.50
	Green	Sarah Risk	129	1.40
Total			9,157	100.0
Source: Elections Saskatchewan

2011 Saskatchewan general election: Saskatoon Silver Springs
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Saskatchewan	Ken Cheveldayoff	7,736	74.59
	New Democratic	Cindy Lee Sherban	2,249	21.62
	Green	D'Arcy Hande	230	2.22
	Liberal	Rod Stoesz	163	1.57
Total			10,371	100.0
Source: Elections Saskatchewan

2007 Saskatchewan general election: Saskatoon Silver Springs
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Saskatchewan	Ken Cheveldayoff	6,884	61.80
	New Democratic	Gord Bedient	3,060	27.47
	Liberal	Karen Parhar	959	8.61
	Green	Cameron McRae	236	2.12
Total			11,139	100.0
Source: Elections Saskatchewan

2003 Saskatchewan general election: Saskatoon Silver Springs
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Saskatchewan	Ken Cheveldayoff	4,005	44.74
	New Democratic	Russell Scott	3,490	38.99
	Liberal	Shawn Flett	1,457	16.27
Total			8,952	100.0
Source: Elections Saskatchewan

Federal

1993 Canadian federal election: The Battlefords—Meadow Lake
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	New Democratic	Len Taylor	9,772	31.23
	Reform	Delon Bleakney	9,043	28.90
	Liberal	Neil Currie	7,364	23.54
	Progressive Conservative	Ken Cheveldayoff	4,299	13.74
	Independent	Chretien, Leon W.	609	1.95
	Canada Party	Peter Franklin	202	0.65
Total			31,289	100.00
Source: Parliament of Canada^[13]