Ken Cheveldayoff

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. First elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2003, Cheveldayoff 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. He was a parliamentary page in the House of Commons and won the Queen Elizabeth II scholarship for excellence in Parliamentary Studies. Prior to being elected to public office, Cheveldayoff worked with Western Economic Diversification as a senior business advisor. He is also the majority shareholder in a real estate company developing several Saskatoon properties.

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 (2003–2017)

Ten years after running federally, Cheveldayoff turned to provincial politics with the Saskatchewan Party, a new conservative party that had formed in 1997. First elected in November 2003, Cheveldayoff was the Opposition Critic for Finance, Deputy Critic for Learning, and served on a number of committees. Cheveldayoff was re-elected in the 2007 general election, after which the Saskatchewan Party formed government for the first time, and Cheveldayoff was named to Cabinet by Premier Brad Wall as 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. In 2012, Cheveldayoff was appointed Minister of Environment, Responsible for SaskWater and the Water Security Agency. In 2014, Cheveldayoff was dropped from cabinet but was appointed Government House Leader. In 2016, Cheveldayoff returned to cabinet when he was named Minister of Parks, Culture, Sport and Minister responsible for the Public Service Commission.

Sask Party leadership bid (2017–2018)

Wall announced that he was retiring from politics on August 10, 2017. On August 23, Cheveldayoff confirmed that he would be resigning from cabinet in order to pursue the Saskatchewan Party leadership. On August 28, Cheveldayoff officially launched his leadership campaign. At his launch, Cheveldayoff stated that he would be willing to consider privatizing provincial crown corporations. 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. In a November interview, Cheveldayoff denied that racism was an issue in the province. 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. 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.

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.

Sask Party MLA (2018–present)

Moe was sworn in as the 15th Premier of Saskatchewan on February 2, 2018. Moe named Cheveldayoff to his cabinet as Minister of Central Services and the minister responsible for the public service and provincial capital commission. After he was re-elected in the 2020 general election, Cheveldayoff was dropped from cabinet.

The 2024 general election saw Cheveldayoff win his sixth consecutive term, making him the assembly’s current longest-serving member. Cheveldayoff was the only Saskatchewan Party candidate to win or retain a seat in either of the province's major urban centres, narrowly winning the Saskatoon Willowgrove seat over New Democratic Party challenger Alana Wakula by a margin of 136 votes. After the election, Cheveldayoff returned to cabinet as Minister of Advanced Education.

Personal life

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

Cheveldayoff is the older brother of Kevin Cheveldayoff, the general manager of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets. 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.

Electoral history

Provincial

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Federal

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Cabinet positions

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External links

• Official website
• Cabinet biography Template:Webarchive