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. 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. 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 plitical 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. 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. 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. 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. After he was re-elected in the 2020 election, Cheveldayoff was dropped from the cabinet.

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 of 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

Federal

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References

External links
 Official website
 Cabinet biography

1965 births
21st-century Canadian politicians
Canadian Methodists
Doukhobors
Free Methodist Church members
Living people
Members of the Executive Council of Saskatchewan
Newport University (California) alumni
Politicians from Saskatoon
Saskatchewan Party MLAs