25 Facts About Dufferin Roblin

Dufferin Roblin served as the 14th premier of Manitoba from 1958 to 1967.

Dufferin Roblin was the grandson of Sir Rodmond Roblin, who served as Manitoba Premier.

Dufferin Roblin was a car dealer before entering politics, and served as a Wing Commander in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1940 to 1946.

Dufferin Roblin was a part of the latter group and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in 1949 as an "Independent Progressive Conservative" opposing the coalition.

Some party members tried to convince Dufferin Roblin to stand against Willis for the leadership, but Dufferin Roblin declined.

Dufferin Roblin was re-elected for Winnipeg South in 1953, but the Progressive Conservative Party, as a whole, fared poorly by winning only 12 seats out of 57.

When Willis called a leadership convention for 1954, Dufferin Roblin quickly declared himself a candidate.

Dufferin Roblin built up a strong organization throughout the province and was able to defeat Willis on the second ballot.

The Progressive Conservatives' grassroots network had atrophied during the coalition years, and for the next four years, Dufferin Roblin was involved in the arduous task of rebuilding the party organization.

Dufferin Roblin opposed the cautionary small government ideology of Liberal-Progressive Premier Douglas Campbell and pledged to expand government services if elected.

Dufferin Roblin himself was elected for the new single-member constituency of Wolseley, located in the centre of Winnipeg.

Dufferin Roblin was thereby able to build up a successful legislative record and won the support of many centre-left voters who were previously uncommitted.

Dufferin Roblin's government lost a parliamentary vote of confidence in 1959, but was re-elected with a decisive majority in the ensuing election later in the year, taking 36 out of 57 seats.

For primary education, Dufferin Roblin's ministry brought Manitoba's system of one-room schoolhouses into the modern era by building consolidated schools.

The Progressive Conservatives were re-elected with landslide mandates in the 1962 and 1966 elections, and Dufferin Roblin never faced any serious competition in his own riding.

Dufferin Roblin resigned in 1967 to run for the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party at its 1967 leadership convention.

Dufferin Roblin ran a strong campaign but came second to Nova Scotia Premier Robert Stanfield.

Dufferin Roblin was hurt by an unpopular provincial sales tax introduced by his government as well as the more general "Trudeaumania" phenomenon.

Dufferin Roblin was soundly defeated by Liberal Hugh Faulkner and later referred to the entire campaign as a lapse in judgement.

In 1978, Dufferin Roblin was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, officially representing the Manitoba region of Red River.

Dufferin Roblin was the Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate during Joe Clark's brief tenure as Prime Minister and served as Deputy Opposition Leader from 1980 to 1984.

Dufferin Roblin retired from the Senate on June 17,1992, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Dufferin Roblin received the President's Award of the Winnipeg Press Club in 1999, and published his memoirs in the same year.

Dufferin Roblin died at the age of 92 on the afternoon of May 30,2010 at the Victoria General Hospital.

Dufferin Roblin brought Manitoba into the modern era, with desired changes in education, hospital finance, roads, social assistance and flood protection.