Saul Cherniack was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1962 to 1981, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Edward Schreyer.
21 Facts About Saul Cherniack
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Saul Cherniack was a member of the Privy Council, the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba.
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Cherniack's grandfather, who was a dealer of Judaica, emigrated to Canada from Russia and then brought over Cherniack's grandmother, father, and aunt in 1905; Cherniack was politician David Orlikow's first cousin.
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Saul Cherniack himself was involved with a left-wing theatre group in the 1930s.
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Saul Cherniack was educated at the University of Manitoba, and was active in the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and in the Jewish community of Winnipeg.
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Saul Cherniack was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1962 provincial election, in the north-end Winnipeg riding of St Johns.
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Saul Cherniack was re-elected in the elections of 1966,1969,1973 and 1977, each time by a significant margin.
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Saul Cherniack initially considered challenging Paulley himself, but declined, reportedly on the advice of NDP research adviser Doug Rowland.
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Those who supported Sidney Green contended that Saul Cherniack did not run because of concerns that a Jewish party leader would not have been acceptable to the general public in the late 1960s; they later attributed his lack of support for Green to the same reason.
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On July 17,1969, Saul Cherniack was appointed provincial Minister of Finance.
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Saul Cherniack was given the Urban Affairs portfolio for a brief period in 1970, and was responsible for amalgamating the suburbs and inner city of Winnipeg into one large municipality, the first such unification in North America.
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Saul Cherniack remained one of Schreyer's most trusted confidantes throughout the 1970s.
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Saul Cherniack resigned the finance portfolio on November 13,1972, returned to office on May 2,1973, and resigned a second time in January 1975.
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When Edward Schreyer resigned as party leader in 1979, Saul Cherniack offered to serve as interim leader until a party convention could be held.
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Saul Cherniack set a number of conditions to this offer, however; those who supported Green contended that he was trying to secure the leadership for either himself or Wilson Parasiuk.
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Saul Cherniack criticized the Manitoba New Democratic Party's recent leadership divisions in making his announcement, arguing that personality questions were obscuring substantive issues.
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Saul Cherniack remained a member of the legislature until the 1981 election.
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Saul Cherniack has served as national vice-president of the Canadian Jewish Congress.
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In 1963, his son Howard Saul Cherniack was part of the group that founded the Reformed Druids of North America.
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Saul Cherniack was a member of both the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba.
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Saul Cherniack turned 100 in January 2017 and died on March 30,2018, at the age of 101.