Paproski, Steve

Paproski, Steve or Poprocky, Stefan [Попроцький, Стефан], b 23 September 1928 in Lviv, d 3 December 1993 in Edmonton, Alberta. Having immigrated to Canada with his parents in 1929, Paproski grew up in Edmonton. He studied at the University of Arizona on a sports scholarship, and later also attended the University of North Dakota and the Banff School of Advanced Management. He played professional American football for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League from 1949 to 1954. He became interested in politics in the 1960s and successfully stood as a candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in the 1968 federal election. He represented the riding of Edmonton Centre from 1968 to 1974 and Edmonton North from 1979 to 1988. While in opposition in the House of Commons, Paproski served as Deputy Whip and from 1976 to 1978, he became the Chief Opposition Whip for the Progressive Conservative caucus. During the Progressive Conservative government from 1979 to 1980, he was appointed as the Minister of State for Fitness and Amateur Sport and Minister of State for Multiculturalism. In the next Progressive Conservative government from 1984 to 1993, he was the Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole. As deputy speaker of the House of Commons, he led a Canadian Parliamentary Delegation to Poland in March 1987.

Myron Momryk

[This article was updated in 2024.]