Romanow, Roy

Romanow, Roy [Romaniv, Roman], b 12 August 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Lawyer and politician. Educated at the University of Saskatchewan (LL D, 1964), Romanow was involved in politics from an early age (even serving as a volunteer driver for Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas around the time of the 1960 provincial election). He was first elected to the Saskatchewan legislature in 1967 as the New Democratic party (NDP) member for Saskatoon Riversdale. He was re-elected in 1971, 1975, and 1978; defeated in 1982; and re-elected in 1986. He served as deputy premier and attorney general of Saskatchewan (1971–82) and the province’s minister of intergovernmental affairs (1979–82). In 1981 he played a pivotal role in federal-provincial negotiations on the patriation of the Canadian Constitution and the creation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as one of the authors of the so-called “Kitchen Accord.” He was chosen as the Saskatchewan NDP leader in 1987 and elected premier of the province in October 1991. He served two terms with majority support, but in the 1999 provincial election was returned as head of a minority government. He resigned his position in 2001.

Romanow then headed the Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada and delivered its Final Report in November 2002. In 2003 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was also awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.

[This article was updated in 2007.]