Duff Roblin

"Premier of Manitoba (1958-1967).

He is probably best-known for his role in urging, against considerable opposition, the construction of the Red River Floodway, which since its completion in 1968 has repeatedly saved the city from flooding, and is considered a model of its kind. He is the author of Speaking for Myself: Politics and Other Pursuits (Winnipeg, 1999).

The Loyalist lines of the Roblins can in a few cases be readily extended back to the Colonial periods of Massachusetts or New York"

(Source: http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/people/Dobson/Manitobiana/archive/001.html)

Duff married Mary McKay on 30 August, 1958.

He is a Privy Councillor, Companion of the Order of Manitoba and holds honourary degrees from McGill University, the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg.

The Town of Roblin in Manitoba and Roblin Boulevard in Winnipeg bear the family name.

The Honourable Dufferin Roblin, PC (born June 17, 1917) is a Canadian businessman and politcian. Know as "Duff" he served as Premier of Manitoba from 1958 to 1967, and was subsequently a federal cabinet minister in the governmant of Brian Mulroney. He is the grandson of Sir Rodmond P. Roblin, who also served as Maitoba Premier.

Roblin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and was educated at the University of Manitoba and Iniversity of Chicago. He was a car dealer before entering politics, and seved as a Wing Commander in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1940 to 1946.

Like his grandfather, Roblin was a member of Manitoba's Conservative Party, which was renamed the Progressive Conservative Party in 1942. During the 1940's, the Manitoba Conservatives were part of a coalition government with the Liberal-Progressives, and Conservative leader Errick Willis was a prominent cabinet minister in the government of John Baracken, Stuart Garson and Douglas Campbell.

There were oppenets of the colition in both in the Liberal and Conservative ranks. Roblin was part of the latter group, and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in 1949 as an "Independant Progressive Conservative" opposing the coalition. Running in the multi-member riding of Winnipeg South, he finished well ahead of the officeal Progressive Conservative candidate, and soon emerged as the leading voice for anti-coalition Tories in the province.

Willis resigned as a cabinet minister in August 1950, and the Progressive Conservative delegations overwhelmingly voted to leave the coalition at their annual convention later in the year. Some party members tried to convince Roblin to stand againt Willis for the leadership, but Roblin declined.

Roblin was re-elected for Winnipeg South in 1953, but the Progressive Conservative Party as a whole fared poorly, winning only 12 seats out of 57. Willis was blamed for the party's loss, and another effort was made to draft Roblin as leader.

When Willis called a leadership convention for 1954, Roblin quickly declared himself as a candidate. He built up a strong organixation throughout the provice, and was able to defeat Willis on the second ballot. Somewhat counter-intuitively, most of Roblin's support cane from rural delegates. For the next four years, Roblin was involved in arduous task of rebuilding a strong Progressive Conservative network throughout the province.

Ideologically, Roblin was a Red Tory. He opposedthe caution and small-government ideology of Liberal Progressive Premier Doughlas Campbell, and pledged to expand government serives if elected. He was also fairly liberal on most social issues. While not a socialist, Roblin was unquestionably to the "left" of Campbell's Liberals (a point that he would later acknowledge in his memoirs).

Under Roblins leadership, the Tories won a minority government in 1958. Roblin himself was elected for the new single-member constituency of Wolseley, located in the centre of Winnipeg. His government quickly enacted a series of progressive reforms, which were supported bt the social democratic Co-operative Commonweath Federation. Roblin was thereby able to bulid up a successful legislative record, and won the support of many centre-left voters who were previously uncommitted. His government lost a parliamentry vote of confidence in 1959, but was re-elected with a majority status (36 of 57 seats) later in the year.

Roblin's government upgraded highways, created parks, and bulit the Red River Floodway around Winnipe, popularly know as "Duff's Ditch". It reinteroduced French language instruction in school, modernized hospitals, expanded social spending and strengthed social welfare programs. It also improved postsecondary education, and promoted urban development by consolidating various municipalities in the Winnipeg area into a single metroplitan entity. In the field of primary education, Roblin's ministry brough Manitoba's system of one-room schollhouses into the modern eaa by building consolidated schools. The Progressive Conseratives were re-elected with landside mandates in the 1962 and 1966 elections, Roblin never faced any serious competition in his own riding.

Roblin resigned in 1967 to run for the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party at it 1967 leadership convention. He ran a strong campaign, but placed second to Nova Scotia Premier Robert Stanfield.

Roblin was a candidate in Winnipeg South Centre for the 1968 federal election, but lost to Liberal E.B. Osler by over 10,000 votes. Roblin was hurt by an unpopular provincial sales tax introduced by his government, as well as the more general "Trudeaumania" phenomenon. In 1970 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

In the 1974 federal election, Roblin ran for the House of Commons in Ontario in the Ontario riding of Peterborough. He was soundly defeated by Liberal Hugh Faulkner, and would later refer to the entire campanig as a lapse in judgement.

In 1978, Roblin was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, officially representing the Manitoba region of Red River. He was Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate during Joe Clark's brief tenure as Prime Minister (1979-1980), and severed as Deputy Opposition Leader from 1980 to 1984.

Following Brian Mulroney's landside victory in the 1984 election, Roblin was appointed Leader if the Government in the Senate, and served in Mulroney's cabinet intil June 29, 1986. In this capacity, he was particularly interested in matters relating to African economic development.

Roblin retired from the Senate on June 17, 1992, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 75. He recieved the President's Award of Winnipeg Press Club in 1999, and published his memories (entitled Speaking for Myself) in the same year.

• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Apr 10 2024, 23:55:37 UTC