Harold Arthur Martens (September 8, 1941 – January 8, 2023) was a Canadian rancher, farmer and political figure in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. He represented

Morse Morse may refer to: People * Morse (surname) * Morse Goodman (1917-1993), Anglican Bishop of Calgary, Canada * Morse Robb (1902–1992), Canadian inventor and entrepreneur Geography Antarctica * Cape Morse, Wilkes Land * Mount Morse, Churchi ...

from 1982 to 1995 in the

Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan () is the legislative chamber of the Saskatchewan Legislature in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Bills passed by the assembly are given royal assent by the lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan, in the ...

as a Progressive Conservative.

Life and career

Martens was born in

Herbert, Saskatchewan Herbert is a town in the Rural Municipality of Morse No. 165, in southwest Saskatchewan, Canada. The community is 48 km east of the city of Swift Current, and 197 km west of Regina, the provincial capital, on the Trans-Canada Highw ...

on September 8, 1941, the son of Eugene and Lydia Martens. Martens served on the council for the rural municipality of Saskatchewan Landing, serving as reeve from 1977 to 1978. He was also a member of the senate for the

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a j ...

. Martens served in the Saskatchewan cabinet as Associate Minister of Agriculture and Food. After the Devine government was defeated, he served as deputy opposition leader and opposition finance critic. Martens retired from provincial politics in 1995 and returned to ranching. Martens was ordered to repay $5,850 after being found guilty in the Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative fraud scandal of the 1980s. Martens went on to serve as reeve for the rural municipality of

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

. As of 2006, he was living in

Swift Current Swift Current is the sixth-largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is situated along the Trans-Canada Highway west of Moose Jaw, and east of Medicine Hat, Alberta. As of 2024, Swift Current has an estimated population of ...

. Martens later served as president of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association. Martens died on January 8, 2023, at the age of 81.

References

1941 births 2023 deaths Members of the Executive Council of Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan MLAs 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan {{ProgressiveConservative-Saskatchewan-MLA-stub