Richard James "Rick" Swenson (born April 12, 1952) is a provincial level politician from

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 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. He was a member of the Saskatchewan Legislature from 1985 to 1995, and is still active in provincial politics. He was leader of the

Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan The Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan is a conservative political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Founded in 1905 by former Northwest Territories Premier Frederick Haultain, the party was first known as the Provincial ...

from 2006 until 2018. He was born in

Moose Jaw Moose Jaw is the List of cities in Saskatchewan, fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina, Saskatchewan, Re ...

, the son of Donald Swenson, and grew up in the

Baildon Baildon is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford, Bradford Metropolitan Borough in West Yorkshire, England and within the Historic counties of England, historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. ...

district. Swenson was educated at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

and 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 ...

. In 1976, he established Wheaton Bee Farms, specializing in alfalfa seed and dryland grass production. Swenson also helped form the Baildon/Moose Jaw Effluent Irrigation Project. Swenson was elected to the Legislature in a by-election held in the Thunder Creek electoral district on March 27, 1985. The by-election had been held to replace former MLA

Colin Thatcher Wilbert Colin Thatcher (born August 25, 1938) is a Canadian politician who was convicted for the murder of his ex-wife, JoAnn Wilson. Early life Colin Thatcher was born in Toronto, Ontario, on August 25, 1938. His father, Saskatchewan-born Ro ...

who was convicted of murdering his wife. Swenson first defeated Thatcher's former

executive assistant A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evaluat ...

Lyle Stewart to secure the Progressive Conservative nomination before successfully holding the constituency for the then-governing PC's in the by-election, a hotly contested three way race involving three other candidates which Swenson won with a plurality of 900 votes. The Progressive Conservatives were returned to power with Swenson being re-elected just a little over a year later in the 1986 general election. He won that election by a much wider margin facing two of the three candidates that ran in the by-election. Swenson later served in the provincial cabinet as Minister of Energy and Mines and as Minister of Indian and Métis Affairs. Although the PC's were swept from power in the 1991 general election, Swenson managed to win a third term in his own seat with a reduced plurality. After Devine resigned from the legislature, Swenson served as interim leader of the Progressive Conservatives from October 8, 1992 to November 24, 1994. Swenson did not seek a fourth term in the 1995 election, in which his former seat would be won by Gerard Aldridge of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. In 1997, Swenson along with most members of the PC Party and with a number of disaffected Liberals joined the newly formed

Saskatchewan Party The Saskatchewan Party (SP or Sask Party) is a conservative political party in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The party was founded in 1997 by a coalition of former provincial Progressive Conservative ...

while the scandal-ridden PC's essentially went dormant under the nominal leadership of Iris Dennis. After it had become clear that Aldridge would remain with the Liberals, Swenson sought the Saskatchewan Party nomination in Thunder Creek for the 1999 election. This time, Swenson was defeated for the nomination by Stewart. Swenson spent few years out of provincial politics before returning in 2006 when the Progressive Conservatives announced plans to revive the party after years of running

paper candidate In a representative democracy, a paper candidate (also known as a no-hope candidate) is a candidate who stands for a political party in an electoral division where the party in question enjoys only low levels of support. Although the candidate ...

s in order to avoid deregistration. He was elected as party leader, but was only able to attract four other candidates besides himself to run in the 2007 general election. Swenson ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the Thunder Creek constituency, placing a distant fourth out of five candidates. In the 2011 general election, the PC's again ran five candidates in total, with Swenson running this time in nearby

Moose Jaw North Moose Jaw North is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, Canada. One of two provincial constituencies for the city of Moose Jaw, the riding contains the area of the city north of Caribou Street from 9th ...

, earning a similar number of votes compared to his 2007 result and placing a distant third out of four candidates. Swenson ran in

Last Mountain-Touchwood Last Mountain-Touchwood is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, Canada. Located in southern Saskatchewan, major communities in the district include the towns of Strasbourg, Ituna, Lemberg, Southey, and ...

in the 2016 general election and posted his best result as PC Leader, finishing in third place with about ten percent of the vote. His party ran eighteen candidates, although none finished better than third place. Swenson announced in November 2016 that he will be stepping down as leader as soon as the party organizes a

leadership convention {{Politics of Canada In Politics of Canada, Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leadership, leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader. Overview In Canada, ...

Electoral record

, - ,

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

, Derek Hassen , align="right", 2,726 , align="right", 36.01% , align="right", - , Prog. Conservative , Richard Swenson , align="right", 273 , align="right", 3.61% , align="right", - , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 7,571 !align="right", 100.00 !align="right", , - ,

, Larry Hall , align="right", 1,997 , align="right", 23.16% , align="right", -7.65 , Prog. Conservative , Richard Swenson , align="right", 295 , align="right", 3.42% , align="right", - , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 8,624 !align="right", 100.00% !align="right", , - , style="width: 130px", Progressive Conservative , Richard Swenson , align="right", 2,929 , align="right", 42.61% , align="right", -10.91 ,

, Ron Bishoff , align="right", 2,240 , align="right", 32.59% , align="right", +6.15 ,

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

, Bill Johnstone , align="right", 1,639 , align="right", 23.84% , align="right", +4.34 ,

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, Dwayne McBride , align="right", 66 , align="right", 0.96% , align="right", - , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 6,874 !align="right", 100.00% !align="right", , - , style="width: 130px", Progressive Conservative , Richard Swenson , align="right", 3,773 , align="right", 53.52% , align="right", +11.03 ,

, Betty Payne , align="right", 1,864 , align="right", 26.44% , align="right", -1.09 , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 7,050 !align="right", 100.00% !align="right", , - , style="width: 130px", Progressive Conservative , Richard Swenson , align="right", 2,670 , align="right", 42.49% , align="right", - ,

, Betty Payne , align="right", 1,730 , align="right", 27.53% , align="right", - , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 6,284 !align="right", 100.00% !align="right",

References

External links

Saskatchewan Historical Votes by Constituency RecordProgressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swenson, Richard 1952 births Living people Politicians from Moose Jaw Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan MLAs Saskatchewan political party leaders Leaders of the opposition of Saskatchewan Members of the Executive Council of Saskatchewan 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan