Ronald (Ron) Osika (born February 27, 1939) is a former Canadian politician, who served 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 ...

from 1995 to 2003. The son of Polish immigrants, he was born on a homestead near Hafford,

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 ...

, and educated in

The Battlefords The Battlefords is the collective name given to the adjacent communities of the city of North Battleford and the town of Battleford in west-central Saskatchewan, Canada. The two communities are separated by the North Saskatchewan River and co ...

. A former officer in the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

, Osika's first foray into politics was an unsuccessful bid for a Reform Party nomination in 1992."Former Liberals in coalition government formally join Saskatchewan NDP", ''Canadian Press'', September 5, 2003 He was first elected from Melville as

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 ...

MLA in the

Saskatchewan legislature The Saskatchewan Legislature is made of two elements: the lieutenant governor as representative of the King of Canada, and the unicameral assembly called the Legislative Assembly. The legislature has existed since Saskatchewan was formed out of ...

in the 1995 provincial election that saw the Liberals go from a single seat to 11 to form the

official opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...

. Osika served as interim

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

in November 1995 after

Lynda Haverstock Lynda Maureen Haverstock ( Ham; born September 16, 1948) is the former leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party, was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, and served as the 19th lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan from 2000 un ...

was forced to resign as leader by her caucus. He remained leader until November 1996 when

Jim Melenchuk James Williams Melenchuk (born June 24, 1953) is a former Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Saskatoon Northwest in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan from 1999 to 2003. He was educated at the University of R ...

was chosen as Haverstock's permanent replacement. The 1999 provincial election reduced

Roy Romanow Roy John Romanow (born August 12, 1939) is a Canadian politician who served as the 12th premier of Saskatchewan from 1991 to 2001. He was the leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party from 1987 until his retirement in 2001. He was the Mem ...

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 ...

to a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

while also reducing the Liberals to

third party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a veh ...

status with four MLAs. The Liberals agreed to enter into a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

and Osika became

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan is the presiding officer of the Saskatchewan Legislature. Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan See also *Speaker (politics) References * {{DEFAULTSORT:Speaker Of T ...

from 1999 until February 2001 when he joined Calvert's

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

as Municipal Affairs minister. In October 2001, the Liberal Party elected David Karwacki as its new leader. He ordered the Liberal MLAs to leave the coalition government but Osika and Melenchuk refused and became Independents signing a new coalition agreement with Calvert in late 2001. In early 2002, Osika became Government Relations Minister and at various times had additional responsibilities for aboriginal affairs,

SaskWater Saskatchewan Water Corporation, operating as SaskWater, is a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Saskatchewan and supplies water, wastewater and related services to municipalities, industries and farms. In turn, municipalities supply wa ...

, the

Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (or SLGA) is a Treasury Board Crown Corporation, crown corporation responsible for the distribution, control and regulation of alcoholic beverages, cannabis and most gambling in the Canadian province ...

and the

Saskatchewan Property Management Corporation Saskatchewan is a 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 United States (Montana and North Dako ...

. He ran for re-election as an NDP candidate in the 2003 provincial election but was defeated in the riding of

Melville-Saltcoats Melville-Saltcoats is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, Canada. Located in southeastern Saskatchewan, this constituency was created through the ''Representation Act, 1994'' (Saskatchewan) by combining ...

. Osika turned to municipal politics after his defeat and was mayor of

Fort Qu'Appelle Fort Qu'Appelle () is a town in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan located in the Qu'Appelle River valley north-east of Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina, between Echo Lake (Saskatchewan), Echo and Mission L ...

from 2005 to 2016 when he chose not to seek another term."Osika returns", ''Canadian Press'', April 28, 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osika, Ron Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan Leaders of the opposition of Saskatchewan Members of the Executive Council of Saskatchewan Saskatchewan Liberal Party MLAs Living people Saskatchewan political party leaders People from Fort Qu'Appelle 1939 births Independent MLAs in Saskatchewan 21st-century mayors of places in Saskatchewan Leaders of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan