Walter Edmund Smishek (July 21, 1925December 22, 2014) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

-born Canadian

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist and former 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

Regina East Regina East was a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1988. This riding was created in 1966 from parts of Humboldt—Melfort, Melville, Moose Jaw—Lake Cent ...

from 1964 to 1967 as a

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...

(CCF) member and Regina North East from 1967 to 1982 as a New Democratic Party (NDP) member 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 ...

Early life

Smishek was born in 1925 in

Sokal Sokal (, ) is a city located on the Bug River in Sheptytskyi Raion, Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Sokal urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The population is approximately History The first written ...

Eastern Galicia Eastern Galicia (; ; ) is a geographical region in Western Ukraine (present day oblasts of Lviv Oblast, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil Oblast, Ternopil), having also essential historic importance in Poland. Galicia ( ...

, the son of Andrew Joseph Smishek and Mary Homeniuk, and came to Saskatchewan with his parents in 1930, settling on a farm near Hafford.

Career

Smishek worked for a grocery wholesale firm for five years, then became a representative for the Saskatchewan Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers' Union. From 1964 to 1971, he was executive secretary for the

Saskatchewan Federation of Labour The Saskatchewan Federation of Labour (SFL) is the Saskatchewan provincial trade union federation of the Canadian Labour Congress The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC ( or ), is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to ...

. He also served as a member of 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 ...

Academic Senate An academic senate, sometimes termed faculty senate, academic board or simply senate, is a governing body in some universities and colleges, typically with responsibility for academic matters and primarily drawing its membership from the academic ...

representing labour. Smishek served in the provincial cabinet as Minister of

Health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

, as Minister of

Finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

and as Minister of Urban Affairs. He was also a member of Saskatchewan's Treasury Board, serving as its chair from 1975 to 1979. He was defeated by

Russell Sutor Russell Allan "Russ" Sutor (April 24, 1951 – September 23, 1995) was a businessman and political figure in Saskatchewan. He represented Regina North East from 1982 to 1985 in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan as a Progressive Conse ...

when he ran for reelection to the provincial assembly in 1982. After leaving politics, Smishek worked for the Canadian federal

Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in Regina.

Personal life

As of 2009, he was retired but continued to live in Regina. He died in Regina at the age of 89 on December 22, 2014.

References

1925 births 2014 deaths Polish emigrants to Canada Ukrainian emigrants to Canada Members of the Executive Council of Saskatchewan Ministers of finance of Saskatchewan 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan Saskatchewan Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MLAs Saskatchewan New Democratic Party MLAs Trade unionists from Saskatchewan {{CCF-Saskatchewan-MLA-stub