McKnight, William Hunter (Bill), 1940-2019 : William Hunter (Bill) McKnight, farmer, businessman and politician, was born on July 12th, 1940, at Elrose, Saskatchewan. He married Beverley Rae on November 4th, 1961, and they have two children: Robert Ogden and Torrie Shawn.
After attending local schools, Bill McKnight worked as a sales representative in Winnipeg and Saskatoon. In 1965 he joined the family farming business in the Elrose-Wartime area, where he farmed until he was elected as Member of Parliament in 1979. He got involved in provincial politics and took part in the revival of the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan during the 1970s, becoming the party's President in 1974. He held that office until 1977. In the 1982 Saskatchewan Provincial Election McKnight was the campaign manager for the Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative Party which lead to the election of the Grant Devine government.
In the May 1979 federal election, McKnight ran as the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada's candidate in the Saskatchewan riding of Kindersley-Lloydminster. He was elected with a majority of more than 6,000 votes, and was re-elected easily in the general elections of 1980, 1984 and 1988. As member of the governing party (1979), and then of the Official Opposition (1980-1984), he was especially involved in debates about Western Canada's economic and agricultural issues, such as grain transportation freight rates. When the Progressive Conservatives came back to power in 1984 under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, McKnight became one of the most prominent representatives of Western Canada in the Cabinet. He was Minister of Labour and Minister responsible for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation from 1984 to 1986, and Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development from 1986 to 1989. In 1987, he was asked by the Prime Minister to organize the new Western Diversification Office, which would become the Department of Western Economic Diversification the following year. This was a challenging task, but one that offered him an excellent opportunity to make a direct contribution to the development of Western Canada's economy, which was one of the main motives that drove him to politics. He held that office until 1989. He would next be appointed Minister of National Defence from 1989 to 1991, a critical period during which he faced challenges such as the Oka crisis, the Persian Gulf War, and the collapse of the Eastern Block, all in the context of budgetary restrictions. He was Minister of Agriculture from 1991 to 1993 and, finally, Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources in 1993. He was also the Regional Minister for Saskatchewan from 1986 to 1993. Knowing he would not run again in the upcoming general election, he resigned from his ministerial functions in June 1993, after having supported Jean Charest's bid for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party.
After his political career, McKnight returned to Saskatoon and pursued a career in consulting and business, especially in the mining sector. In 2007, he was appointed Treaty Commissioner for Saskatchewan, an office he held until 2012. Bill McKnight is Honourary Chief of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation. He passed away October 4, 2019.
