Minister of Government Services (Manitoba)

The Minister of Government Services is a former cabinet position in the government of Manitoba.

The position was created on January 13, 1871, carrying out the responsibilities of the Board of Public Works from the defunct Council of Assiniboia. The minister was originally styled as the Minister of Public Works. The department was responsible for overseeing roads, bridges, ferries and related services.

The first Public Works minister of Manitoba was Thomas Howard, who resigned from the position after only ten days to exchange portfolios with Provincial Secretary Alfred Boyd. Until Edward Hay's resignation in 1874, all ministers of Public Works in Manitoba were also ministers of Agriculture (J.H. Ellis, The Ministry of Agriculture in Manitoba, p. 54).

Manitoba's population increased significantly in the late nineteenth century, and the department of Public Works became increasingly important in providing services to new arrivals. During the premiership of Rodmond Palen Roblin (1900-1915), the department became especially powerful as a tool of government patronage. Robert Rogers, who held the portfolio for eleven years, was sometimes regarded as the second most important figure in the Roblin government.

In later 1914, Public Works minister Walter Humphries Montague was forced to announce that expenditures for the province's new legislative buildings would be exceeded by fifty per cent. Roblin was forced to appoint a Royal Commission to study the controversy, and his government resigned from office the following year after the commission report identified instances government corruption and kickbacks. Montague was indicted on fraud charges, but died before legal proceedings could begin.[1]

In later years, specific government works were taken away from the Public Works ministry and allocated to separate portfolios. The position gradually came to have less authority, though it remained responsible for road construction and related projects in mid-century.

Upon the establishment of an all-party coalition government in 1940, Progressive Conservative leader Errick French Willis was appointed as Public Works minister under a Liberal-Progressive premier. He held the position for ten years, until the Progressive Conservatives left the coalition.

The department was renamed as the Ministry of Government Services in 1969, and Howard Pawley became Manitoba's first Minister of Government Services in the administration of Edward Schreyer. Two years later, when Joseph Borowski was appointed as minister, the department was renamed as Public Works again. It was changed back to Government Services by Premier Sterling Lyon in 1978, with the appointment of Sidney Spivak as minister.

The position was restructured by the incoming government of Gary Doer in 1999, and was incorporated into the Highways and Government Services portfolio. Two years later, it was again renamed as Transportation and Government Services.

The current ministry lists its government service responsibilities as follows: "The Government Services component provides a wide range of central support services to government in an efficient, cost-effective manner. Primary services include the construction, leasing and maintenance of government buildings and property across the province. Management services for information technology, transportation, and telecommunications."[2]

Ministers of Public Works/Government Services in Manitoba

	Name	Party	Took Office	Left Office
	Thomas Howard		January 13, 1871	January 23, 1871
	Alfred Boyd		January 23, 1871	December 14, 1871
	John Norquay	Conservative	December 14, 1871	July 8, 1874
	Edward Hay	Liberal	July 8, 1874	December 2, 1874
	Joseph Royal	Conservative	December 3, 1874	May 11, 1876
	John Norquay	Conservative	May 11, 1876	October 16, 1878
	Joseph Royal	Conservative	October 16, 1878	May 1879
	Samuel Biggs		May 1879	June 1879
	Corydon Brown	Conservative	June 1879	August 27, 1886
	David H. Wilson	Conservative	August 27, 1886	December 24, 1887
	David H. Wilson	Conservative	December 26, 1887	January 19, 1888
	James Smart	Liberal	January 19, 1888	May 26, 1892
	Robert Watson	Liberal	May 26, 1892	January 6, 1900
	David H. McFadden	Conservative	January 10, 1900	December 20, 1900
	Robert Rogers	Conservative	December 20, 1900	October 7, 1911
	Colin H. Campbell	Conservative	October 11, 1911	November 4, 1913
	Walter Humphries Montague	Conservative	November 4, 1913	May 12, 1915
	Thomas Herman Johnson	Liberal	May 15, 1915	November 10, 1917
	George Grierson	Liberal	November 10, 1917	January 20, 1921
	Charles Duncan McPherson	Liberal	January 20, 1921	August 8, 1922
	William Clubb	Progressive	August 8, 1922	February 22, 1929
	Donald McKenzie (*)	Progressive	February 22, 1929	May 18, 1929
	William Clubb	Progressive	May 18, 1929	1932
		Liberal-Progressive	1932	November 4, 1940
	Errick Willis	Progressive Conservative (Coalition)	November 4, 1940	August 19, 1950
	William Morton	Liberal-Progressive	August 19, 1950	January 25, 1955
	Francis Campbell Bell	Liberal-Progressive	January 25, 1955	July 6, 1956
	Ronald Robertson	Liberal-Progressive	July 6, 1956	June 30, 1958
	Errick Willis	Progressive Conservative	June 30, 1958	December 21, 1959
	John Thompson	Progressive Conservative	December 21, 1959	October 24, 1962
	Walter Weir	Progressive Conservative	November 5, 1962	July 22, 1966
	Stewart McLean	Progressive Conservative	July 22, 1966	September 24, 1968
	Thelma Forbes	Progressive Conservative	September 24, 1968	July 15, 1969
	Howard Pawley	New Democratic Party	July 15, 1969	December 18, 1969
	Russell Paulley	New Democratic Party	December 18, 1969	September 3, 1970
	Joseph Borowski	New Democratic Party	September 3, 1970	September 8, 1971
	Russell Doern(*)	New Democratic Party	September 9, 1971	October 24, 1977
	Harry Enns	Progressive Conservative	October 24, 1977	October 20, 1978
	Sidney Spivak	Progressive Conservative	October 20, 1978	April 12, 1979
	Harry Enns	Progressive Conservative	April 12, 1979	January 16, 1981
	Warner H. Jorgenson	Progressive Conservative	January 16, 1981	November 30, 1981
	Sam Uskiw	New Democratic Party	November 30, 1981	August 20, 1982
	John Plohman	New Democratic Party	August 20, 1982	November 4, 1983
	Aime Adam	New Democratic Party	November 4, 1983	January 30, 1985
	John Plohman	New Democratic Party	January 30, 1985	February 4, 1987
	Harry Harapiak	New Democratic Party	February 4, 1987	May 9, 1988
	Albert Driedger	Progressive Conservative	May 9, 1988	February 5, 1991
	Gerald Ducharme	Progressive Conservative	February 5, 1991	May 9, 1995
	Brian Pallister	Progressive Conservative	May 9, 1995	January 6, 1997
	Frank Pitura	Progressive Conservative	January 6, 1997	October 5, 1999

(*) McKenzie was an acting minister. Doern was acting minister until April 13, 1972.