Bill Sveinson

Who is Bill Sveinson?

William Martin "Bill" Sveinson was a politician in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan in the 1980s. He was first elected under the Conservatives in 1982 and represented the riding of Regina North West.

Sveinson crossed the floor in 1983 and was, for a time, the only Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Saskatchewan Liberal Party, but he was ousted from the party in 1985 as a result of apparent disagreements between Sveinson and Ralph Goodale over legislative questioning tactics.

Oral questions during question period were a tactic used by opposition members to question the government. An oversight allowed Sveinson to continue with his oral questioning preventing an orderly closure to question period thus stopping the business of the house. The rules allowed question period to continue indefinitely. The purpose was to force the government to settle with constituents who had financial promises from the provincial government unfulfilled.

Sveinson continued to sit as an independent MLA until he joined the Western Canada Concept Party of Saskatchewan in 1986. The WCC had no members in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan at that time. The WCC advocated the separation from Canada of the four western provinces.