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Automobile dealer,MLA (1950-1953),MLA (1954-1957),MLA (1958-1959),Premier of Manitoba (1958-67),MLA (1959-1962),MLA (1963-1966),MLA (1966-1967),Senator.
Born atWinnipeg on 17 June 1917, son of Charles Dufferin Roblin (1892-1973) and Sophia May Murdock (1891-1974), grandson ofRodmond Palen Roblin, he was educated atKelvin High School,St. John’s College School,University of Manitoba, and University of Chicago.
During the Second World War, he served as a Wing Commander in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was first elected to theManitoba Legislature at the1949 general election, and was re-elected in1953,1958,1959,1962, and1966, serving as Premier of Manitoba from 1958 to 1967. During his tenure, theRed River Floodway around Winnipeg, known affectionately as“Duff’s Ditch,” was constructed. He resigned from provincial politics in 1967 to seek the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative party but placed second to Nova Scotia premier Robert Stanfield. In the1968 federal general election, he ran as a candidate in the Winnipeg South Centre constituency but was defeated by LiberalEdmund Boyd Osler.
On 30 August 1958, he married Mary Mackay (1929-2015) atWinnipeg and they had two children. He was a long-time member of theWinnipeg Squash Racquet Club; was an avid birdwatcher, hunter, and fisher; and played the bagpipes. In recognition of his community service, he was awarded honorary doctorates by theUniversity of Manitoba (1967) and theUniversity of Winnipeg (1968), he received aCentennial Medal of Honour from theManitoba Historical Society (1970) and aQueen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (1977), he was made an Honorary Member of theWinnipeg Press Club, and he was inducted into theOrder of Manitoba (2000). He received the firstDuff Roblin Award (2007) and lent his name to the program.
He died atWinnipeg on 30 May 2010 and was buried in theElmwood Cemetery. He is commemorated byDuff Roblin Provincial Park, theDuff Roblin Building at the Fort Garry campus of the University of Manitoba, and theDuff Roblin Awards.
His articles for theManitoba Historical Society:
Confederation in Perspective
MHS Transactions, Series 3, 1967-1968 Season
See also:
Speaking for Myself: Politics and Other Pursuits by Duff Roblin, Great Plains Publications, 2001.
“Duff Roblin, 1958-1967 ” byWilliam F. W. Neville inManitoba Premiers of the 19th and 20th Centuries, edited by Barry Ferguson and Robert Wardhaugh, Canadian Plains Research Centre, 2010.
Birth registration,Manitoba Vital Statistics.
The Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1951.
“Their own homes for 1958,”Winnipeg Free Press, 27 December 1958, page 5.
“Premier's leisure time is sporadic, but busy,”Winnipeg Free Press, 5 November 1966.
The Ancestry of the Hon. Duff Roblin, Premier of Manitoba,Miscellanea Manitobiana.
Obituary,Winnipeg Free Press, 2 June 2010, page 30.
Obituary [Mary Roblin],Winnipeg Free Press, 16 December 2015.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions,Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thankJohn Perrin and Oliver Bernuetz (Legislative Library of Manitoba) for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared byGordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 22 June 2024
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