Memorable Manitobans: Mark G. Smerchanski (1914-1989)

Geologist, mining engineer, MLA (1963-1966), MP (1968-1972).

Born at Malonton, Manitoba on 1 November 1914, he was educated at the University of Manitoba and the Virginia Polytechnical Institute, graduating in 1938. He worked as a professor of engineering before entering politics, and was a member of the Canadian Institute for Mining and Metallurgy, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, the Pan-American Institute of Mining Engineers and the Society of Economic Geologists. In 1953, he was appointed to the inaugural Board of Commissioners of the Winnipeg Transit System.

When Douglas Campbell resigned as provincial Liberal leader in 1961, Smerchanski entered the race to succeed him and initially emerged as the frontrunner. He resigned just prior to the convention and allowed Gildas Molgat to take his place as a candidate, which Molgat subsequently won on the first ballot. Smerchanski first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the 1962 provincial election, and defeated NDP incumbent John Hawryluk in the north-end Winnipeg constituency of Burrows. He lost his seat to NDP candidate Ben Hanuschak in the 1966 election. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1968, defeating Progressive Conservative incumbent Warner Jorgenson in the riding of Provencher. He served as a backbench supporter of Pierre Trudeau’s government for four years, and lost to Progressive Conservative candidate Jake Epp in the federal election of 1972. He tried unsuccessfully to return to the Manitoba legislature in the 1973 election, running in the rural constituency of Emerson.

He died at Winnipeg on 21 September 1989. He is commemorated by a Mark Smerchanski Memorial Prize in Women’s Studies and the Mark G. Smerchanski Prize in Geology, both offered by the University of Manitoba.

Profile revised: 5 January 2009

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