Edward Gurney Vaux Evans (September 3, 1907 in Winnipeg

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

, Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

 – January 8, 1987) was a politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in Manitoba, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. He was a Progressive Conservative

Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba

The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba is the only right wing political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is also the official opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.-Origins and early years:...

 member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba

The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the lieutenant governor form the Legislature of Manitoba, the legislature of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly in provincial general elections, all in single-member constituencies with first-past-the-post...

 from 1953 to 1969, and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Dufferin Roblin

Dufferin Roblin

Dufferin "Duff" Roblin, PC, CC, OM was a Canadian businessman and politician. Known as "Duff," he served as the 14th Premier of Manitoba from 1958 to 1967. Roblin was appointed to the Canadian Senate on the advice of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In the government of Brian Mulroney, he served as...

 and Walter Weir

Walter Weir

Walter C. Weir was a politician who served as the 15th Premier of Manitoba from 1967 to 1969.Weir was born in High Bluff, Manitoba, and worked as a funeral director. He served as chairman of the Minnedosa Hospital Board from 1955 to 1957, and of the Minnedosa Town Council from 1958 to 1959...

. His father and uncle were also prominent politicians, William Sanford Evans

William Sanford Evans

William Sanford Evans was a Manitoba politician. Between 1933 and 1936, he was the leader of that province's Conservative Party caucus....

, a Winnipeg mayor and Conservative MLA and party leader, and Harry Evans, an Edmonton mayor, respectively.

Evans was educated at the University of Manitoba

University of Manitoba

The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...

, receiving a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree. He became a publisher at his father's firm of Sanford Evans & Co. Ltd., and was assistant director of Ordnance Services in the Canadian Army from 1942 to 1946, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

. He received the Order of the British Empire

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, and was a member of the Canadian Empire Club.

Evans was a longtime friend of Dufferin Roblin, and was personally encouraged by Roblin to run for the provincial Progressive Conservatives. He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1953 provincial election

Manitoba general election, 1953

Manitoba's general election of June 8, 1953 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. This was the first election held in Manitoba after the breakup of a ten-year coalition government led by the Liberal-Progressives and Progressive Conservatives...

, in the riding

Electoral district (Canada)

An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...

 of Winnipeg South

Winnipeg South

Winnipeg South is a Canadian federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1979, and since 1988. It covers the south of the city of Winnipeg...

. This riding elected four members by preferential balloting; Evans finished fourth on the first ballot, was declared elected on the sixth and final count. In 1954, members of the Winnipeg Press Gallery unanimously endorsed him as the "most dignified man in the house" at their annual dinner.

He was re-elected in the 1958 provincial election

Manitoba general election, 1958

Manitoba's general election of June 16, 1958 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This election was the first to be held in Manitoba after a comprehensive electoral redistribution in 1956...

, easily winning in the redistributed single-member constituency of Fort Rouge. The Progressive Conservatives formed a minority government

Minority government

A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...

 after this election, and Evans was named Minister of Industry and Commerce

Minister of Industry and Commerce (Manitoba)

The Minister of Industry and Commerce is a former cabinet position in the province of Manitoba, Canada.The department's origins can be traced back to 1932, when John Stewart McDiarmid was appointed as minister of Mines and Natural Resources, and for Industry...

 and Minister of Mines and Natural Resources on June 30, 1958.

The PCs won a majority government

Majority government

A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...

 in the 1959 election

Manitoba general election, 1959

Manitoba's general election of May 14, 1959 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It resulted in a majority victory for the Progressive Conservative Party under the leadership of Dufferin Roblin...

. Evans, easily returned, was relieved of the MNR portfolio on August 7, 1959, and named Provincial Secretary

Provincial Secretary (Manitoba)

The position of Provincial Secretary was particularly important in Manitoba from 1870 to 1874, as that province's institutions were being established. The province had no Premier during this period, and its Lieutenant-Governor acted as the de facto leaders of government...

 on December 21.

Evans was re-elected again in the provincial elections of 1962

Manitoba general election, 1962

Manitoba's general election of December 16, 1962 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It resulted in a second majority victory for the Progressive Conservative Party under the leadership of Dufferin Roblin...

 and 1966

Manitoba general election, 1966

The Manitoba general election held on June 23, 1966, was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It resulted in a third consecutive majority win for the Progressive Conservative Party led by Dufferin Roblin...

. He stopped serving as Provincial Secretary on June 12, 1963. On July 22, 1966, was promoted from Industry and Commerce to the high-profile position of Provincial Treasurer and Minister of Mines and Natural Resources. Walter Weir retained Evans in these positions when he replaced Roblin as Premier in 1967. As Treasurer, Evans suggested separating capital from operating in the budget.

The Progressive Conservatives were defeated in the 1969 provincial election

Manitoba general election, 1969

The Manitoba General Election of June 25, 1969 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was a watershed moment in the province's political history. The social-democratic New Democratic Party emerged for the first time as the largest party in...

, and Evans lost his seat to Cy Gonick

Cy Gonick

Cy Gonick is a former politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1969 to 1973, sitting as a member of the New Democratic Party....

 of the New Democratic Party

New Democratic Party of Manitoba

The New Democratic Party of Manitoba is a social-democratic political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is the provincial wing of the federal New Democratic Party, and is a successor to the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...

 by 273 votes in the redistributed riding of Crescentwood. He did not seek a return to provincial office after this time.