Gurney Evans

Who was Gurney Evans?

Edward Gurney Vaux Evans was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1953 to 1969, and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Dufferin Roblin and Walter Weir. His uncle, Harry Evans, was an Edmonton mayor.

The son of William Sanford Evans, a Winnipeg mayor and Conservative MLA and party leader, and Irene Gurney, Evans was educated at Ridley College and the University of Manitoba, receiving a Bachelor of Arts 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. He received the Order of the British Empire, and was a member of the Canadian Empire Club.

Evans served as executive director for the Carswell-Shaw Commission which assessed Manitoba flood damages in 1950 and was executive director of the Red River Valley Board following the 1950 flood. He was also chairman of the Manitoba Civil Service Commission.

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, in the riding of Winnipeg South. 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.