Former Saskatchewan Party legislature member Lyle Stewart has died.
Premier Scott Moe confirmed that Stewart died at 73 after a battle with cancer.
“Lyle was a man of few words, which is unusual for a politician, but you always knew where he stood,” Mr. Moe said on social media.
“His quiet strength and dedication to the people he served were an example to all of us who served with him.”
Mr. Stewart was first elected in 1999 and represented the ridings of Thunder Creek and Lumsden-Morse, a rural constituency covering an area stretching from Swift Current to Regina.
He served in cabinet as minister of agriculture and minister of enterprise and innovation. He was also briefly interim leader of the Saskatchewan Party in 2004 when it was in opposition.
Mr. Stewart was stripped of his legislative secretary duties after inviting notorious killer Colin Thatcher to the throne speech in 2022. He later called the decision to invite Mr. Thatcher “an error in judgment.”
Mr. Stewart had served as the executive assistant to Mr. Thatcher, who was an energy minister under former Conservative premier Grant Devine, before Mr. Thatcher resigned and was convicted of first-degree murder.
Mr. Thatcher’s ex-wife, JoAnn Wilson, was found beaten and shot to death in the garage of her Regina home in 1983.
Conservative MP Fraser Tolmie, who represents the Saskatchewan riding of Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan, paid tribute to Mr. Stewart.
“Lyle represented the people of his riding passionately for nearly 24 years,” Mr. Tolmie said in a Facebook post.
“Saskatchewan politics will not be the same without him.”
Mr. Stewart resigned in March, 2023 because of his health, saying at the time he had been living with prostate cancer for a number of years but his condition had worsened.
He previously beat cancer in 2014, but stepped down from cabinet four years later when the disease returned.