William Sanford Evans
Template:Short description Template:Other people Template:Use Canadian English Template:Infobox officeholder William Sanford Evans (December 18, 1869 – June 27, 1949)<ref name="mhs">Template:Cite web</ref> was a Manitoba politician. Between 1933 and 1936, he was the leader of that province's Conservative Party caucus.<ref name="bumsted"/>
Evans was born in Spencerville, Ontario,<ref name="bumsted">Template:Cite book</ref> the son of Rev. J.S. Evans and Mary Jane Vaux.<ref name="mccrea">Template:Cite book</ref> He was educated at the Collegiate Institute in Hamilton, Ontario, Victoria University and Columbia University.<ref name="who">Template:Cite book</ref> He subsequently moved to Manitoba.
Evans was active in the publishing industry of his new province, founding the Winnipeg Telegram and writing a book on Canadian Imperialism during the Second Boer War.<ref name="bumsted"/> In 1920, he co-founded a publishing firm specializing in grain industry news.<ref name="mhs"/> He married Mary Irene Gurney, a noted pianist,<ref name="bumsted"/> in 1900.<ref name="mccrea"/>
Evans ran for the federal Conservatives in Winnipeg in 1904, but was defeated by Liberal David Bole.<ref name="mhs"/> He was elected Mayor of Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1909, and served in that position until 1911.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Evans was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in 1922,<ref name="members">Template:Cite web</ref> leading the Conservative party list in Winnipeg (which elected ten MLAs through preferential balloting). He was re-elected in 1927 and 1932,<ref name="members"/> topping the Winnipeg ballot on the latter occasion. Evans was chosen as Conservative party parliamentary leader following the resignation of Col. Fawcett Taylor in 1933. He did not run against Errick F. Willis for the party leadership in 1936 and did not run for reelection in the provincial election which followed.<ref name="mhs"/>
In 1931, while still serving in the Manitoba legislature, Evans was appointed by British Columbia Premier Simon F. Tolmie to head a commission investigating that province's fruit-growing cooperatives. The commission's report recommended a return to open competition and was opposed by many within the industry.<ref name="mhs"/>
He was president of the first Canadian Club, formed in Hamilton,<ref name="who"/> and helped form the Canadian Club of Winnipeg, also serving as its president.<ref name="mhs"/>
Evans continued to publish grain industry news following his retirement from parliament. He died in 1949.<ref name="mhs"/>
Notably, Evans's brother Harry M.E. Evans served as Mayor of Edmonton, Alberta. As well, Evans's son Gurney Evans served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Dufferin Roblin and Walter Weir in Manitoba.<ref name="mhs"/>