Charles Witney

Charles H. (Buck) Witney (born July 12, 1919 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, died May 21, 1991) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1959 to 1969, and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Dufferin Roblin and Walter Weir.

Witney was educated at Technical High School in Moose Jaw, and did not attend university. Prior to his election, he was a star personality at CFAR, at the time the only radio station in the remote northern community of Flin Flon. Known as a populist, he first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the 1958 provincial election, against Liberal-Progressive Francis Bud Jobin in the riding of Flin Flon. He lost, but defeated Jobin in the 1959 provincial election, as the Progressive Conservatives won a majority government under the leadership of Dufferin Roblin. Witney defeated Liberal-Progressive cabinet minister Francis Bud Jobin, who later served as Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba. He was appointed Minister of Mines and Natural Resources on August 7, 1959.

Re-elected in the 1962 provincial election, Witney was appointed Minister of Health on December 9, 1963. He held this position for the remainder of Roblin's time in office, and was retained in the portofolio when Walter Weir succeeded Roblin as Premier in 1967. Many aldermen in Winnipeg found him extremely stubborn on health-related matters. On September 24, 1968, he was transferred to the Ministry of Labour.

He was defeated by New Democratic Party candidate Thomas Barrow in the 1969 provincial election, and did not seek re-election after that time.