Name Sally Merchant Role Political figure | Died April 1, 2007 | |
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Maria Margharita "Sally" Merchant (October 1, 1919 – April 1, 2007) was a Saskatchewan television personality and political figure. She was the only Liberal MLA elected to represent Saskatoon in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan from 1964 to 1967. She did seek re-election in 1967.
She was born Maria Margharita Smith in Yorkton, Saskatchewan in 1919, the daughter of Vincent Smith, a Saskatchewan judge and former MLA for Yorkton. She received a B.A. from Dalhousie University and a B.Ed. from the University of Saskatchewan. In 1941, she married Captain Evatt Francis Anthony Merchant; he was killed in action during World War II. She joined CFQC-TV (later CTV) in Saskatoon in 1955 and went on to host a television interview show known as Sally Time. In 1967, she was named to the Canadian delegation to the United Nations. She served in the federal Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs from 1969 to 1983 and with the CRTC from 1983 to 1988. Mrs. Merchant lectured at the University of Alberta, the University of Manitoba and the University of Saskatchewan. She died in Saskatoon in April, 2007.
Her son Anthony "Tony" Merchant also served as an MLA in the Saskatchewan Legislature and sister-in-law to the late Robert Thomas Peter Merchant (Halifax businessman and brother of her late husband).
Her granddaughter is television personality Amanda Lang.