Howard Russell Pawley PC OC OM (November 21, 1934 – December 30, 2015) was a Canadian politician and professor who was the 18th premier of Manitoba from 1981 to 1988.

[3] Pawley first ran for public office in the 1957 Canadian federal election as the CCF candidate in the riding of Lisgar, finishing fourth with 443 votes.

After stepping down as Municipal Affairs minister in 1976, he was given the additional responsibility of administering the Liquor Control Act.

[2] He was initially elected leader by the party caucus on an interim basis and later defeated Muriel Smith and Russell Doern at the subsequent leadership convention.

[3] On the economic front, the Pawley government's record was at or near the top in provincial comparison in respect to investment and employment growth and often enjoyed the lowest unemployment rate anywhere in Canada, and it sustained the province's social programs during the recession of the early 1980s.

His government would become increasingly unpopular with the electorate over the next two years, primarily because of a jump in auto insurance premiums in 1987 and massive multimillion-dollar losses at MTX, a subsidiary of the Crown-owned Manitoba Telephone System, which had been formed to invest in telecommunications in Saudi Arabia.

The NDP's position became even more precarious when longtime minister Laurent Desjardins resigned from cabinet in early 1988 and stopped attending legislative sessions, effectively reducing Pawley's majority to one seat.

Pawley resigned as party leader and did not run in the subsequent election, which was won by the Progressive Conservatives, led by Gary Filmon.

[3] In his last years as premier, Pawley had become a prominent figure on the national stage as an opponent of free trade as well as a party to the Meech Lake Constitutional Accord.

[7] He also served as a board member of the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network [LHIN].