He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Progressive Conservative from 1957 to 1960, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Dufferin Roblin.
[1] The son of John Sutherland Ridley, he was born in Manitou, Manitoba, and later worked as a cattle buyer.
[1] He handily defeated his Liberal-Progressive opponent David Lumgair, in a seat that was considered safe for the Progressive Conservative Party.
He was re-elected in the Pembina riding in the 1958 provincial election, in which the Tories under Dufferin Roblin formed a minority government.
[1] Returned again by a landslide in the 1959 election, he was appointed to cabinet on December 21, 1959, as Minister of Municipal Affairs.