[3] Weir worked as an undertaker in Saskatchewan, later returning to Manitoba where he became the owner of his own funeral home in Minnedosa in 1953.
[5] He sought the Progressive Conservative nomination for the rural riding of Minnedosa in the buildup to the 1958 provincial election, but lost to Sid Paler.
[6] Weir was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in Dufferin Roblin's landslide victory of 1959, defeating Liberal-Progressive incumbent Charles Shuttleworth in Minnedosa.
When Roblin moved to federal politics in 1967, Weir defeated Sterling Lyon and two other candidates to become the party's new leader.
[8] He also opposed the introduction of official bilingualism and attained national notoriety for his conflict with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau over that issue.
Schreyer was a youthful and charismatic figure from the centrist wing of the NDP, and his party was able to win the support of many centre-left voters, including those who had voted for Pierre Trudeau's federal Liberals the previous year.
However, that came undone when Liberal MLA Laurent Desjardins threw his support to the NDP, which allowed Schreyer to replace Weir as Premier shortly thereafter.