National Post (National Edition)
‘Now is the time for me to end my career in politics’
WITH SASKATCHEWAN PREMIER RETIRING, TRUDEAU LOSES A PERSISTENT CRITIC IN THE WEST
OTTAWA • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered the usual niceties on Thursday after Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall announced his retirement from politics, tweeting a thanks for the years of service and “all the best in your retirement.”
But Trudeau could be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief. With Wall stepping down, the prime minister is losing one of his most persistent and effective critics on the government’s climate change policy.
When Trudeau swept to power in 2015, Wall made a point of looking for common ground. He pointed out that Trudeau was about the same age as he was when he became premier, with similarly young children. Family is the most important thing, Wall told the CBC, “if you get that right, there is greater clarity for other priorities.”
Wall said he was leaving the thornier issues for another day and, speaking to Trudeau after the election, he renewed his call for an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women, which was later announced.
The powder in Saskatchewan would only stay dry for so long, though, and it was the Trudeau government’s carbon tax policy that lit the fuse.
After joining the Canadian delegation to Paris for climate talks, Wall served as a dissenting voice and advocate for the oil industry and its workers. When the federal government signalled its intention for a carbon tax, Wall used a similar line of attack.
“I can tell you with the energy sector reeling in Canada ... the very last thing we need right now is another new tax,” Wall said. He later referred to the government’s white paper on the carbon tax as a “ransom note.”
Wall said he made the decision to retire at the end of June after talking it over with his wife Tami.
“It’s a hard thing to even just start to talk about,” Wall said Thursday. “We decided now was the time for me to end my career in politics.
“I think renewal will be good for the province. I think renewal and a different perspective will be good for the government. I think renewal will be good for my party as well. Whatever I do after this — and I currently have no leads or prospects — this job will be the honour of my working life.”
Wall said he will stay on until his successor is chosen.
“And until then, there’s still a lot of work to do,” Wall said. “This was such a difficult decision to make ... but it is time.”
Wall and his Saskatchewan Party have won three consecutive provincial elections, the last in 2016 where they took 51 of 61 seats. The party, which formed 20 years ago out of an alliance of disaffected Tories and Liberals, took more than 50 per cent of the popular vote in each of the contests.
Wall, who is 51, routinely places high in opinion polls ranking the country’s most popular premiers.
In Alberta, former premier Ralph Klein used to pick fights with the feds for domestic political gain, and at least partly for fun. Jason Kenney, who is running to lead the new United Conservative Party in Alberta, said in some ways, “Wall is a younger, Saskatchewan version of Ralph Klein.”
Wall managed to govern successfully “without ever losing his commonman touch,” Kenney said in an interview on Thursday. “He always seemed to be in touch with the concerns and aspirations of the people and, at the same time, was not satisfied with just maintaining the status quo.”
Wall was often the lone critical voice at premiers’ meetings. When the rest of the provinces signed a Pan-Canadian framework to fight climate change in December, Wall and Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister were the only holdouts. Pallister was trying to wrestle a sweeter health-care deal from the federal government, but Wall’s opposition was absolute.
In a bristling exchange, Wall said the agreement was naive, especially with President Donald Trump about to take office in the United States. Trudeau shot back that Canadians wouldn’t stand for letting the Americans dictate climate policy.
Wall’s retirement may be mourned more in Alberta than in Saskatchewan. An infamous dust-up in the Alberta legislature saw Wildrose Party finance critic Derek Fildebrandt shouting at Notley to “invite Brad Wall” to the province, rather than Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, who was watching the proceedings in the gallery.
Although Wall fever has subsided in Alberta since the recent PST hike in Saskatchewan, the United Conservative Party will be trying to learn some lessons from Wall’s tenure and the new leader will be auditioning for the soon-to-be-vacant role of Trudeau’s critic-in-chief.
Although Kenney hopes to be running in 2019 against Notley’s NDP, he has spent a fair amount of time on the campaign trail attacking Justin Trudeau and he’s concerned that a vital source of opposition to the federal Liberals will be leaving the scene when Wall retires.
Kenney’s chief rival for the leadership, former Wildrose leader Brian Jean, said someone will need to step up in the wake of Wall’s departure. Politicians have a habit of losing touch with voters after a few years, but not Wall, which made his attacks all the more effective, he said.
“He never lost touch with his roots,” said Jean.
Those roots started in Swift Current, Sask., where he was born and is the local MLA. Wall graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in public administration and has spent much of his time since in politics.
He was first elected in 1999 under the banner of the newly formed Saskatchewan Party and made a successful bid for the party’s top job after it lost a 2003 election many felt it should have won.
In 2007, Wall led the Saskatchewan Party to victory in the provincial election.