BIG SHOES TO FILL

Saskatchewan’s future got a whole lot cloudier on Thursday.

Although most observers understood Premier Brad Wall wasn’t likely to hang onto the reins of power indefinitely, the news of his resignation nevertheless hit the province like a ton of bricks.

This is, after all, the man who led Saskatchewan’s renaissance from a perceived backwater to a place where young people stayed and families arrived with hopes for a brighter future. Under Wall’s watch, our population grew by 16 per cent in the past decade, after two consecutive decades when the number of people choosing to live here actually declined.

Boosted by a supercharged resource sector, the province’s economy saw unprecedented growth under Wall’s Saskatchewan Party government. The rise in employment, tax revenue and opportunities made the premier a star on the national stage and fuelled optimism that hadn’t been felt in the heart of the Prairies for generations.

Many, of course, would attribute Wall’s success to good luck, as his time in office coincided with an economic bonanza his predecessors could only dream of. For years, the tax dollars brought in by natural resources — potash, farming and especially oil — made governing comparatively easy. And now that the boom appears to be over, Wall and his cronies aren’t the wizards they were once thought to be.

But even as Saskatchewan struggles to deal with declining revenues and increasing debt, there’s a sense that Wall wasn’t shying away from the task. The budget he brought down this past spring made some hard choices — such as increasing the provincial sales tax and killing the STC — and although it’s been wildly unpopular in some circles, it at least provides a faint path to financial stability.

Now that Wall is leaving, though, the future becomes more uncertain. At a time when the NDP is also searching for a new leader, the people of Saskatchewan couldn’t be blamed for looking around and asking, “What now?”

Although the Sask. Party has potential candidates waiting in the wings to fill Wall’s shoes, few are well-known quantities. And none appear to have the charm, charisma and can-do attitude that made Wall a provincial icon and a leader of Canada’s small-c conservative movement.

Whoever ends up winning the leadership it’s a safe bet they’ll try to stay the course. But with Justin Trudeau’s Liberals holding power in Ottawa, the mercurial Donald Trump running the show in Washington and world oil and potash markets continuing to languish, outside factors may conspire to force a change in direction for Saskatchewan.

So the shoes left by Brad Wall to fill won’t just be big, they might also be a little uncomfortable.