Wall defends top civil servant’s decision to run for premier’s job

The province’s Opposition NDP is criticizing the Saskatchewan Party government for allowing its top civil servant to run in the race to become the next premier.

But Premier Brad Wall is standing by the decision to allow Alanna Koch to run for the Sask. Party leadership which will decide his successor.

Koch was the deputy minister to the premier up until she took a leave of absence to enter the race.

Despite the supposedly nonpartisan position of being the topranking public servant, Koch told reporters when she announced her campaign that she had held a Sask. Party membership since 1997 and “that’s not something I ever hid.”

NDP public service commission critic Warren McCall said Koch “should not be using that position to seek the leadership of a political party, and by fact of that, become premier of the province.”

Wall said the province allows people in the public service to participate in politics and “it should apply to all public servants and it does in this case.”

He said he wants “people in the public service to be able to run” and that Koch had “earned the respect of her colleagues” since becoming the top civil servant in May 2016.

At least some Sask. Party MLAs have quietly suggested it is inappropriate for her to be running, although Koch has said she contacted “each and every caucus and cabinet minister prior to declaring my candidacy” and “they all encouraged me to run.”

She has also said in the past she has a “very good reputation” and “not once would I have been political or partisan” in the role.

Koch is currently on a leave of absence and, if she loses the Sask. Party leadership race, could conceivably return to the position. That, of course, might not be realistic because whoever replaces Wall may want to insert their own person into the job.

“What they’re doing in the case of this person, and their approach to what should be the independent civil service, is unprecedented in this province,” said McCall, adding it is a “signal of a government that’s lost its way.”

Wall cited former Saskatchewan premier Allan Blakeney as an example of a civil servant becoming premier. Blakeney served in the public service before resigning his position to seek an MLA seat. He would go on to become the leader of an opposition NDP party, before being elected premier.

Koch has strong political ties to Wall. Like the premier, her first real foray in politics was during the Grant Devine government. Koch worked her way up the political ladder and was serving as assistant principal secretary to Devine when his government was defeated in 1991.

Her resume prior to being named deputy minister to the premier included nearly a decade as a senior official in the ministry of Agriculture, as well as time as the executive director of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association and president of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance.