A DECADE REMEMBERED
Brad Wall helped reshape Sask.
As Brad Wall gets set for the end of his political life this weekend, many in the province will have strong feelings about his 10 years as premier — some warm and fuzzy, others angry and bitter.
For Grant Devine, it’s pretty clear how he feels about Wall. The ex-premier, who served from 1982 to 1991, calls Wall, a former staffer, “my political son.”
Devine remembers a young Wall, working for Devine’s Conservative government, as a “very pleasant, great guy” who “had lots of friends.”
“He seemed to adapt to the challenge and to the intrigue and to the competitive nature (of politics). (He) saw where he could play a role,” says Devine, who says Wall’s time in the Conservative ranks gave him the opportunity to see “you could really do something if you got into government.”
As he leaves office, much has been made of what Wall has been able to do over the past decade.
Like Devine and other premiers before him, the nature of his legacy could be debated for decades. Even so, Saskatchewan’s living former premiers don’t shy away from giving credit where it is due when it comes to Wall.
Wall is recognized as changing, more than any individual, the way people of the province and the country saw Saskatchewan.
Devine points to the province’s favourable view of free trade as one example, noting that when he was premier the majority of people in Saskatchewan did not want to be a part of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Now, with NAFTA under threat, Wall is lauded for being one of its staunchest defenders.
“That’s a big change over 20 years, and Brad has helped to sustain that,” Devine says, adding Wall’s attitude that Saskatchewan can compete with anyone is a reason why he’s been so successful on that front.
Blessed with high resource prices and an economy showing signs of strength just before the Sask. Party formed government in 2007, Wall was politically astute and humble enough to recognize he and his government shouldn’t take all the credit for the province’s turnaround.
“But I hope we set some sort of tone for government back in 2007,” he said late last year. “I was just picking up that Saskatchewan people were kind of tired of the notion of mediocrity, perhaps.”
Rather than taking full credit for such growth — which resulted in government making significant investments across all ministries — Wall says he was taking cues from the people of the province.
That translated into his government’s billion-dollar spending boast two years ago after adding doctors, nurses, kilometres of paved highways, hospitals and supports for seniors in Saskatchewan. More prescription drugs were covered and supports in classrooms improved.
It also added to the swagger with which the province carried itself locally and nationally. Wall has said he will miss most sharing the story of Saskatchewan to the world.
Roy Romanow, premier from 1991 to 2001, says that Wall “certainly raised the expectations of Saskatchewan people,” particularly with respect to their economy and quality of life.
The former NDP premier says Wall was, in part, able to do so because he combined those good economic times he had in the early years of his administration with a strong sense of optimism and hope Saskatchewan would emerge in the nation as a leader.
But like most former politicians, Romanow knows how they are viewed after retirement often depends on who is looking.
With a struggling economy in recent years, however, Romanow says that message of optimism has been and will continue to be tested.
“In that regard, the government has struggled somewhat — understandably so, I would say, because it’s not an easy message to combine or to change, but he certainly is an excellent communicator,” he says.
The challenge of Saskatchewan’s economy, he adds, “remains a feature of our condition and our location in the body politic and it really tests political leadership, without a doubt.”
Lorne Calvert, premier from 2001 to 2007, says Wall “brought his own party, I think, closer to the centre of the political equation.”
Although Wall came into power at a time when centre-right ideals were shared widely across the country — Stephen Harper’s federal Conservative government being in power is one example — the premier managed his party largely from the middle of the political spectrum.
“When Premier Wall was at his best, it was when he set aside the partisanship and some of the party interest,” says Calvert, who questions whether or not Wall’s successor will be able to maintain that.
Devine and Romanow both spoke of Wall’s ability to “strike a balance” between managing the expectations of Saskatchewan — and effectively speaking for the province — with his own party’s political goals.
The premier was largely successful in doing so, while also finding the balance of speaking for Saskatchewan’s unique regional needs on a national scale with the federal government.
Romanow says Wall’s effectiveness on this front, beyond his own base, was done “as well as anybody could.”
“It’s very difficult to find that sweet spot,” said.
When Premier Wall was at his best, it was when he set aside the partisanship and some of the party interest.