Shuffle exposes premier’s depth problem

After two terms in government and an even bigger majority of 51 government MLAs, one wouldn’t assume depth would be Premier Brad Wall’s foremost problem.

Judging by Tuesday’s cabinet shuffle, it appears it is.

In fairness, Wall’s thinking in his new 17-member cabinet — one less than before and three less than the last 20-member NDP cabinet — was driven by other factors:

Dropping Jennifer Campeau (along with Mark Docherty and Nancy Heppner, who join Don McMorris, Bill Boyd and Herb Cox on the backbench sidelines) is perhaps the biggest surprise, given this province’s tense race relations. However, Wall was quick to say Campeau was never appointed because she was a First Nations woman and stressed she would have an important role as a legislative secretary focusing on aboriginal education achievement.

Wall did stress that one less minister translates to a $450,000 savings — suddenly a big factor for a government scraping together its pennies. In fact, Wall said former health minister Dustin Duncan’s move to energy and SaskTel had much to do with the prospects of Duncan having to deal with any offer to buy the Crown-owed utility.

Doubling up portfolios thus became a big cabinet-shuffle theme.

It likely produced Wall’s worst move — moving likable Jim Reiter from First Nations and Government Relations (where he had a good stakeholder relationship) to health (where he replaces Duncan) and replacing him with former social services minister Donna Harpauer (whose relationship with social services clients hasn’t exactly put her in good stead with the First Nations community).

It also produced one of Wall’s better moves — moving the affable Don Morgan to deputy premier at time when one can expect a tense legislature and province because of pending government cuts. Unfortunately, Morgan has to keep his duties overseeing two major portfolios in education and labour. Stakeholders from both respective areas won’t love this.

Essentially, this shuffle sees six under-performing ministers replaced by one known quantity, Ken Cheveldayoff, and four new ministers — Tina Beaudry-Mellor in social services, Bronwyn Eyre in advanced education, David Marit in highways and Joe Hargraves in the Crown Investment Corp.

Beaudry-Mellor has potential, but thrusting her into social services is a bit much. Marit will do as fine as anyone in highways. Hargraves is an MLA from Prince Albert, which needed cabinet representation. And new Advanced Education Minister Eyre — who called man-made global warming “witchcraft” in a newspaper column — was the consensus bizarre choice Tuesday.

What all this spells is a depth problem for this aging government — something not all that unusual.

Consider the last NDP administration, which struggled mightily to assemble enough quality members to form a decent cabinet after coming to power in 1991 with a 55-person caucus with great depth and experience. Twice reduced to 30 seats, neither Lorne Calvert nor Roy Romanow had the numbers from which to choose at similar points in their mandates.

But large caucus numbers aren’t everything. The bigger problem for the NDP was that its caucus was rife with long-serving backbenchers who kept getting elected in then-safe NDP seats, but who the leader felt could not contribute to cabinet at all, or only in a modest capacity in portfolios with less pressure and profile.

Clearly, this has also become a problem for the Sask. Party, with stalwarts either doubling their workload or (like Duncan) moved elsewhere because of burnout.

This is a government that lost Rod Gantefoer, Ken Krawetz, June Draude, Bob Bjornerud (all experienced MLAs and founding Sask. Party members) before the April 4 election and now has lost veterans Boyd and McMorris in this shuffle. That’s a lot of holes to fill.

It’s also worth noting that some of the preferred choices of Wall and the Sask. Party hierarchy, like Shelley Jones (who lost to Warren Michelson in Moose Jaw North nomination), John McGettigan (the former Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation president defeated by Eyre in the Saskatoon Stone bridge-Dakota nomination) and Thomas Sierzycki (who lost in Cumberland) didn’t make it to the legislature.

Add it all up and it makes for a big depth problem.