WALL RIGHTLY TRIMS CABINET
Given the inevitable pain to come from government cost-cutting in the next few months, Premier Brad Wall had little option but to set an example by reducing the size of his cabinet in the shuffle he unveiled Tuesday.
As Wall noted, it was important to “start at the top” and we applaud him for reducing the number of ministers by one to 17 — three fewer than the 20-member NDP cabinet in place before Wall came to power in 2007.
Still, it wasn’t certain Wall would do the right thing given the deaf ear he’s turned to criticism of him adding the unnecessary expense of three more MLAs to the legislature during his last term. Smaller cabinet or not, a 61-member legislature (compared with 57 in more-populous Manitoba) means we’re still over-governed in these tough times.
That said, with fewer cabinet ministers to shoulder the load, Wall is saving $450,000 and has reinforced the “do-more-with less” message that will soon go out to ministries and recipients of government funding ahead of a tough spring budget.
With 11 portfolio changes — six current members are changing jobs, there are four rookies and former minister Ken Cheveldayoff has been recalled — Wall’s new team will be scrambling to get up to speed as they prepare to make some unpopular decisions.
With consecutive deficits and growing debt, Wall confirmed Tuesday his administration is looking at making savings of about five per cent. Based on the 2016-17 budget of almost $14.5 billion, that means cutting roughly $720 million in spending.
With health, education and social services combined consuming almost 75 per cent of all government spending, there’s limited room to cut without impacting services. Tax increases, higher fees for government services and perhaps even the de-insuring of some health services is possible.
Following the embarrassing resignation of Don McMorris three weeks ago in the wake of an impaired driving charge, the promotion of Don Morgan to deputy premier was widely expected. Possessing a safer pair of hands than anyone in the current Saskatchewan Roughriders’ receiving corps. Morgan has been Wall’s go-to guy to fix past messes — from deeply flawed essential services legislation to the incoherent plan to introduce standardized testing in schools.
Jim Reiter is a solid choice for the very demanding health portfolio in which Dustin Duncan (heading to energy and resources, SaskTel and SaskEnergy) has done an exemplary job for the past four years. Kevin Doherty continues in finance and Wall has wisely left in place reliable ministers like Gordon Wyant (Justice and SaskBuilds) and Lyle Stewart (agriculture).
It’s now time for ministers to sharpen their pencils.