New premier must repair Wall’s once smooth-running machine

What’s rather amazing is how well Premier Brad Wall has managed to keep the Saskatchewan Party machine running.

This may seem to be an odd observation at the moment, given there seems to be daily required maintenance. But few of us become outraged by every tick and grumble we hear in our 10-year-old vehicle.

Consider that the latest NDP Opposition outrage stems from the news that a key private partner in the P3 agreement to build North Battleford’s Saskatchewan Hospital has gone into liquidation.

News of the United Kingdom Carillion company’s status may be disconcerting. As the NDP and labour left noted, the partner in the foreign conglomerate is a key player in both the construction of the hospital and the ensuing three-decadelong, $185-million maintenance contract.

However, the Sask. Party caucus was equally quick to respond that Carillion’s responsibilities were for maintenance under a bid that went to Access Prairie Partners (APP), which will now find another service provider at no costs or delay — what the government has consistently said is the benefit of the P3 model.

Of course, this does not mean we should take the Sask. Party’s word as the gospel either. But it does add perspective to how the 10-year-old Sask. Party government endures ... and, sadly, how a penchant to dismiss each day’s problems has a cumulative effect on the wear and tear on government.

Even the seemingly more obvious missteps — like the current political fight with the Alberta NDP government over that province’s licence plates being banned from Saskatchewan construction sites — may not, individually, be as damaging as the government’s enemies make them out to be.

This is particularly so when a government has built up a relatively solid record of success under a popular premier — where the Sask. Party pretty much still sits at this moment.

The thing is, though, Saskatchewan’s economic climate has changed. And now the political climate is about to change even more with the departure of Wall, who isn’t exactly leaving the machine in perfect running order.

It’s especially difficult for many of the 27,125 Sask. Party voters to accept that the long-running and ever-reliable 10-year-old vehicle they’ve grown to love may be in need of a serious overhaul.

Maybe this is why so many of them are sounding overly defensive to the current criticism. Again, sometimes this defensiveness may seem justifiable.

After all, any leadership race amounts to some serious off-road action for which your vehicle is ill-prepared. For example, there is simply no doubt the Sask. Party could have handled its mail-in balloting process a lot better.

Similarly, the investigation into the controversy over whether leadership hopeful Alanna Koch had any sort of advantage in research material or otherwise prior to the Weyburn debate may be just another one of those passing stories that do happen in the course of 10 years in governance.

But what needs to be considered is all this is happening in the context of consecutive deficit budgets increasing public debt to record levels, the Global Transportation Hub land purchase now in the hands of out-of-province prosecutors and even the bizarre and unnecessary controversy created by Education Minister Bronwyn Eyre on Treaty education in the elementary school curriculum.

Sure, there are bound to be problems with that 10-year vehicle you love so much.

You argue the vehicle hasn’t really given you any serious trouble over the 10 years and that it’s still running better than most anything else you will find on the road. Clearly, the “there’s a bigger mess in NDP-led Alberta” argument has become the Saskatchewan Party government’s go-to response to most everything.

But if the new driver of the Sask. Party machine keeps ignoring all those engine noises that have been accumulating over the years, there’s a good chance this vehicle will be pulled off the road.

The time has come for a serious maintenance check — perhaps even a complete overhaul.