Saskatchewan Party looks to get over the Wall

Members of the governing party will pick a new leader Saturday

One of the country’s most consistently popular premiers will be replaced this weekend and observers say it will be a struggle for the successful candidate to fill the former boss’s shoes.

Members of the governing Saskatchewan Party will pick a leader Saturday from a quartet of Brad Wall’s former cabinet ministers and one senior civil servant.

None can match Wall’s political charisma and few, if any, would be recognized outside the province. The winner will get the keys to a government that finds itself floundering after a decade of unbridled economic and electoral success.

“They are going to be measured. How do they compare to his leadership? And they are all going to come up wanting,” says Ken Rasmussen, a professor in the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina. “None of them have his skills as a politician and none of them have the other advantage that he had, which is great economic circumstances.”

Wall, 52, announced his retirement in August after a decade as premier. With his government hurting from an unpopular budget and stung by scandal, he pitched his departure as a chance for renewal.

The front-runners to replace him are widely thought to be former advanced education and environment minister Scott Moe, the premier’s former deputy minister Alanna Koch and Ken Cheveldayoff, who has bounced around cabinet portfolios since the Sask. Party formed government in 2007.

“I certainly like what the polls are saying, but I’m working like I’m five points behind,” says Cheveldayoff, who, at almost $277,000 at the start of this month, had raised the most money — about $15,000 more than Koch.

Koch is trying to make the jump from her role as the province’s top civil servant to the premier’s office. Her resume as a political organizer stretches back to the days of former Tory premier Grant Devine.

“I’ve worked for two premiers: one on the political side of government and one on the professional public-service side, so I know exactly what I’m signing up for,” she says.

Moe has tried to position himself as a team-builder rather than someone who can replicate Wall’s style.

“I’m Scott Moe. I’m not Brad Wall and the other candidates are their own individual selves,” he says. “The fact of the matter is we are different.”

Observers have pegged former justice minister Gord Wyant and former social services minister Tina Beaudry-Mellor as long shots.