Swift Current MLA receives additional responsibilities in provincial legislature
Swift Current MLA Everett Hindley will have some additional duties when the fall session of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly starts on Oct. 23.
He has been appointed as the government whip for the Saskatchewan Party caucus in the provincial legislature, and he will continue to be the legislative secretary to Minister of Trade and Export Development Jeremy Harrison.
The expansion of Hindley’s duties is part of some changes to the cabinet and caucus that was announced by Premier Scott Moe on Aug. 13.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Hindley said. “I’m thankful for the premier giving me the opportunity to serve as the government whip. It will be an exciting challenge and I look forward to speaking to some of my fellow colleagues who have served in that position before, just to learn about how they handled the position, and I look forward to that opportunity this fall session, once we get underway.”
He received the call from the premier’s office a day before the formal announcement was made about the cabinet shuffle, which include a change of portfolios for three cabinet ministers and some changes to the government leadership in the legislature.
“I was, to be honest, a little caught off guard,” he said. “You never know what to expect when the premier is calling your cellphone, but that’s what happened and I’m just very fortunate that he decided to give me the chance to serve in this position.”
At the same time Hindley understands the inner workings of government, because he was former Premier Brad Wall’s executive assistant for 10 years before being elected as Swift Current’s current MLA in March 2018.
“These things are always unexpected,” Hindley said. “When there are changes made, whether it’s the caucus structure or the cabinet, those decisions are made just with a small handful of people in the premier’s office that know what’s going to be taking place.”
He felt his previous experience as a staff person might be useful when he takes on his new duties as government whip.
“It definitely helps and I knew a large number of the MLAs when I got elected,” he noted. “I worked with them as a staff person, and then getting elected you get to know them just a little bit better of course. … I hope it will make the transition a little bit easier in terms of being able to fill this particular role, and everybody has been great. I’ve had a ton of MLAs reach out to me, either by call or text, and offer their congratulations.”
He has been explaining to quite a few people since the announcement what the duties of a government whip are. Each party in the legislature appoints a whip to fulfill certain duties.
“Unless you’re a keen political watcher, a lot of people don’t know exactly what a whip does,” he said. “The government has a whip and the opposition also has a whip, and that person is responsible for making sure that their MLAs are in the chamber when there’s important votes being called, so that we have enough votes in the chamber. I’m also responsible for making sure that our MLAs on the government side are informed of the business before the assembly and what’s taking place in the House each day during the sitting.”
He will have some other duties in his position as government whip to ensure that the governing party’s MLAs carry out various functions when the legislature is in session.
“I’m also responsible for arranging for speakers to take part in various debates and committees, and that work that occurs during a session,” he explained. “So that’s essentially what the whip is responsible for. A lot of coordination of members on the government side and making sure that everybody is where they need to be and that we have the right people speaking to the right bills and the right debates.”
These additional duties and responsibilities will mean that he will receive an extra allowance. MLAs currently receive an annual salary of $98,395. Both the government and opposition whip receive an additional allowance of $14,640.
“It does mean some additional meetings for myself,” he said. “So serving as the whip means I’m part of the House Services Committee as well. Each day there’ll be an additional meeting that I have to be a part of in the morning, just because we sit in the afternoon. … A lot of the stuff is specific to when the legislature is in session. So for that time period in late October to early December, and again from March until May. That’s when the bulk of the work will occur, but I’m sure there’ll be some other things outside of the session as well that I’ll be responsible for.”
He does not mind being busy and his previous work in government had been a good experience, where he learned to multitask and to manage his schedule and priorities effectively.