DOING THE SHUFFLE
SaskParty prepares for election
If there’s one thing Premier Brad Wall and his new deputy premier Don McMorris can agree on, it’s that McMorris has some big shoes to fill.
Being Saskatchewan Party stalwarts they obviously agree on more than that, but those big shoes were the theme that ran through Thursday’s cabinet shuffle in light of deputy premier and finance minister Ken Krawetz’s retirement from politics at the end of this term.
McMorris’s new gig sees him pick up the reins as deputy leader, though he’ll keep his other portfolios as minister of crown investments, and minister responsible for SGI, the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority, the Public Service Commission and lean.
Kevin Doherty replaces Krawetz as finance minister, Scott Moe takes over from Doherty as minister of advanced education, and Government Relations Minister Jim Reiter adds minister responsible for SaskTel to his current duties.
Herb Cox enters cabinet for the first time, taking over from Moe as environment minister and minister responsible for SaskWater and the Water Security Agency. Paul Merriman will replace Cox as government whip.
It wasn’t a huge shuffle — more of a light swing around the dance floor than a full-blown waltz.
Wall put that down to the need for “continuity and stability” going into the election.
Given that voters will head to the polls in less than a year, you would be forgiven for thinking perhaps the safety of the new ministers’ seats played into Wall’s decision.
The premier said while he “didn’t do a seat calculation,” he also doesn’t think any of the new appointments’ constituencies “would be a real concern,” though he added “I don’t want to sound presumptuous,” and said seats are never a sure thing.
Despite the collective experience of the new appointments, they contained a glaring lack of female faces.
Wall admitted he would “like to have more women sitting on (the Sask. Party) side of the house,” but said “that wasn’t part of the calculation here today.”
Also lacking was a firm commitment on the new environment minister’s stance on global warming.
While he thinks it’s “something we all need to be aware of” and doesn’t believe it’s made up, Cox said, “Those are the kinds of things I want to talk to my officials about and find out where we’re at as far as the science goes.”
“I want to dig deeper into the science of it and find out what’s going on and what we can do to do our part to either delay it or stop it all together.”
On the financial side of things, Doherty said he would like to “continue and even enhance” consultations with “major third parties” such as regional health authorities, school boards and universities, though he wants to “do more of that during the course of the fiscal year, not just at budget time.”
The Opposition doesn’t think much of the changes.
In a statement, deputy leader Trent Wotherspoon said, “These guys are getting more and more tired, but Mr. Wall has no bench strength he can trust to replace them. There really isn’t a next-generation cabinet there.”