Eric Berntson was Devine’s right-hand man
Berntson leaves legacy of public service and controversy after years in politics
Former senator and deputy premier of Saskatchewan Eric Berntson died on Sunday.
First elected in 1975 as the MLA for Souris-cannington, Berntson would go on to become Grant Devine’s right-hand man during Devine’s tenure as premier.
“I love the guy; he was a very loyal and good friend,” Devine said Wednesday.
The former premier credits Berntson with getting him into politics and elected as premier.
Calling him an “extremely bright individual,” Devine said everyone in Saskatchewan owes something to the former MLA and senator.
“We worked well together, he was extremely talented and we will miss his personality, and he certainly helped build a different Saskatchewan,” Devine said, adding Berntson is responsible for bringing investments to the province and negotiating trade deals.
“He devoted his life to public life,” said Devine.
“Wherever he went, when people talk about him, they will say he was so talented and he worked so endlessly.”
Dale Eisler, a longtime Saskatchewan political columnist for the Leader-post and current senior policy fellow at the University of Regina’s Johnson Shoyama Graduate
School of Public Policy, said Berntson was “the single most influential figure in the Devine government.”
Beyond his role as deputy premier, Berntson also served in other senior cabinet positions: he was minister of economic development and trade as well as minister of agriculture.
“He had the major files ... some people used to describe him as the power behind the throne,” said Eisler, who described Berntson as a “gregarious” and “outgoing” person. “Very engaging, and a good politician, in terms of in the House and in debates. He was a very capable guy who brought a lot of experience to politics.”
Devine agreed, and both noted the impact Berntson had in building the Progressive Conservative Party in Saskatchewan.
Rick Swenson, who served as an MLA with Berntson starting in 1985, called his late friend a “tireless worker.”
“Broad shoulders, he wasn’t afraid of work,” Swenson said.
In 1990, Berntson was named to the Senate by then-prime minister Brian Mulroney.
In 1999, Berntson was convicted of one count of fraud exceeding $5,000 for illegally obtaining $41,735 from two government expense allowances between 1988 and 1990, when he was an MLA in Devine’s government. He was one of 16 former Tory politicians and caucus workers convicted of fraud or breach of trust scams from 1987 to 1991.
After exhausting all appeal options, he resigned his Senate seat in 2001 and began serving a oneyear jail sentence, from which he was released after four months.
Swenson said the impact of the charges on Berntson’s legacy, as well as of the former senator’s appearance in a 1991 videotape alongside Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski and former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall in which homophobic slurs and mocking Ukrainian accents are used, will be debated for a long time.
“When you start taking things for granted, you start to appear to the public (as) out of touch, I think that has dogged Eric,” he said.
Earlier in life, the former senator served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He flew for that service, as well as the Royal Canadian Navy, before entering politics.
Wherever he went, when people talk about him, they will say he was so talented and he worked so endlessly.