Premier Brad Wall confirmed Friday that Battlefords MLA Herb Cox will be leaving the cabinet.
Wall said to reporters that Cox is stepping aside due to health reasons. He is undergoing treatment related to cancer again this fall.
While Wall said “we think the prognosis is great,” the premier said Cox asked that he not be considered for the next cabinet.
In a news release, Cox said he would begin a stem cell treatment, a treatment he has undergone before in his fight against bone cancer during 2012.
The treatment took place in Saskatoon and forced Cox to curtail a number of public appearances as well as his work in the legislature. But his cancer did go into remission after the stem cell transplant.
“Now my doctor has said it’s time to do the second one,” said Cox in speaking to the News-Optimist Friday afternoon while en route back from Elk Ridge, where the Saskatchewan Party caucus held its annual retreat.
He expects the second transplant to take place later this month. Cox also said he has been on a “maintenance-chemo” for the last few months, to “keep it in check until the time came that they felt we needed to do this transplant.”
Cox felt that with the time to be spent in the hospital followed by the recovery time, “I just felt that I couldn’t continue to do the job I needed to do as a cabinet minister. It takes a certain amount of energy and commitment so I just felt it was in the best interest to step aside.”
Yet despite that, Cox felt his energy level was as high as ever.
“Strangely enough, I feel like I’ve had better energy this past summer than I’ve had for several years,” he said, adding “it certainly hasn’t been an issue at all.”
For the time being, Cox remains Environment Minister. His departure takes effect when the new cabinet is announced and Wall indicated that shuffle is to happen in the next couple of weeks.
Also leaving cabinet at that time will be Minister of the Economy Bill Boyd, who has decided to step down from cabinet. Boyd was one of the “original 8” MLAs who left the Progressive Conservatives and Liberals in 1997 to form the Saskatchewan Party.
Wall confirmed the two departures to reporters at the Saskatchewan Party’s caucus retreat in Elk Ridge. He also said both Boyd and Cox made their announcements about their departure from cabinet to caucus at that meeting.
The departures create some big vacancies to fill in the next cabinet. The cabinet also recently saw the departure of Don McMorris, who resigned as deputy premier and as minister for SGI and SLGA following an arrest for impaired driving last week.
Cox had been in cabinet since May of last year. During his time in the ministry Cox dealt with two major issues: the forest fire situation that ravaged northern Saskatchewan in 2015, and the Husky oil spill into the North Saskatchewan River this year.
As for highlights of his time in cabinet, Cox said he will remember his times up north during the wildfires.
“I certainly gained a whole new understanding for the north,” said Cox.
He will also remember some of the regulation changes that came in, as well as his work on keeping invasive species out of Saskatchewan.
“Just being at the cabinet table and seeing the amount of work that cabinet ministers do and the dedication and hours they put in to try make the province better” was something Cox said stood out.
As for the future, Cox will continue to be an MLA for the Battlefords and said he would continue to be involved with addressing the oil spill situation in that capacity.
His prognosis, he says, is good.
“I’m very optimistic about the future,” said Cox.
As for handling issues, his colleagues have offered to step up and assist constituents on issues while he deals with his health issues, and his constituency office will be dealing with constituents on a day-to-day basis as well.
