When it comes to life, sometimes a lot about what happens comes down to luck.
For Premier Brad Wall, a lot of his legacy – both good and bad – is based on market demand for that black liquid found underground and that mineral the world sprinkles on its crops.
A lot of the increased population and jobs seen in Saskatchewan during Wall’s reign was because the world needed the natural resources that we have. A lot of the investment in healthcare, infrastructure and education the province has seen is because of the revenues that come with high market prices.
If there’s one constant criticism I’ve had of Wall and the governing Saskatchewan Party, it’s that it didn’t save some of the money from the boom to deal with the bust situation we’re now dealing with. Yet to be fair, Saskatchewan isn’t the only place that hasn’t saved from the booms; Alberta and Saudi Arabia – which is in loads of debt despite the oil wealth – are other examples of people spending without thought to the future.
There are some things about Wall’s tenure that didn’t depend on luck. If you hear the man speak face-to-face, you’ll see an engaging man who draws people into the conversation. He was able to use the rhetoric of past NDP government – that of ensuring the less-well off are taken care of – all while keeping the Conservative part of his base with him.
If there’s going to be a challenge for the next leader of the Saskatchewan Party, it will be balancing the desires of both the liberals and conservatives in his party in such a way that both stay with a united free enterprise coalition that’s able to take on the socialist New Democrats. Failure to do so will allow the NDP to win easily.
So good luck to Wall in his retirement. He had a lot of luck, but he had the skill to keep his party together when that skill was needed.
