Bronwyn Eyre was sworn in on Feb. 2 as the new minister of Energy and Resources, as well as minister responsible for SaskEnergy and SaskWater.
Along with her appointment comes a change in the ministry’s name. Several years ago, the Ministry of Energy and Resources was subsumed by what was the then-new Ministry of Economy. The letterhead and business cards of the staff all said “Ministry of Economy.”
But there were actually two ministers – one overall for Economy, which included many aspects of what used to be called economic development, and one which focused on energy and resources within the ministry.
It led to the curious situation of having two ministers for essentially the same thing, at least when it came to the oil and gas industry. Thus, at various events, one could see either the Minister of Economy or Minister of Energy and Resources show up.
The Economy name is gone now, and the Ministry of Economy, which had been an amalgamation of several previous ministries, has now been split into the Ministry of Export and Trade Development, Ministry of Immigration and Career Training, and Ministry of Energy and Resources. Jeremy Harrison is responsible for the first two areas and Eyre is responsible for the third.
Energy and Resources will be more regulatory-related, whereas promotion of the industry will fall under Export and Trade Development.
In her previous role as Minister of Education, Eyre attracted some controversy regarding treaty education in the classrooms.
A former radio broadcaster, Eyre was elected MLA for Saskatoon Stonebridge-Dakota in the 2016 provincial election.
