Moose Jaw -
It was initially very surprising last week to see veteran Saskatchewan Party MLAs Lyle Stewart, Wayne Elhard and Dan D'Autremont turfed from cabinet.
The three hadn't performed exceptionally poorly (certainly not worse than the surviving Christine Tell) and all three had stuck with the Sask. Party through the days in Opposition.
Instead, Premier Brad Wall moved four rural MLAs into cabinet, three of them young. The one veteran was area MLA Yogi Huyghebaert of Wood River.
On first blush, I was surprised with the dumping of experienced politicians.
Ultimately, I have a theory on the departure of those three: the three may be considering not running again.
By 2011, Stewart and Elhard will have been MLAs for 12 years. For D'Autremont, it will be 20 years.
In politician years, that's quite a bit for Stewart and Elhard and downright impressive for D'Autremont. Sometimes, if an MLA is not going to run again, a premier will take him or her out of cabinet and use the cabinet posts to promote someone who will be running again.
While this does not necessarily mean a premier has the best cabinet possible, it does help electorally speaking and cabinet selection is often based on political strategy more than competency.
Former premier Lorne Calvert also did this when he removed Andrew Thomson from the role of Finance minister after Thomson announced he wasn't running again.
While I have no firm evidence that this may have been a factor, the experience and age is definitely there for the three to consider retiring. Plus, three of the four new ones, Jim Reiter, Dustin Duncan and Jeremy Harrison are all young and could be MLAs for many years to come.
The fourth person tossed from cabinet was a victim of the competency issue. Darryl Hickie had fumbled and stumbled his way through a few problems as Corrections, Policing and Public Safety minister. Hickie's poor handling of the accidental release of inmates from the Regina jail last year was an example of incompetency.
What's interesting with the departure of Hickie, the MLA for Prince Albert-Carlton, is that Saskatchewan's two largest cities not named Regina or Saskatoon are now both bereft of cabinet representation.
Moose Jaw was left out of Wall's first cabinet. That hasn't changed, as the party's lone MLA in the city, Warren Michelson, remains on the outside, although he has moved up from vice-chairman of the public accounts committee to chairman of the standing committee on intergovernmental affairs and justice.
Both Moose Jaw and Prince Albert have one Sask. Party MLA (who both won by narrow margins of victory) and one New Democrat MLA. Interestingly, Wall is not worrying about trying to boost Michelson and Hickie up for the next election, at least not at this point.
Some people think the four largest cities should have automatic cabinet representation. While Michelson's not in, Huyghebaert and Health Minister Don McMorris of Indian Head-Milestone are MLAs from ridings neighbouring Moose Jaw.
That's better than Prince Albert. The neighbouring ridings for that city, Batoche and Saskatchewan Rivers, both have Sask. Party backbenchers.
Some people may see the absence of Prince Albert and Moose Jaw from cabinet as snubbing these areas. I don't think so. Wall obviously gave Prince Albert a try and decided Hickie wasn't cut out for cabinet. It appears, he's now decided to use people he thinks are cabinet material rather than use his only options available in Moose Jaw and Prince Albert.
So, while it appears Wall can't claim that he has chosen his new cabinet strictly based on the best options available (or else he wouldn't have dismissed some or all of Stewart, Elhard and D'Autremont), his decisions aren't all politically-motivated either, or else Michelson would be in there.
Jason Small can be reached at 691-1255.
