The wife of a former Saskatchewan Party MLA and minster in the Brad Wall-led government has written a book looking at the creation of the party.
Gail Krawetz, wife of former Canora MLA Ken Krawetz recently released Risk and Reward: The Birth and Meteoric Rise of the SaskParty.
Risk & Reward is the first book to detail the birth and rise to power of the Saskatchewan Party. With behind-the-scenes insight, author Gail Krawetz describes in accurate and personal detail the merging of interests from four Liberal and four Progressive Conservatives in the mid-1990s that would form the party and bring it to power by 2007, a historically-rapid timeframe of just 10 years.
An active newspaper columnist and blogger, Krawetz, who resides and writes at her home in Invermay, said “former MLA June Draude encouraged me to write the story.”
Drawing on her experience writing for local papers, blogger, and penning articles for magazines Krawetz started to look into the idea in greater detail.
“Research revealed that nothing had been written about the beginnings and formation of the SaskParty,” she told Yorkton This Week.
Krawetz said the research included more than 50 interviews, as well as delving into news articles and reports.
“The challenge was to present this as an easily-followed narrative while explaining the political realities of the day,” she told YTW. “It is written in a conversational style, unlike most political and historical tomes.”
The book covers the period of time following the 1995 election to the SaskParty electoral success in 2007.
With the research findings in mind Krawetz said she felt some urgency to pursue the story.
“The original founders are getting older, (we’ve already lost Ben Heppner), and memories are starting to fade,” she said, adding she felt it was “imperative to get this story recorded. It is a significant part of Saskatchewan’s history.”
On the website dedicated to the book, (www.riskrewardbook.ca), Krawetz said what makes the history of the Saskatchewan Party so interesting are the people who played very pivotal roles when it first started.
“They started with no members and absolutely no money in the bank,” said Krawetz in a release on the site. “But the one thing they did have was the eight MLAs in the Legislative Assembly.”
The idea of a merger between the Conservatives and Liberals was no great epiphany. The possibility had been contemplated and discussed in coffee shops and kitchen tables by many generations of Saskatchewan voters, suggested the release. Risk and Reward is more than a historical account of facts and dates; it’s about the colourful personalities who played pivotal roles in the lead up to and the formation of the Saskatchewan Party.
“I wanted to share the untold stories about how events really occurred,” said Krawetz in the release. “Because there has been a fair bit of speculation about how things unfolded, I wanted to tell it from the perspective of the people who lived that story.”
It is the stories of the people involved which makes the book compelling, said Krawetz.
It is “the personal stories which have breathed life into the story,” she said.
Overall Krawetz said she is very satisfied with the finished story.
“I am very satisfied with the final product,” she told YTW. “I have had very positive reviews and readers have told me that they can’t put it down.”
Krawetz was born and raised in Saskatchewan. As a teacher of history, she passionately shared her love of Saskatchewan with her students. As a teacher of English, she was a strenuous advocate of quality writing, and was known for her tough editing of students’ work, noted her bio. She was a high school teacher for more than 35-years.
Risk and Reward is available online at Fundrazr.com/risk-rewardbook, in Saskatoon at McNally Robinson Booksellers, and at various Saskatchewan Indigo, Chapters and Coles stores, including at the Parkland Mall in Yorkton where she will be signing books Thursday, Nov. 16, starting at 10 a.m.
