Skip to content

My two Bits - Thirty years later, and here we are again

It was the late-1980s, and Grant Devine’s Progressive Conservative government was in its second term in Saskatchewan. They had run into tough economic times – drought and high interest rates.

It was the late-1980s, and Grant Devine’s Progressive Conservative government was in its second term in Saskatchewan. They had run into tough economic times – drought and high interest rates. The price of oil and agricultural commodities dropped drastically. Government revenues took a nose dive as well.

The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan says this:

“The government ran consecutive deficit budgets, accumulating a debt of over $1.5 billion its first four years in office. Sensing that he might lose the 1986 election, Devine opened the coffers… The strategy worked… Devine won a second term. In doing so, the PCs ran up a deficit of over $1.2 billion in 1986–87, a far cry from the deficit figure of $389 million that had been presented in the pre-election budget.

“The fiscal crisis led to cutbacks in services, cancellation of programs, and firing of employees.”

There were other problems Devine and Co. was dealing with. GigaText, a computerized system for translating government documents from English to French was a colossal failure. The Saskatchewan government paid almost $3 million dollars for $39,000 worth of computers, with wonderful profits going to people with connections to the party. When Eric Berntson, the real power behind the throne and the man who struck the deal was asked about this, he shrugged it off, said the government got value for its money.

In the mid-1980s, a young fellow by the name of Brad Wall was a ministerial assistant in the Devine government. After the government’s defeat in 1991, he managed a country music museum that was relocated to Swift Current from Kitchener, ON, after receiving a significant grant from the Devine crew in its dying days. The museum went bankrupt in 1995.

Another involved in the party at the time was Bill Boyd, a farmer from Kindersley who was first elected in 1991, became the PC leader in 1994, and helped form the Saskatchewan Party in 1997.

Fast forward to here and now.

Brad Wall is premier of the province. Bill Boyd was Minister of the Economy – how’s that for being in control of everything? – and the real power behind the throne. Times were good, in fact extremely good, and the government was rolling in the dough from natural resource royalties.

Boyd resigned from cabinet in August, stating, “It’s time for me to step back in order for others to have a chance to serve in cabinet.” After that, we learned he was a key player in government land dealings west of Regina that have been questioned because the prices paid seem awfully high, and the people receiving the money may know Boyd personally. The government says it got value for the money.

The Wall government talked about setting up a “rainy day fund” in their first term, but that was not done.

Back in 2012, the Leader-Post wrote late last year, Wall “asked former University of Saskatchewan president Peter MacKinnon to advise the province on how it could follow the example of more than 60 jurisdictions around the world and build a Saskatchewan Futures Fund. Norway, for example, is virtually recession-proof, thanks to the $1-trillion oil fund it has accumulated since 1990.

“MacKinnon came up with a modest plan to sock away a portion of our resource revenues, but the government did nothing.”

They spent (frittered away?) their windfalls, and now face a deficit of over $1 billion, which is about double what they had forecast in the spring. Services are being cut, programs are cancelled or reduced, wages have been frozen, and people will lose their jobs.

The salaries of MLAs, as well as their travel expenses and committee work allowances increased 1.6% in April, however. An MLA makes $96,000; everybody who has a “position” is well over $100,000.

It’s been 30 years. Little has changed. Little has been learned from history. Political expediency still outweighs good government.

Comments? Go to www.mytwobits.ca, where this and previous columns are also available.