REGINA - The looming 2024 provincial election and the decision of two cabinet ministers to not run again played a key role Tuesday in the cabinet shuffle announced by Premier Scott Moe.
A number of changes were made around the cabinet table, with Dustin Duncan moving to the Crown Investments Corporation portfolio, Jeremy Cockrill moving to Duncan’s former Education portfolio, Christine Tell moving to Environment, Paul Merriman moving to Tell’s former role at Corrections, Policing and Public Safety, and Rural and Remote Health Minister Everett Hindley taking over from Merriman at Health.
The indication from Premier Moe to reporters was that this is the cabinet he wants to carry the government into the election next year. It is also clear the changes were prompted by the recent announcements by two ministers, Don Morgan and Dana Skoropad, to not run again in 2024.
“As we get into the last number of months or a year, year and a half, prior to an election, there’s always folks who are making decisions to leave politics for various reasons,” Moe said at Government House following the swearing-in.
“Ultimately, post-election, we’ll see folks that are entering politics. But with some of those decisions comes the need for some rearrangement with respect to how everyone serves within the government of Saskatchewan and cabinet.
“This ultimately, for the most part, looks like the cabinet which we will be going into the last year of our mandate, fourth year of our mandate to serve the people of Saskatchewan. And that’s exactly what I have asked each of these members of the Saskatchewan cabinet to do — is to listen to their colleagues, ultimately our colleagues are listening to our constituents across the province, and to govern to the very best of their ability on behalf of the people that we serve.”
Morgan, a mainstay in the cabinet since the Sask Party took office in 2007, had held the Crown Investments Corporation portfolio, while Skoropad held Environment. Both are now out of the new cabinet, though Morgan will take on the role of Provincial Secretary.
During the cabinet swearing-in ceremony at Government House Tuesday, Premier Moe paid extensive tribute to Morgan for his years of service. The indication from Moe to reporters was that Duncan was moved to Minister of Crown Investments Corporation based on a need for another senior member of the government in that role to fill Morgan’s shoes.
“Don Morgan’s carried a large workload in the cabinet, in the government of Saskatchewan for many many days and years,” said Moe . “We need a very qualified and competent individual who has been around a while to take on much of that workload and Mr. Duncan certainly is all of those.”
When one reporter asked if Tell’s move to Environment was a demotion, Moe said no.
“There’s no demotions. There’s never a bad seat around the cabinet table,” said Moe. “We have some important work that needs to happen in the Ministry of Environment.”
As expected, many of the questions Moe faced surrounded education, both on the change in education policy as well as funding levels.
Moe spoke on the recent changes in education policy to require schools to notify parents on name or pronoun changes of students, as well as the ban on third-party organizations making sex ed presentations in schools.
The Premier fielded a host of questions from reporters on the new policy, but he stood by it.
Moe made the point repeatedly that the policy was “designed to be an inclusive policy. It’s designed to include parents in their child’s school, and bring parents closer to their child’s classroom,” said Moe.
He said the new policy was “supported by 100 per cent of our caucus,” and pointed to a recent poll stating 86 per cent of Saskatchewan residents supported the policy as well.
While much chatter since the August 10 provincial byelections had suggested the policy was in response to the Sask United Party’s showing in Lumsden-Morse, Moe maintained that the new policy had been asked for by constituents, and discussed by caucus, over the last number of months.
Moe also said that as they work through the implementation of the policy, that “ultimately each and every parent is always there to love and support their child — but they are their child, and most certainly that’s what this policy is designed, is to bring the child and parent closer together when it pertains to what is going on in the school and the classroom.”
Moe adds the government is “not considering” a pause in the policy, something the Saskatchewan School Boards Association had called for in a letter released last week.
Premier Moe was also asked about a Fraser Institute report indicating Saskatchewan has dropped from first to sixth in per student education funding.
Moe responded that he hadn’t seen the report, but did point to inflationary challenges and did acknowledge a need to address funding on a more frequent basis than what they currently do.
Up to now, the province has based funding levels on a single annual count of enrolment numbers followed by a single funding announcement in the budget, but there have been challenges with enrolment growth happening in schools through the school year, prompting the province to top up funding the last couple of years. Moe suggested perhaps the government needed to look at that on a more frequent basis.
“I think moving forward due to the rise in inflationary costs that we have, how that impacts schools whether it be school costs, whether it be a student population increasing at a faster rate than what we’ve been used to the last number of decades, I think we have to have ongoing conversations between our minister, ministry of Education and the school divisions in the entire sector on how do we ensure that we are being responsive to those inflationary pressures, the number of the students that are coming into our school system on a more reactionary basis than that once-annual count, and that once-annual budgetary announcement as well,” said Moe. “We seem to be in a growth phase and we need to address that on a more frequent basis,” he said.
NDP unimpressed by cabinet changes
As for the New Democrats, they dismissed the cabinet changes as more of the same, saying it changed nothing for those facing cost of living or those waiting for surgeries.
At a media availability at the Legislature, the NDP’s Nicole Sarauer pointed out that Deputy Premier Donna Harpauer was staying put in the finance portfolio.
“There no change to the finance portfolio, which shows this tired and out-of-touch government is completely fine with the status quo. It’s time to have a government that will deliver cost-of-living relief for the people of this province.”
As for the change made at Education, Sarauer responded “I don’t know why they have Jeremy (Cockrill) in now who’s a much newer MLA, but it seems like it’s just going to be more of the same from the new Minister of Education since they didn’t announce they would be backing away from their policies they announced last week.”
On the education policy changes, Sarauer said it was “disappointing to see the new Minister and Premier not back down from their changes which we do know will hurt vulnerable kids in the classroom.”
“This policy needs to be scrapped,” said Sarauer.
Sarauer also accused the government of not consulting with those impacted by the policy.
“They didn’t talk to school boards. They didn’t talk to teachers. They didn’t talk to kids. They didn’t talk to those who work with vulnerable youth and it shows in the policy that they created.”
Sarauer also said she was “not surprised” to see a recent announcement of a lawsuit from Egale Canada and UR Pride over the change.
Egale stated in a post on the X platform that a letter was sent to Minister Cockrill, stating UR Pride will commence legal action if the policy was not suspended by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, August 30.
“We’ve heard from many people who expressed concerns about how this policy might fly in the face of the Human Rights Code, and the Charter,” said Sarauer. “Again, this government should be scrapping this policy, rather than fighting this litigation.”
