Premier elect Brad Wall is making some hasty public decisions before he has officially been sworn in as Premier. He has decided to cut a cheque to people who are still required to pay the PST on used cars until his government can officially remove the tax. It is a Premier-designate proclaiming law without any legislative or regulatory authority to support the law. Since he has waited since boyhood to become Premier one would wonder what difference a few weeks would make to provide Wall the opportunity to make these decisions with the proper authority. On the other hand maybe Wall and his inner circle believe that Premier-designate Brad Wall is the only authority required.
The other decision Wall has made is to reconsider the legal action against the federal government initiated by former NDP Premier Lorne Calvert over the equalization formula. When Wall was in opposition he supported the NDP on this issue. Now he questions the legality of the legal action against the federal government. One would have thought he would have questioned the legality of the action against the federal government when he was the leader of the opposition. Federal conservative candidates in Saskatchewan, singing from the same page, claimed that oil and gas revenues would be removed from the equalization formula under a Harper led conservative government. Everyone who isn’t over their head in conservative partisanship believes the conservatives broke an election promise. Goodness, even John Gormley believes they technically broke their promise. The Harper government did move in the March 2007 federal budget to make changes to the formula and has removed oil and gas, but he also introduced a cap which kept oil and gas revenues in play regarding the formula.
I am excited about the prospects of better government with the young, energetic Premier-designate, Brad Wall leading the troops of hope against the challenges that face our province. I can only hope he doesn’t move too quickly and trip out of the starting gate. I don’t think anyone in the province expects our new Premier and his government to start making decisions before they are well prepared to proceed. I believe the SaskParty has a good chance of winning the next three elections, but they will have to move forward strategically and give Saskatchewan residents an opportunity to gain trust in our new Premier, Brad Wall and our new SaskParty government.
