Kenneth Brown
of The Crossroads
Saskatchewan Party leadership candidate Alanna Koch says she wants to continue building on the legacy of service that will be left behind by Premier Brad Wall.
There are six candidates running for the Saskatchewan Party leadership. They will be featured in a series of articles over a five-week period leading up to Dec. 8, the deadline for when party memberships must be obtained or renewed in order to vote in the leadership election.
Alanna Koch
The leadership candidates are Koch, Tina Beaudry-Mellor, Ken Cheveldayoff, Rob Clarke, Scott Moe and Gordon Wyant. The candidates are being featured by the order in which interviews had been conducted either by phone or in person.
While the New Democratic Party of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Liberal Party will also hold leadership conventions in 2018, the leadership race for the Saskatchewan Party has greater significance because the winner will become the province’s next premier.
To be eligible to vote in the leadership election, new memberships and membership renewals must be received by the Saskatchewan Party headquarters by no later than Dec. 8 at 5 p.m. or people will not be added to the official voters list. The leadership election takes place on Jan. 27.
Koch has spent several years as a champion for agriculture and a senior government executive. Her political involvement includes her most recent role as deputy minister to the premier and cabinet secretary, a position she resigned from when she entered the leadership race. Koch held her previous position as deputy minister of agriculture for nine years, and she has been the chief of staff to several cabinet ministers.
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As for her agricultural roles, Koch has served as president of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, executive director of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, director for Agricore United, and on boards for the Global Institute for Food Security and Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership. She has also been a school trustee.
Koch, who lives on a farm near Edenwold, said she was in the middle of her tour across the province. She said her goal is to get to all 61 of the province’s constituencies, and she had just past the 30-day point of her campaign at the time of the interview.
The long-time public servant said she had been to more than 30 constituencies in 18 communities so far, but it included Regina and Saskatoon where there are several constituencies. Her decision to run for party leader makes sense.
“Saskatchewan has been really good to me and I feel like this is the next step for me to really make a difference in the province,” she said, recognizing she has spent her working life in Saskatchewan and, if elected as leader, she wants to help with opportunities for younger generations to build their careers in the province as she has done.
She said she has a diverse background with several years spent serving in government, but she has also served in the private and non-profit sectors. She said, “I really want to be able to build on the legacy that Brad Wall has already built.”
Koch said she had several people encourage her to run. She is the only leadership candidate that is not an elected member of the Legislative Assembly, so she would wait to see how the voting goes before deciding when and where to run for a seat in the legislature.
There are byelections coming up in a couple of constituencies including Kindersley and Swift Current, so the candidate said she would consider one of the openings if she is elected as party leader. She would then hope to run in her home constituency in the future.
“It would certainly be my intention to get elected very quickly after becoming leader, so I wouldn’t want to have too much time pass by,” she commented. “To be an effective leader and premier, you need to be in the legislature.”
She noted that she believes the breadth and depth of her experience could be a huge benefit to the province and its people. Her time in the private sector includes running a consulting business, but she stressed that she has experience in a wide range sectors both public and private.
Koch said she believes the party has been on the right path under Wall, so she wants to stay the course. She recognized that she is not Wall, so she would bring her own perspective and new energy to the position to help keep Saskatchewan strong.
Her policy principles include free market solutions, free trade, a competitive business environment, fiscally responsible government, science-based decision making, and how the current growth and prosperity needs to benefit all of the province’s residents. Koch said it is important to be mindful of the province’s most vulnerable people.
The candidate said she believes the people of Saskatchewan have a lot in common no matter where they live or what they do. In her eyes, the province’s citizens are interested in a good quality of life, a great place to raise a family, good infrastructure, a strong economy and socially responsible government.
She noted that the similarities exist whether people are in an urban or rural setting, but one of the differences is smaller urban centres in rural areas have different challenges with respect to maintaining infrastructure.
“The fact that I know how government operates,” Koch said, recognizing she was responsible for 11,000 public servants as deputy minister to the premier, “really allows me to understand that when governments make decisions – that then public servants need to carry out in implementation – that you need to make sure that you’re really clear in your direction.”
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