Kenneth Brown
of The Crossroads
Saskatchewan Party members have elected Scott Moe to be the party’s new leader and the province’s next premier after a leadership convention in Saskatoon.
The leadership convention was held at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon on Jan. 27 and after a total of five ballots, Moe was announced as the premier-designate for Saskatchewan. The vote has been deemed a success with a turnout of more than 60 per cent of the party’s members.
Moe has been elected as leader of the Sask. Party and he will continue as the premier-designate until he is sworn in to the premier’s office by the province’s lieutenant governor. Moe has served as MLA in the constituency of Rosthern-Shellbrook since he was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2011.
According to a news release, a total of 17,159 Sask. Party members voted in the leadership election for a turnout of 63.3 per cent. Scott Moe was announced as the party’s newest leader after receiving 8,075 votes on the fifth and final ballot.
Scott Moe is the new leader of the Sask. Party and Saskatchewan’s new premier.
Moe won the leadership election with 53.87 per cent of the total vote. Alanna Koch finished as the runner-up to Moe after the weekend’s convention. The other three candidates were Tina Beaudry-Mellor, Ken Cheveldayoff and Gordon Wyant.
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During a media availability in Regina on Monday, Moe said he met with the lieutenant governor and he was asked to form government. He told reporters he accepted and the first order of business is to continue with the transition to move ahead after former premier Brad Wall.
He noted that he has been working with several of his elected colleagues and staff members to carry the transition forward. The transition team is led by Ken Krawetz and Reg Downs, he told reporters. Moe said he anticipated the government would be sworn in by the lieutenant governor by the end of this week.
The focus will be on developing the province’s budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year, he explained. Moe said he brought forward new policies during his leadership campaign and he will be consulting with the other leadership candidates as the process continues.
He said several policies were also brought forward by the other leadership candidates, so he wants to have their input into the process. The premier-designate said the party would then start to prepare for the spring session in Regina.
“We’re going to work very hard to get our campaign commitments into this upcoming budget,” Moe said in response to a question about his commitment to put an additional $30 million into education, adding the government would work to get its financial and non-financial commitments into the budget.
He noted that in speaking to all of the leadership candidates, he has assured them there will be roles for them in government going forward. He also met with Wall on Monday morning and he said, though he will reach out for guidance at times, they had a really good discussion.
The province’s next premier said Wall has provided “tremendous leadership” to the people of Saskatchewan and he has been thankful to work with him and be part of his cabinet. He noted that it is an honour to be elected as the party’s leader.
“I am excited and I am extremely humbled to have this opportunity on behalf of the people of Saskatchewan to work with them as their leader and ultimately as their premier,” Moe said. He added that he is proud to work with all members of government and the responsibility of the premier’s office is not being taken lightly.
Jim Reiter, the province’s health minister and MLA for Rosetown-Elrose, was a strong supporter of Scott Moe. He said he is “very happy” with the incoming premier and that Moe will do a great job.
He noted that he was a big supporter of Moe’s leadership bid and he tried to help with his colleague’s campaign as much as possible. Reiter said it was gratifying to see the result and he chose to back his colleague for several reasons, such as work ethic.
“He’s one of the hardest working guys I know,” he said of Moe. He believes he is well liked by nearly everybody he has met. “He’s very smart, very modest. Never seen a bit of arrogance out of the guy and I admire that. He’s very well thought of with his colleagues.”
Reiter said there is always tension in a leadership race or election, and the main thing now is to move forward under the new leader. There will be a cabinet shuffle soon and there are exciting things on the horizon for Saskatchewan, he added.
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