It wasn鈥檛 a great fall session for Premier Brad Wall鈥檚 Saskatchewan Party, although it wasn鈥檛 exactly a horrific one, either.
Similarly, it wasn鈥檛 a great fall session for rural voters, although rural Saskatchewan has certainly had worse ones.
The problem for both is likely the unknown 鈥� certainly the one big unknown of falling oil prices and how much of an impact it lost government revenue will have on accomplishing the things that still need to be accomplished.
And, clearly, what Wall and his government learned this fall session is that for however much they think they might have accomplished, there is always a lot more to do.
Consider the array of health care problems the NDP Opposition brought before the legislature this fall 鈥� most of them related to nursing home care and some of those care homes in rural Saskatchewan.
To lay all the blame at the feet of the Wall government isn鈥檛 right. There have been problems in nursing homes for decades in this province 鈥� many of them, the direct result of the fact that nursing home now means dealing with levels 3 and 4 residents that have far greater challenges.
And to Wall鈥檚 credit, there would seem little doubt that he and his government do take the challenges seriously.
Responding in the last question period of the fall sitting to the to death of Fern Chingos 鈥� a 65-year-old North Battleford woman who died in a Saskatoon care after being given pain medication to which she was allergic _ a solemn Wall said such troubling health issues like this were precisely why his government hired more nurses, more doctors and spent millions of dollars on health care projects after assuming power in 2007.
鈥淏oth sides seem earnest in wanting a commitment to optimum care for seniors,鈥� Wall told reporters later.
This is true, but it is his Sask. Party that鈥檚 in government right now. And continuing to blame the problem of the supposed 鈥渋nfrastructure deficit鈥� left behind by the previous debt-plagued NDP administration seems to have run its course after seven years in power.
Moreover, nursing home care was an issue in which Wall took ownership a year ago when Health Minister Dustin Duncan sent every health district CEO to every nursing home in province on their fact-finding mission.
What they returned with was picture that Duncan clearly didn鈥檛 like. But a year later, the picture hasn鈥檛 exactly gotten much better. Instead, the Sask. Party government found itself in owning a big problem that became one of a series of a re-occurring theme this fall session.
Falling oil prices, Sask. Power鈥檚 smart meters catching fire on people鈥檚 house, excessive sums spent on consultants including the $40-million John Black and Associates for lean in health care also were re-occurring themes this session.
Add to this list another potential problem that the Wall government postponed at the last moment.
A new Surface Rights Act setting out drilling regulations for oil or gas companies on private property was supposed to be introduced. The bill was never introduced.
Wall explained at session鈥檚 end that it was largely due to the drop in oil prices 鈥� a puzzling answer until you think about.
Any changes to current system in favour of land and ranch owners will not go over with oil companies. Even worse from a political perspective, it may provide oil companies with an excuse for discontinuing exploration 鈥� something that the Wall government surely doesn鈥檛 want to happen.
This may be a bit of a reprieve for rural Saskatchewan landowners, but hardly a victory. Many of them want to see greater restrictions on access to their proper than currently exist.
All in all, it was just one more thing that made for a not-so-great session for either the government or rural Saskatchewan.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 22 years.
