It鈥檚 been more than a quarter century since Grant Devine鈥檚 Progressive Conservative government was ousted in Saskatchewan and we still haven鈥檛 come to terms with the man.
There again, it seems Grant Devine hasn鈥檛 quite come to terms with his political legacy.
This appears to be what we have learned from what should be a legitimate appointment of Devine to the board of the University of Saskatchewan.
As a graduate of the U of S and as an agriculture PhD., Grant Devine is as qualified an appointment as anyone. But as the province鈥檚 former agriculture minister and premier, he should be viewed as especially qualified 鈥� especially, to rural people who are often under-represented on such important boards.
Can we deny that those who serve the public in an elected capacity and who sacrifice so much of their careers and family life to the rest of us are undeserving? Of course not. Quite the opposite.
Moreover, this is a former premier. We name buildings and dams after premiers. (In fact, there was a rumour that the Ag college building on campus would be named after him 鈥� an idea supposedly nixed by the university.)
To begrudge a comparatively modest board appoint to Devine a quarter century later does seem petty.
Finally, many of those personally critical of Devine today are people who have never met the man. As an individual, you will find few people who are more personally decent.
And even as a politician, almost no one who cares less or has complained less about the massive political criticism he has received than Grant Devine.
Alas, this may also be his problem.
In an interview with Saskatoon StarPhoenix reporter Alex MacPherson who broke the story (interestingly, neither the U of S nor the Saskatchewan Party government who appointed him made much of a fuss about this appointment) Devine said: 鈥淚 expected the reaction, but I have the opportunity to build some things, and certainly build at the university, and I鈥檓 very proud of it.鈥�
Asked by MacPherson whether he considers himself a polarizing figure, Devine replied: 鈥淚 guess I do if you鈥檙e from the real sincere political left because we changed so much.鈥�
He cited investments in pension funds and capital markets and support of free trade as examples (but didn鈥檛 specifically mention his privatization that stopped at his unsuccessful bid to sell SaskEnergy).
As for his government鈥檚 massive deficits that saddled the province with an additional $10 billion in public debt in 10 years, Devine cited low commodity prices and the need to 鈥渢o help farmers and homeowners鈥� with 22 per cent interest rates.
鈥淵es. Do they like to complain that we had a deficit? I guess so,鈥� Devine said. 鈥淒amned if you do, damned if you don鈥檛.鈥�
This is about what one might expect from a politician justifying what was, admittedly, a bad political record of fiscal prudence.
Devine does ignore massive tax cuts and giveaway grants that were actually more responsible for the debt.
But far more problematic was Devine鈥檚 justification in the interview of the PC caucus communication allowance fraud scandal that resulted in 16 criminal convictions.
鈥淚t鈥檚 low-hanging fruit, politically,鈥� Devine told MacPherson. 鈥淚t was a couple of hundred thousand dollars, so it wasn鈥檛 a lot of money.鈥�
This wasn鈥檛 low-hanging fruit. Stealing is stealing. Worst of all, it was a breach of public trust of the highest order.
Yes, the charges resulted in heartache, divorce and possibly even the suicide of former ag minister Jack Wolfe. But the scandal was hardly 鈥渘onsense鈥�, as Devine described.
Devine cannot be and was not held criminally responsible for the actions of others. Understanding this should help some of us get passed the notion of him receiving a simple board appointment.
But what Devine still doesn鈥檛 get is this political wrong-doing has damned his government鈥檚 his personal political legacy.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 22 years.
