Let the speculation begin.
The 2016 provincial election results are in the history books, it鈥檚 time for the political pundits, election analysts and general public to trot out all the 鈥渨hat ifs鈥� and 聽鈥渨onder whats,鈥� because that is what happens once the polling results are posted.
Of course, Premier Brad Wall ran his campaign based on keeping things more or less the same, only with less money. So, we can鈥檛 expect radical changes in governance philosophy.
What will surface will be questions surrounding Wall himself and his intentions to stay at the Sask. Party helm for the full four-year term, especially with the federal voices calling.
Will Wall put some distance between himself and Bill Boyd? Boyd has, pretty well, been Wall鈥檚 right-hand man for the past seven years, but with all kinds of baggage now being lugged around by the minister from Kindersley, we wonder just how much loyalty Wall can keep extending and still retain his likeability factors. That bromance will probably have to end, even though Boyd was overwhelmingly re-elected. His bubble may not have burst in west-central Saskatchewan, but it has elsewhere.
Estevan鈥檚 Lori Carr has indicated she would be interested in a cabinet position of offered, but that鈥檚 probably a remote possibility for now, seeing as how all of聽 Wall鈥檚 cabinet was re-elected. He will have a huge list to pick from. He has the geographic-balance role being played by Health Minister Dustin Duncan as the cabinet person for the southeast region. We don鈥檛 expect that to change soon, especially if former cabinet ministers simply resume work in the ministries they lead prior to the election call. We don鈥檛 expect any changes there until after the budget is brought down in late May or June, and by then, it will be time for the summer break. So no Sask. Party MLA should be expecting any cabinet movement until, at least, next fall. Then, will Wall expand cabinet to create some junior portfolios like he did before?
Wall and the pundits have a lot to chew on with regards to the Global Transportation Hub and Regina bypass which will have a huge financial impact on all of the province and there are some awkward moments ahead for the governing body, whether they were in on the ground floor, like Boyd and Wall, or whether they are just now entering the fray. That鈥檚 the fun part of politics, you have to wear the team uniform all the time.
Another big question was the fate of NDP Leader Cam Broten who is now the former leader of the NDP.
Would he have preferred to stay on as leader from outside the legislature? That job has been done by others before, and quite effectively. Was he willing to ask a sitting MLA to relinquish a seat so he could claim it in a by-election? If so, how would that have been perceived and received?
With Broten stepping aside, it has probably sent the NDP into another two-year tailspin with divisive leadership trip-ups and trade-offs. They鈥檝e done that before too, and ended up with more confusion than resolution. Perhaps the NDP would have been better off by showing a little stability and sustainability. But then, how long could they handle the other leadership hopefuls who would be stewing in the background?
You see, last week鈥檚 election really didn鈥檛 settle a whole lot, other than we know we鈥檙e getting four additional years of Sask. Party governance, with some, most, or all of it with Brad Wall at the helm. All the rest is up for speculation. 聽 聽聽
