SASKATOON – The New Democrats are turning to a former senior advisor help them prepare to take power after the 2028 provincial election.
The party is set to announce that Ron Styles, a former provincial deputy minister and a lecturer in economics at the University of Regina, will lead the party’s transition efforts as it prepares to take power.
The official announcement is expected to be made at a news conference in Saskatoon Friday by NDP Leader Carla Beck, to kick off this weekend’s NDP provincial convention.
In an interview with Sask Today, Styles confirmed his new role, which he described as a “normal type of an appointment for any political party.”
“Really it’s about getting the party ready, getting the MLAs ready for post-election, making sure that you can hit the ground running.”
The immediate focus, said Styles, will be “first and foremost, the implementation of the NDP election commitments.”
“So that’s a usual thing for any party. When the party wins, the first thing it turns to and looks at is those things that were part of that election campaign, things that it made a commitment to, it promised, and move on in delivering some of those.”
Beyond that, Styles said, leader Beck is interested after the election in “trying to restore effective and efficient public services.”
“We also need to address the fiscal mess that’s out there right now. Debt now is climbing to over $38 billion, and there’s a limit to how much you can borrow and a limit to how much you can spend. And we’ve seen spending double over the past eight years, and again, all these things are going to have to be looked at and addressed. And so we want to prepare for that as well.”
Finally, Styles said, it is “really all about building strategies, the necessary mechanisms to put everything in place that’s necessary to fulfill those first two.”
An example of that, he said, is the budget, which he says is going to have to be built “pretty quick” following an election.
“So you have to look at exactly how you can bring those election commitments on, how fast, and in what order,” said Styles.
What is likely to happen, he said, is a short-term strategy of about 30 days, then something in the 90-day range and then something medium-term as well.
“In the first month, when a government comes to power, it’s a true transition… from the government that was in place to the new government. And then after that, you’re getting into more operationalizing everything, and then you’re working your way down the path of looking at your legislative agenda, again, building a budget, doing these types of things. So there will be, you know, different strategies, different plans to get us to fully operating a government here in Saskatchewan.”
It’s early days
As for what this transition effort will look like, it is still in the early stages. Styles expects there will be a leadership group of several individuals that will be added, with skills in specific areas such as public services, the economy, and other areas. But Styles indicates they will be seeking input from everyone.
There will also be a focus on getting people in the NDP caucus to understand how government functions — something considered important as much of the current crop of NDP MLAs are brand new to the Legislature.
“They haven’t really been in government in the sense of the bureaucracy, the various organizations,” said Styles. “The public service in Saskatchewan is about 12,000 people directly, but there’s all of those other organizations over and above that. I think the number now with health and social services organizations is around 75,000. So it’s a very, very large overall operation, and all of it’s got to be taken into consideration.”
Styles said it’s their belief that a “lot of change” is needed to ensure “it’s a much more effective and efficient government operation.” Examples he pointed to included the water bombers purchase and claims that it cost an extra $100 million because of the procurement process. Another example he pointed to was the referral of breast cancer patients to a private Calgary clinic for diagnostics.
“There’s lots of these examples where we think things can be run much more efficiently, much more effective, but you need the systems to be able to do that.”
The idea that the NDP are preparing for a transition is sure to raise eyebrows among those in the Sask Party, with an election still three years away.
But Styles says the NDP needs to be ready for what happens should they take the reins of government.
“You better be ready”
“If you’re going to be the government in the future, if you’re going to assume power, you better be ready,” Styles said.
“Being anything less than that, you would not be able to meet the expectations of the public. The public expects you when you take the job, when you get into power, that you’re immediately going to start to make the changes that you’ve committed to and you’ve promised to. So I think the fact that there’s a transition team is simply a reality.
“You’ve seen it down in the United States. You’ve seen it just about in place in Canada. Sometimes it only starts a couple of years ahead. Sometimes it starts a year ahead. Again, different groups have taken different approaches to it. We want to make sure that part and parcel of this is an opportunity for everyone to contribute, to participate in the discussions and the decision-making.”
The party also is interested in projecting an image of a potential government in waiting.
Styles said there was an “expectation that you’re a party or a government-in-waiting in a sense, and we want to be able to illustrate that we are, that we have the necessary people in place and the necessary expertise to be able to carry out or execute on that.”
The second part of that, he said, is “absolutely, we want to continue to improve and build on what will be our election base, our election commitments. We’ve already started that. You’re seeing a health consultation going on right now in public. That’s actually tied into the internet as well, so people can provide ideas and thoughts on that. These things take months, and we want to make sure we take the time that we need to be able to come up with some of the better ideas, some of the changes that are absolutely necessary.”
