REGINA — The new, and old, ministers of Premier Scott Moe’s Sask. Party government had a similar reaction to being sworn in Thursday as part of the newly reshuffled cabinet.
“Honoured” was the word most often used by David Marit to describe his appointment as Minister of Agriculture and Minister responsible for Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation.
Marit, who was sworn in along with the rest of the cabinet Thursday at Government House, was the only minister to move over completely from one portfolio (Highways) to another in the shuffle.
“Well, obviously I’m honoured,” said Marit. “Being a farmer all my life and agriculture is in our family and has been for generations, so I'm really honoured and it’s humbling to be back in the ministry.”
For Marit, it is a return to the agriculture portfolio that he held prior to last fall’s provincial election. “I enjoyed it there the six years I was there but for the premier to give me this honour back, very humbling," he said.
Marit looks forward to bringing his experience in the file back to the cabinet table during an important time for the agriculture file.
“Experience is always there at the cabinet table anyway in that regards, but the trade missions (I) have been on the relationships we built… I just look at the country of Mexico, and with what our producers and what our companies have done here with expanding trade just to that country alone by more than doubling it over the past six years is an amazing thing. But it’s a relationship building and I think that all just stands with the nine trade-off as we have and the people we have in those offices in working with the companies are building relationships here, and I hope to continue that. The previous minister was doing a great job as well so we’ll just continue to do that.”
Marit also was asked if he might take a look at crop insurance again given the dry conditions in the southwest.
“You know what the Ministry of Agriculture is done over the years and the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance and the program changes, and the enhancements they made have really helped a lot of producers through the whole province and especially where they’ve had consistent droughts over the past few years. You look at what we’ve done in the livestock sector, you look at what we’ve done on the shielding on the crop insurance and doing things like that on the thresholds. We continue to do that, we’ll continue to work with the crop insurance. Obviously, there’s another partner in this in the federal government, so we have to work with them and the producers and see if we can. If there’s things we can do we’ll look at it. I mean we look at all kinds of things when it comes to the crop insurance file.”
Excitement from new cabinet ministers
There was particular excitement among the five newest cabinet ministers sworn in for the first time: Mike Weger as new minister of Community Safety and minister responsible for Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency; Chris Beaudry as new minister of Energy and Resources; Darlene Rowden as new minister of Environment; Kim Gartner as new minister of Highways; and Sean Wilson as new minister of SaskBuilds and Procurement.
“I’m really really humbled to be in the premier’s cabinet and to have the opportunity to serve the people of Saskatchewan in this capacity,” said Wilson.
As for his portfolio, “the file’s awesome,” he said. “I’ve had a lot to do with infrastructure, and I’m looking forward to continuing the good work of the previous minister in digging into this file and just keeping the province strong, safe and secure.”
Wilson, MLA for Canora-Pelly, is himself a former road builder who said “infrastructure is in my blood.” Wilson adds he has “a lot of reading and a lot of learning” ahead as he gets up to speed in his new portfolio.
“Very excited,” was the reaction of Weger, who said he is already familiar with his file as the new Community Safety minister.
“I’ve been lucky enough to sit along Minister (Tim) McLeod as his legislative secretary, learn from someone who I respect greatly, and I think he’s done a very good job in the file so I’m going to pick up where he’s left off with some of the good work that he’s made.”
Weger, who has 17 years as a lawyer and who has worked with police officers throughout his career prior to being elected in Weyburn-Bengough, noted how important the file is.
“I’m very passionate about community safety and I’ve got young children myself. I’ve got a 20-year-old daughter, an 18-year-old daughter living on their own in the city here. The city’s changed. We want our communities to be safe. Back home, I’ve got a 15-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter. I want them to be able to play at the park and walk down the street with your friends and I don’t want their parents to have to worry about their safety. So we’re going to take this seriously and I’m passionate about it.”
As for the change of name to Community Safety, from Corrections, Public Safety and Policing, he said, “I think it rolls off the tongue a little easier, doesn’t it? But it really sums up one of our main focuses as a province, as a government — strong, safe, secure. So we’ve got the community safety in the middle there and it’s going to be great for me to be able to focus on community safety. I think it’s a very high priority of our government so I think it’s a good name change.”
