Mark Wartman won’t forget his first official announcement as Saskatchewan agriculture minister.
As he headed down to the legislative building’s “radio room” on March 1 to announce changes to the provincial crop insurance program, he had one thought: “I’m a target.”
Rates were going up, coverage was going down, grasshoppers were predicted to be a threat and Wartman had hardly been on the job for a day.
He said the first eight weeks in his new position were intimidating.
“Now, after eight months, I’m terrified,” he said with a laugh.
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The former United Church minister stepped into the job under less than ideal circumstances. He was asked by premier Lorne Calvert to move from highways to agriculture while former minister Clay Serby was treated for cancer. Wartman thought he would hold the job only until Serby returned.
He was at the Western Beef Development Centre in July when he got another call. It was Calvert asking him to stay on as agriculture minister. Serby would take on rural revitalization.
“At the time I had gotten to a point where I was a little more comfortable,” Wartman said.
The complex portfolio, which includes primary production, processing, transportation, international trade and research and development is now fascinating rather than daunting.
After the crop insurance news conference, Wartman prayed for rain.
“I didn’t stop quick enough,” he said. “We didn’t get the grasshoppers, but we did get lots of moisture, and then bang.”
The bang was the Aug. 20 morning news of damaging frost.
“Personally I felt really down,” Wartman said. “That morning I was lying there, listening to the news on the radio, and I thought, ‘oh man, I don’t want to be ag minister anymore.’ Then I thought, ‘If I feel like this, what about those people who have invested so much of their lives?’ That got me out of bed and going.” For 2005, he says he’ll pray for the “perfect year.”
