Saskatchewan agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud chose an audience of rural councillors March 14 to announce he will soon step down from cabinet.
It was an appropriate crowd. Before Bjornerud was first elected to the legislature in 1995, he had served on RM council and attended Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities conventions.
He told delegates to this year’s convention, as well as cabinet colleagues and his staff in attendance, that he will not serve in cabinet after the next shuffle. Premier Brad Wall is expected to announce a new cabinet in late May or early June.
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Bjornerud, 66, said he will step down for selfish reasons: “This is for me and my family.”
He has six young grandchildren and said he wants to be able to spend weekends with them rather than at meetings and events. He said he does not have health problems.
“It’s a tough one,” Bjornerud told reporters. “It’s just been a great ride.”
He recalled his first day after his election as a Liberal MLA.
“I remember walking up the steps of the (legislative building) and I’d never been there, and I had a briefcase that had nothing in it because I wanted to look important,” he said.
He was among the founders of the Saskatchewan Party, serving in various roles while in opposition and as agriculture minister since the party took office in late 2007.
He said dealing with drought and flood were likely the two biggest challenges he faced. The biggest accomplishment, although not directly related to agricultural production, was the 80 -percent reduction of education tax on farmland.
SARM president David Marit said he was shocked at Bjornerud’s decision but wished him well.
Wall roasted Bjornerud, telling several stories that had the crowd roaring with laughter. He praised the minister’s work on behalf of his constituents and all farmers.
“He was an irresistible force when it came to agricultural issues,” he told reporters. “His fingerprints are all over the first years of our government.”
