Former agriculture minister and deputy premier Dwain Lingenfelter could be in the running as the next leader of Saskatchewan’s NDP.
Lorne Calvert, who led the party as premier since 2001 and as opposition leader after the November 2007 election, announced his resignation Oct. 16.
Amid a celebratory atmosphere at an NDP event in Saskatoon, Calvert said he is optimistic that the party would renew itself and rebuild.
“The party is a movement that is greater in its sum of parts than any one particular leader, including myself,” he said. “As such, because the NDP as a movement remains strong, I have every confidence that party members will select an excellent leader as my replacement.”
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Calvert will continue as leader until the next leader is selected, likely next summer. The party’s regular convention is scheduled for June.
Several current and former MLAs have been mentioned as possible successors, but the rumour mill has been swirling with Lingenfelter’s possible return.
The man who was widely expected to succeed Roy Romanow left politics in 2000 to become vice-president of government relations for the Calgary oil company Nexen Inc. He has maintained his Saskatchewan ties, however, and is already seen as the front-runner in a leadership race.
Lingenfelter would be a difficult choice for some New Democrats because he is in favour of nuclear power. Some also perceive him as too friendly to business.
Lingenfelter, 59, still has farmland near Shaunavon where he grew up and was first elected in 1978. He later was elected in Regina Elphinstone.
Lingenfelter served in several cabinet posts under both Allan Blakeney and Roy Romanow, but his last before resigning was in agriculture.
During that time he led a farm income coalition in its quest for a $1 billion trade equalization payment from Ottawa and battled with then-federal minister Lyle Vanclief about whether the province would contribute to the Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance program.
He was also minister when farmers staged a weeklong sit-in at the Regina Legislature, demanding provincial farm aid that they never received.
Lingenfelter resigned July 4, 2000, after a 22-year political career, even though he was then seen as Romanow’s successor.
No one has yet confirmed a 2009 leadership run, including Lingenfelter. In media interviews last week, however, he sounded like he was already planning for the 2011 election.
Among sitting MLAs, one of the names most often mentioned is current agriculture critic Pat Atkinson. Cam Broten, who was elected last fall in Saskatoon Massey Place, has said he definitely will not run.
Andrew Thomson, who didn’t seek re-election last fall and now works in Toronto, is said to be considering a return to politics. Other possibilities include 2001 leadership contender and recent federal candidate Nettie Wiebe. She was among those Calvert defeated when he beat six people to replace Romanow.
Calvert was an MLA in Moose Jaw from 1986-99, when he resigned. But he returned to seek the leadership and subsequently was elected in Romanow’s former seat, Saskatoon Riversdale.
He said he will continue to serve as the constituency’s MLA.
