Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud retained his portfolio after a May 29 Saskatchewan cabinet shuffle but other key rural ministers have changed.
Premier Brad Wall said if he had to assign a theme to the shuffle, 18 months after he appointed his first cabinet, it would be “a younger face and a steady hand.”
“We have 82 percent, roughly, of the expenditures of Saskatchewan under the same ministers as previous,” he told reporters.
The cabinet remains at 18 people, but four of the originals are gone. Dan D’Autremont, Wayne Elhard, Lyle Stewart and Darryl Hickie are out.
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Jim Reiter of Rosetown-Elrose is in at highways and infrastructure, replacing Elhard.
Meadow Lake MLA Jeremy Harrison takes over municipal affairs from Bill Hutchinson, who moves to First Nations and Metis affairs, and northern affairs.
Dustin Duncan of Weyburn-Big Muddy replaces Christine Tell at tourism and parks.
Yogi Huyghebaert, from Wood River, replaces Hickie at corrections and public safety.
Wall described three of the newcomers as young. Duncan will turn 30 next month and Harrison is 31.
Huyghebaert turned 65 last week.
Other ministers with new roles include: June Draude, Crown Investments Corporation, Ken Cheveldayoff, enterprise, and Tell, government services.
Some others took on additional duties after Wall moved to split up the individual crown corporations and assign them to individual ministers. Enterprise and Innovation was also split, with energy minister Bill Boyd taking on the innovation portfolio.
Wall also appointed eight legislative secretaries with specific responsibilities but no extra pay for doing them.
They include Greg Brkich, from Arm River, who will work on an agriculture programs innovation initiative.
Bjornerud said he expects Brkich will travel around the province and meet with farmers about agriculture programs.
“I think he will do a good job,” the minister said. “He is in his comfort zone around farmers.”
Bjornerud also said he was pleased to stay in cabinet and is looking forward to advancing Saskatchewan concerns at the next federal-provincial meeting in July. Saskatchewan will host the meeting next year.
