Saskatchewan premier Lorne Calvert appointed three first-time ministers to his cabinet May 31 as he replaced those who will not run in the next election and moved others to new portfolios.
Agriculture minister Mark Wartman retained his file but other key ministries changed hands. Longtime Saskatoon MLA Pat Atkinson is the province’s new finance minister, Buckley Belanger from Athabasca is highways minister and Meadow Lake MLA Maynard Sonntag adds industry and resources to his First Nations and Metis relations file.
Lon Borgerson, MLA for Saskatchewan Rivers, assumes the regional economic and co-operative development portfolio from deputy premier Clay Serby, who missed the recent spring sitting of the legislature due to illness.
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Ron Harper of Regina becomes corrections and public safety minister and takes on the job of finding a solution to flooding at Fishing Lake.
Sandra Morin of Regina is the new minister of culture, youth and recreation.
Borgerson, who was first elected in 2003, said he was excited about the opportunity to work on rural issues.
“I love Saskatchewan. I grew up in rural Saskatchewan,” he said. “I’m very interested in dealing with the issues and the opportunities that we have in rural Saskatchewan.”
Borgerson said he had been thinking about how rural revitalization could attract people and industry into regions so that “we don’t have to deal with those really difficult issues like rural school closures.”
He spent the past year working on a report on organic agriculture and has just completed his draft report. He said organic agriculture could play a role in revitalization, as could biofuel.
His report should go to the premier by the middle of June.
Harper, a farmer who was the MLA for Pelly from 1991 until his defeat in 1995, has served his Regina constituency since 1999.
He toured the Fishing Lake area during the 1995 campaign when it was part of the constituency in which he sought election. He said he would get to work immediately on dealing with the flooding in that region.
“One of my very first priorities is going to see for myself,” he said. “I want to see what it is I’m talking about.”
Harper was also the chair of the standing committee on agriculture that recommended changes to Saskatchewan’s farmland ownership laws in 2002.
Returning to cabinet are Judy Junor from Saskatoon, as minister of the Crown Investments Corp., and Kevin Yates from Regina, in community resources.
