Lorne Calvert was sworn in as Saskatchewan’s 13th premier last week and immediately made good on his NDP leadership campaign promise to establish a rural revitalization secretariat.
He put Pat Atkinson in charge of a new ministry, which he called a “lens for rural Saskatchewan” through which government decisions would be made.
Atkinson is a Saskatoon MLA who has served in several key cabinet positions since 1992. She also leaves her health portfolio for highways and transportation.
“I come from a rural background,” she told reporters following the swearing-in ceremony. “My family’s roots are deep and long in this province and my last name, Atkinson, is synonymous with advocacy on behalf of farmers and rural people.”
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Her father, Roy Atkinson, is a former National Farmers Union president.
Saskatchewan Party leader Elwin Hermanson was not pleased with Calvert’s choice.
“If Pat Atkinson revitalizes rural Saskatchewan the same way she revitalized our health system, we’re all in a lot of trouble.”
But others will wait and see.
“It sounds very encouraging,” said Sinclair Harrison, president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. “We look for great things out of that ministry.”
Harrison said the secretariat must provide capital to help rural areas diversify and strengthen their economies.
Just hours after being appointed, Atkinson was unsure what budget she might have.
Calvert said the ministry is not a line department and won’t have significant program dollars.
More than window dressing
Atkinson bristled at the suggestion the new ministry is window dressing because the New Democratic Party was virtually wiped out in rural areas in the 1999 election.
“I’m not a window dressing person and I would not be taking this job if this was window dressing,” she said.
“This is real. There are real people in rural Saskatchewan with real problems and I plan on addressing, along with people living in rural Saskatchewan, those problems.”
Atkinson will work with agriculture minister Clay Serby, who retained his portfolio but added the duties of deputy premier.
Serby said he has juggled three or four portfolios at one time and is up to the task of handling two.
“For me to arrive at the deputy premier’s chair after a period of six years in cabinet is a humbling experience,” he said. “(It is) gratifying from the perspective that I get to stay in a file for a bit more time. I’ve had nine portfolios in six years.”
Harrison said Serby’s appointment will bring more prominence to agriculture.
“It’s our hope that perhaps he and Mr. Calvert will lead a delegation to Ottawa and try to break the treasury open there and get some money flowing before spring,” he said.
